Blue-Ring Topsnail (Calliostoma annulatum)
Date: 6/27/10
Location: LJS, Main Wall
Time in: 7:17 am
Time under: 68 minutes
Max depth: 72 ft
Min temp: 53 F (cold!)
Vis: 10-15 ft, thermocline w/ better vis below 35 ft
Waves: 2-4 ft, easily timed
Buddy: Marla
Octopus on Sand Dollars (Dendraster excentricus)
More photos:
http://underpressurephoto.com/Dive-Reports/20100627-Scuba-LJS
Highlights: Lots of interesting small creatures - a couple triophia maculata, a trio of hermissendas, a small blue-ring topsnail, a tiny juvenile lobster that I thought was a copepod and a juvenile cabezon.
Marla and I met up at LJS early this morning and took a chance on the swell. Fortunately, it sounds like it was much smaller today than yesterday - 2-3 ft w/ an occaisional bigger set. We made it out through the surf without any problems and only had to duck under a few waves. We started out a bit north and never really made it to Vallecitos, but that was just as well. On the way down the hill, there was a thermocline at about 35 ft and the visibility opened up a bit, probably helped by the incoming tide. We both noticed that there wasn't much surge at depth, but it sure got cold. We were both on the look-out for fried egg jellyfish, but unfortunately we didn't see any. We took our time slowly meandering south along the slope, with Marla helping me find interesting things to photograph. I found a tiny lobster on a blade of kelp that looked like a copepod with long antenae and Marla spotted a juvenile cabezon hiding amongst the detritus. I signaled to head back up the slope at about 1500 psi and was happy that the temperature quickly picked up to the high 60's F in the shallows.
My pictures from LJS never turn out quite as nice as the ones from Pt Loma. The conditions are a lot more challenging and the creatures always seem to be flat on the sandy bottom (which I always manage to kick up). But practicing at LJS sure makes all the other spots that much easier to shoot at. :)
Scott
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