other captured creatures...

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we did manage to capture a few non-lobster creatures while we were trying to catch the quick and elusive legal-size lobsters. I, of course, had my camera with me, and I had to photograph the other creatures we netted as well.

Please note, none of these creatures were harmed in any way. They were merely dragged from their evening swims up onto the dock, shot (ok, photographed) by me, perhaps poked and petted a bit, and then sent back into the ocean on their merry way. I felt like it was an aquatic version of Wild Kingdom -- Marlin Perkins would have been delighted, I think! (ah, I'm probably dating myself here, but we watched that show every Sunday evening when I was a little kid)

And so, here, for your viewing pleasure, I introduce a few Catalina Island ocean creatures....

the ever-present Calico Bass...

our glass bottom boat tour guides say he can be recognized by his "cheap striped sportcoat".

(I caught this one, and though he looks a bit dead, he was perfectly active and fine! I think he was playing possum!)

...oh my goodness! what the heck is that?!?!?

here it is up-close-and-personal...

it's a spider crab.

These are slow-moving and non-aggressive, and I found it quite delightful. I think this one may be old, as I see it has lost one of its back legs and a couple of "toes." It seemed perfectly fine with me touching it and even picking it up. These crabs have hook-shaped hairs on their backs that attract the growth of algae which is used as camoflage.

I see it is a beautiful sky blue color underneath the algae camoflage.

And look at those red toes!

...and this is because I just HAD to pick it up!

(I had the gloves on for the lobster-grabbing.)

See how big it is!!

It was quite heavy, too!

Last, but definitely not least, was my very favorite sea creature we caught--

which, at first, we thought was a sea slug...

it's a sea hare !

I thought this was so cute! It was blobby and squishy and soft with a velvety soft wet skin. A boy who was there when this was brought up said, "It feels like pudding!" That was a most accurate description of the feel of it! If you look closely at its skin, you can see a lovely brown spotted pattern with reddish-pink through it as well. It really was strange and wonderful! (I had seen one of these at our local aquarium, but this one was at least five times bigger than the one they let us touch.)I hope you enjoyed this little "tour of the sea" with me!
I do so love to see the amazing creatures God has made...
so very many strange and delightful and colorful and wild!
I'm glad He's so very creative!!