Working on a Fish-o-Pedia

Hi faithful reader(s)!


Unfortunately, I was unable to trek out past the rock wall this morning, because it was low tide. The rock wall was literally breaking through the surface in some places. I decided to try again on Sunday.

CGI! A Yellow Tang is disguised as the new "Bumblebee Fish"

It turned out to be a blessing, as I discovered two new species in the tide pool! Quite amazing that after at least 10 snorkel trips in the same pool, I can still see new things. Today I saw something that looked like a normal "angel fish", but had yellow & black stripes. It really was beautiful. I could not find a picture of this fish on the internet, which leads me to believe I have discovered a brand new species! Anyway, I took a picture of a common Yellow Tang, and used Microsoft Paint to superimpose some stripes on it. Enjoy! I shall name this new species the "Bumblebee Fish".

The second new fish I saw was sort of like a Blowfish but thinner. I quickly grew bored and moved on. In hindsight, maybe it was just a really, really hungry Blowfish.

The water was crystal clear today. The surface was like a sheet of glass, if that glass was wet, and was rippling up and down somehow. The visibility underneath was the highest I've ever seen it -- I could literally see my car from underwater*. Amazing!

So, I have decided to start cataloguing the various fish I see. Rather than actually research these fish, I will draw assumptions and conjecture from my limited observations, and build my own "Fish-o-Pedia"! I hope to be able to post a scan of this document in the next few days.

Sure, "science" will tell you that this is Species X, it lives in area Y, and eats Z. But "science" isn't out there on the frontline, swimming in one specific geological area and observing fish with blurry vision (I can't wear my glasses with the mask on, obviously). When you want real-world information, you know where to go - Gray's Snorkeling Adventures. Watch this space, folks.

Sand, ocean and a tree.

I will leave you with this photo. This is exactly what it looks like, where I snorkel. If I snorkelled in Oahu, Hawaii, that is ...

Keep your face down and snorkel up, you salt-encrusted sea-dogs!
-Gray


* This statement is a descriptive exaggeration and isn't necessarily true.

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