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  3. THE UNIVERSE BENEATH
  4. FUN DIVES AND DIVE BUDDIES

Wing Beach May 18, 2009

Arguably, Saipan's best shore dive (a dive not requiring a boat).
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Lionfish (Pterois volitans). You can also see a smaller Spotfin lionfish (Pterois antennata) in the background to your left.
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Lionfish (Pterois volitans). You can also see a smaller Spotfin lionfish (Pterois antennata) in the background to your left.

lionfish

  • Yep. Time to head for the rope.
  • After that last photo, we exited the water, headed for town, and filled our tummies and our tanks. While everyone else stayed in town, Rose and I couldn't pass up the uncommonly still waters, so we headed back up to Wing. This video starts our second dive. First, you will see a school of Whitebar surgeonfish (Acanthurus leucopareius), which was very close to the entrance. Then, back to the same Barred flagtails you saw earlier.
  • Untitled photo
  • Rose finds some pretty cool specimens! Here is the shell of a Cone snail. In fact, from my ID book, I believe that is a Geographic cone (Conus geographus). When it was alive, it was one of the most toxic critters known. Cone snails are hunters who kill their prey (usually fish) by shooting it with harpoons. Now, the harpoons can only travel a few millimeters, so this cunning critter also depends on the fact that it moves very slowly. Slowly enough that fish and other potentially tasty tidbits tend to ignore it until it is well within range for it's unique archery to hit the mark. The harpoons, which are lightening-fast, contain the toxin, and they subdue prey quite quickly. Unfortunately, people are attracted to this critter, and sometimes pick up live ones. They are known to be responsible for several human fatalities each year (although I have never heard of one here on Saipan).
  • Moorish idols (Zanculus cornutus).
  • If you watch the American Idol T.V. show, maybe you can relax and enjoy this Moorish idol video clip!
  • I was quite lucky to get a halfway decent shot of this guy, and I can't seem to find him in my ID book, so I'm not sure what species of crab this is. If you think you may know, please leave a comment below. He was hiding under a coral, where it was virtually impossible to focus or get adequate flash onto him. Also on this dive, Rose pointed out some colorful little crabs like I have never seen, but they were so deep in the coral that no photos turned out very good at all. So there is a challenge for the next time we dive here in non-surge conditions.
  • The magical Wing Beach Canyon.
  • There are usually a couple of "resident eels" here. We were about to conclude that this year they had left, or died. But leave it to Rose, if there is an eel anywhere around, to find it! Giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus).
  • OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
  • Lionfish (Pterois volitans). You can also see a smaller Spotfin lionfish (Pterois antennata) in the background to your left.
  • And our second Green sea turtle for the day! This one was considerably larger than was the first one, and was awake when we found him. I always love it when I nail a photo of one of these guys so that you can clearly see the iris and pupil. Guess maybe that comes partly from my profession.....

  • OptimImagery

    on May 25, 2009

    The one in the background is a different species. The foreground one is what most people here just call "lionfish." Some people call them "turkey lionfish." Scientific name is Pterois volitans. The one in the background is locally called a Spotfin lionfish, and its scientific name is Pterois antennata. We have at least 4 species of lionfish here, with three being fairly common (the two you see here and the Clearfin lionfish).

  • BeverLi

    on May 25, 2009

    is it a baby or different type?

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