Brain Coral
By kat | August 6, 2011
This is some brain coral taken in November 2010 in Key West waters. It’s bleached out, but beautiful nevertheless.
Brain Coral can be found all over Florida, Caribbean and The Bahamas. I think this particular brain coral is called symmetrical brain coral and if that’s what it is, it thrives between 20 to 40 feet.
This shot of a ray in the sand was also taken last November when the vis was clear. This ray was sleeping under some coral and when I dove down to take pictures, I guess the clicking of the camera shutter startled him and he swam off.
I followed him and he buried himself in the sand. That’s how they often sleep, and all you can see are the raised ridges of his body. To get under a layer of sand, a stingray will flutter his “wings”, throwing sand up all around him. The sand settles on top of the ray and voila, he’s partially covered.
This was a great day snorkeling in Key West inshore waters…last November! Wonderful clear water almost every single day it seems, which is what we are missing this month. Bad vis this July, so I’m pulling photos from my archives. These are some porkfish (with black stripes) and grunts (yellow with black on tails). I call these “snorkel fish” because we don’t eat them, they’re just pretty. They look especially gorgeous over the white sand, don’t you think?