July 2013: Reef Retrospective

As always, the first week of the month gives me the pleasure of sharing the “best of the reef in photos.” Here’s what I saw in July. Seahorses will hitch to anything that offers a good enough grip, as this Mexican turbo snail discovered the hard way: Sun corals rarely extend their tentacles fully, due to the danger of getting nipped by a passing predator.  Once in a while, though, I have the pleasure of seeing these lovely corals at their photogenic best: Snail races. Brought to you by “dinnertime on the reef”: And another one from the snail files

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The Most Patient Shrimp in the World

Most of the time, my seahorses eat at regular places in the tank. The large male (Cygnus) and the female (Ceti) eat near the top of the tank, while the little male (Ghillie) eats alone near his favorite hitch at the bottom of the reef. Last night, however, Ceti noticed me feeding Ghillie and decided to share his dinner instead of swimming up for her own. She quickly discovered there wasn’t enough room for two on Ghillie’s coral hitch, so she snaked her tail around the closest object – in this case, a cleaner shrimp. I ran for my camera,

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