Baskets and cephalopods
by David P. Stein
Images provided by Samantha Cisk
At first it was complete darkness
except for the few lights attached to air tanks and thin beams of light
striking down into the depts. Faint outlines of the structures below only
hinted at what lay beneath. I had a small hand light and my dive partner George
used one of those large portable spotlights. This was my first night dive in
Bocas del Toro, Panama and I was more excited by what I couldn’t see, than by
what I could. George gave me the signal and we started to descend into the
murky darkness. Soon those amorphous shapes formed into branching coral, algae
and shimmering silver looking fish (I later learned they do have color, though
its not as well seen at night). My cone of light swept back and forth along the
corrugated landscape giving me glimpses of fish as the fled my presence.
Swimming over the reef I was distracted by George as he shined his light in
front of me to get my attention. He directed me to the top of a coral mound and
I saw the most confusing of images. A tangled web of small seastar like
appendages were massed and woven around and around. A Basket star! (Seen to the
right) Some limbs outstretched to capture food; it sat innocuously atop this
coral feeding to its hearts content (not that it had a true “heart”). This went
on much the same and we soon moved on to explore the rest of the dark ocean
secrets. 
This was
just one of the many friends we have made in the Three Seas program at in
Bocas. Let me introduce you to “Frank” Pie (the incurious cephalopod to the left); he is
a resident of a 3-foot stretch of water front property (along the dock that we
launch from for our morning dives) in prime real estate in Bocas. He loves
sunbathing and matching the background (and I’m not entirely sure he is a he).
Frank is about a 3-4 inch blob of limbs and eyes and the most activity I’ve
seen out of him was slowly squishing his body into the tiniest of spaces.
Octopi can change their shape and size and even color in a vast array that
allows them to hid and protect themselves from a variety of predators. If you
ever have the opportunity to visit Bocas, come to the Smithsonian institute and
say hello to these two friendly marine animals.
شركة تسليك مجاري بالقطيف
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