Thursday, August 11, 2011

Dangerous Discoveries

Being the unbelievably busy people that we are, Ambre and I had not been to the beach recently so we decided it would be a good idea to spend some time down there. Yesterday and today we made some venomous, yet incredible, discoveries. Yesterday, we were walking around the pier when Ambre found a dead sea snake hanging out of the side of the wall. We got to see its flattened tail but it was so stuck that we were not able to remove it in one piece. We are not one hundred percent sure but we think it is most likely a banded sea krait and even though we would have preferred to see it alive we were still very excited. Today was even better. We went out early this afternoon to wander around at low tide. As usual, we were checking out the chocolate chip sea stars when we reached an area that was so thick with seaweed, rocks, and sea urchins that we had to turn around. On the way back to shore I saw something strange in the water. I was almost positive that I knew what it was but when I told Ambre what I thought she didn't believe me; this came as absolutely no surprise since she frequently questions my judgement. After standing there for a few minutes, she became more convinced and I ran back to the house to grab the dust pan and a camera. When we pulled it out of the water it was the most amazing thing ever, a crown of thorns starfish! The very thing I have been most anxious to see since we got here! We carefully carried it back to shore and proceeded to take way too many pictures of it. When we were finally done, I got to be the lucky one to return it. On the way back up from the beach we also saw a dead, headless bat hanging from one of the cabanas. However, I'm pretty sure that no one would appreciate seeing the pictures of it.


A banded sea krait, alive and in one piece


Our banded sea krait...


Crown of Thorns Starfish





1 comment:

  1. WOW! I've never heard of a crown of thorns starfish. Looks like a blob of spines. Glad I now know to stay away from them the next time I visit the area. Love the color of the water.

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