Dive: Monterey Breakwater

We had an OK dive in Monterey last Saturday. The water is becoming cloudy with organic matter after the clear, cold spell of winter. I just bought an underwater housing for my digital camera and was eager to try it out - some results below! We didn't see much that was new, and had to cut our second dive short because the housing started to leak a bit. In the composite below we have, from upper left clockwise: an aggregate of club-tipped anemones, a sunflower star, an anemone with a cluster of nudibranch eggs, and finally a sea cucumber. The sea cucumber threw me for a loop - I thought it was some kind of plant or a gorgonian.

Dizzy gets laid!

Our cornsnake Dizzy has been going nuts this month because breeding season has started up again. This time around we decided to hook him up with a fine hypomelanistic female named Lulu (Jessica's snake). If we successfully breed them (and judging by how well they got on last night, that probably won't be a problem), we might sell their offspring to the local vivarium. We introduced the pair last night, and both wasted no time getting down to business. Like a teen on a first date, Dizzy repeatedly attempted to sidle up to Lulu and wrap his tail around hers. Whenever he came close to, um, well, reaching fourth base he would become so excited he'd start shaking and totally lose his grip. It was hilarious to watch! This went on for at least an hour - by the time we returned from our evening out the pair was looking very relaxed. I was totally picturing little cigarettes dangling from their jaws.

I don't know much about cornsnake genetics, but given that Dizzy lacks melanin and Lulu is a hypomel, I'm guessing we're going to end up with a bunch of mostly orangey-yellow snakes. We'll see in a couple of months! In the pictures below Lulu is the more yellow-ey snake, and Dizzy is the dark orange guy appearing to smother her.