Hakai Dive December: Greatest Hits
A selection of our favorite underwater photos from a winter dive trip to Calvert Island.
#HakaiDiveDecember is in the rearview mirror. But don’t despair if you missed out. We’ve compiled our favorite 12 tweets from the past month. All of the images were taken during our winter dive trip on the Central Coast of British Columbia. And best of all, every image is actually a screen grab from a video. So stay tuned for new and exciting videos coming out on our Hakai Institute YouTube channel in 2018.
#HakaiDiveDecember begins with a fish-eating anemone!
As their name implies, these dinner-plate-sized anemones will grab an unsuspecting fish if it swims too close.
(Apologies to #25DaysofFishmas for consuming your muse) pic.twitter.com/6GMGq3xpio
— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 1, 2017
Orange sea pens anchor themselves in the sand. Like their hard coral cousins, sea pens are a colony of polyps that use sticky tentacles to capture plankton as it floats past.#HakaiDiveDecember
Pics Grant Callegari pic.twitter.com/xayfg6cyvn— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 5, 2017
Orange peel nudibranchs—one of the largest sea slugs in the world—can grow up to 30 cm long!#HakaiDiveDecember #Nudibranchs
Pic Tavish Campbell pic.twitter.com/1upsLTe8vF— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 6, 2017
What kind of seaweed is this? Now, there’s an app for that!
More about “Seaweed Sorter” in our latest blog!https://t.co/rewuQ98h63
(A: Codium fragile aka dead man’s fingers)#HakaiDiveDecember pic.twitter.com/0qtZYPJa3G
— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 7, 2017
Strong contender for Canada’s most photogenic fish—the wolf eel.#HakaiDiveDecember#25DaysofFishmas pic.twitter.com/DmZJIBUyRb
— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 8, 2017
Corals aren’t confined to the tropics.
Unlike its more famous reef-building cousins, this solitary orange cup coral goes it alone on a rocky wall on the BC Central Coast.#HakaiDiveDecember #ColdwaterCoral pic.twitter.com/GLXauROr5j
— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 10, 2017
Lion’s mane jellyfish are the largest jellyfish in the world!#HakaiDiveDecember
Pic by Tavish CampbellAnd if you want even MORE lion’s mane jellyfish, check out our 1-minute Hakai Wild episode on these gelatinous wondershttps://t.co/F7NMkEZUlr pic.twitter.com/wKLU7q1MdS
— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 13, 2017
A double dose of camouflage from two impressively hidden painted greenlings#HakaiDiveDecember #25DaysofFishmas
Pics Grant Callegari & Tavish Campbell pic.twitter.com/2KiiQ8lXiz— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 19, 2017
A decorated warbonnet got dressed up for the holidays, but looks a tad grumpy to come out of its comfy crevice.#HakaiDiveDecember #25DaysofFishmas
Pic Grant Callegari pic.twitter.com/gTGSG5znZ3— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 22, 2017
Frosty the Nudibranch
His corn cob pipe isn’t visible from this angle.#HakaiDiveDecember #Nudibranchs
Pic Grant Callegari pic.twitter.com/TWUOcVsSq1— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 23, 2017
A new giant Pacific octopus species was hiding in plain sight!
This pic is of the “regular” giant Pacific octopus from BC. The new “frilled” species hasn’t been seen south of Alaska (yet?).#HakaiDiveDecemberhttps://t.co/323x8OvajT
via @DannaStaaf in @EARTH3R pic.twitter.com/TruFSsiRWo— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 28, 2017
Sunshine in the giant kelp forests of the BC Central Coast#HakaiDiveDecember
Pic Grant Callegari pic.twitter.com/YwmbfsllQd— Hakai Institute (@HakaiInstitute) December 30, 2017