Pacific torpedo ray Tetronarce californica, amidst huge schools of fish and baitfish, Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island. This electric ray will shock the hell out of you if you are not careful.
California reef covered with purple hydrocoral (Stylaster californicus, Allopora californica), Farnsworth Banks.
Garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus, swims in front of a golden gorgonian, with a underwater forest of giant kelp rising in the background, underwater. Catalina, California.
Sunlight streams through giant kelp forest. Giant kelp, the fastest growing plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky reef to the ocean's surface like a submarine forest.
Giant black sea bass, endangered species, reaching up to 8' in length and 500 lbs, amid giant kelp forest
Aerial photo of the West End of Catalina Island
Submarine Reef with Hydrocoral and Invertebrates, Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island
Garibaldi swims in the kelp forest, sunlight filters through towering giant kelp plants rising from the ocean bottom to the surface, underwater.
Red Gorgonion on the Yellow Wall, Farnsworth Banks
The rare yellow zoanthid anemone Epizoanthus giveni, in large aggregations on the Yellow Wall at Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island
Sunlight streams through giant kelp forest. Giant kelp, the fastest growing plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky reef to the ocean's surface like a submarine forest.
Sunlight streams through giant kelp forest. Giant kelp, the fastest growing plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky reef to the ocean's surface like a submarine forest.
Pyrosome drifting through a kelp forest, Catalina Island. Pyrosomes are free-floating colonial tunicates that usually live in the upper layers of the open ocean in warm seas. Pyrosomes are cylindrical or cone-shaped colonies made up of hundreds to thousands of individuals, known as zooids.
Garibaldi and Brown Gorgonian Muricea fruticosa, Catalina Island, with giant kelp stands reaching from the reef to the surface of the ocean in the distance. The clown prince of the kelp forest, the Garibaldi, alternately poses for me and chirps at me to move away from his gorgonian.
Giant Kelp Forest, West End Catalina Island, rendered in the round by a circular fisheye lens.
Salema schooling amid kelp forest.
Red gorgonian Leptogorgia chilensis. The lower sea fan has its polyps retracted while the upper sea fan has all of its polyps extended into the current. Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island, California
Garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus, Catalina Island, California.
Gorgonian (yellow) that has been parasitized by zoanthid anemone (Savalia lucifica), and red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis), Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island
Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts. Pneumatocysts, gas-filled bladders, float the kelp off the ocean bottom toward the surface and sunlight, where the leaf-like blades and stipes of the kelp plant grow fastest. Catalina Island, California
Purple hydrocoral Stylaster californicus, Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island, California
Giant black sea bass, gathering in a mating - courtship aggregation amid kelp forest, Catalina Island
Giant black sea bass, gathering in a mating - courtship aggregation amid kelp forest, Catalina Island
Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts, giant kelp forest, Catalina Island
Red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis) on Farnsworth Banks reef. Farnsworth Banks holds some of the most lush and colorful reefs to be found in California.
Submarine Reef with Hydrocoral and Invertebrates, Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island
California reef covered with purple hydrocoral (Stylaster californicus, Allopora californica) and palm kelp, with orange garibaldi fish whizzing by, Catalina Island.
Garibaldi maintains a patch of algae (just in front of the fish) to entice a female to lay a clutch of eggs
Red gorgonian Leptogorgia chilensis, purple hydrocoral Stylaster californicus, and yellow zoanthid anemone Epizoanthus giveni, at Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island
Catalina Island, West End.
Giant black sea bass, endangered species, reaching up to 8' in length and 500 lbs, amid giant kelp forest
Red gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis) rises above fields of purple hydrocoral (Stylaster californicus, Allopora californica) on Farnsworth Bank, Catalina Island.
Garibaldi and golden gorgonian, with a underwater forest of giant kelp rising in the background, underwater.
Fisheye view of a Giant Kelp Forest, Catalina Island
Fisheye view of a Giant Kelp Forest, Catalina Island
California golden gorgonian under a kelp forest, Catalina Island
Diver and garibaldi.
Marina algae, Stephanocystis dioica
Diver and Kelp Forest, Catalina Island
Kelp forest near Eagle Rock, West End, Catalina Island.
Garibaldi in kelp forest, Catalina Island
Garibaldi in kelp forest, near Eagle Rock, Catalina Island
Kelp forest near Eagle Rock, West End, Catalina Island.
Giant black sea bass, endangered species, reaching up to 8' in length and 500 lbs, amid giant kelp forest. Catalina Island, California, USA
Submarine Reef with Hydrocoral and Invertebrates, Farnsworth Banks, Catalina Island
Parasitic zoanthid anemones (yellow) cover dead/dying brown gorgonian. Eagle Rock.
Blacksmith chromis and Garibaldi aggregation, Catalina
Garibaldi swims beside golden and red gorgonians, underwater.
Seagrass and southern sea palm, Catalina
Kelp fronds showing pneumatocysts, bouyant gas-filled bubble-like structures which float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface, where it will spread to form a roof-like canopy.
Pacific torpedo ray, Farnsworth Banks.
Blue-banded goby, Catalina island.
Marine algae, various species, in shallow water underwater.
Blackeye goby.
Garibaldi and gorgonian.
Catalina Island and mountainous terrain on the weather (southeast) side of the island.
Diver and enormous school of salema, Xenistius californiensis, Catalina, California.
Assorted lowlying kelps, including surf grass and southern palm kelp.
Spiny lobster.
Salema.
Pacific torpedo ray, Farnsworth Banks.