Mediterranenean wrasse

-The characterist black spot at the tail is big and at the upper half of the tail.
-It lives at nests made by the male.
-see also http://fishbase.org/summary/Speciessummary.php?id=4578
-photo taken at east Attiki at summer07.

wander by mistake.

-Salps are very strange creatures. They are organized in colonies to travel through the oceans. They are plankonic organisms so a current may drift the whole colony near to the coast. This will doom the colony to death.
-This specie is also called giant salp. I don't know if the ring colony of the first photo take that shape because it is too close to the shore.
-It was too late for the individual to get off the colonie. After some minutes it gonna crash on the rocks. (second photo)
-photos taken from chalkidiki (elia beach) february 09
-http://www.sealifebase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=55908&genusname=Thetys&speciesname=vagina

The prize of beginner fishermen wins an honour!

-It's the easiest fish to catch by hook.
-today newspaper said that it's the healthier fish to eat (by a MESFIDE research)
-this photo taken from Chios island (emporios beach) at september 07

The star of the Med

Peltaster placenta
-This is my favorite starfish and I usually see it below 25 m.
-The color and texture are characteristic, could not get mixed up
with anything else in the Aegean, yet!
-Beautiful pentamerous symmetry.
-This one was photographed in Kelifos Island, Chalkidiki

Καρτσινάκι ή Πάγουρος

-They are used as a bait.
-They are climbing at sea grass and other sea inhabitants.
-Pagurus anochoretus may be a group of species.

Σιδεροκάβουρας

-They usually are night active but sometimes you can meet them also during the day.
-Photo taken from N.Euboic gulf (N.Artaki) at december 07.

A kiss in the dreamhouse

-Coris julis (Linnaeus, 1758) http://fishbase.org/summary/Speciessummary.php?id=58
-This colour combination is used by females. The males are more colourful.
-Fishermen consider them as bad luck because they are very hard to get off the hook.
-Mediterranean rainbow wrasse is most common name.
-Protogynous.
-I think that they make signs of alert by raising their first dorsal spine when a diver gets close to them.
-Γύλος το πιο διαδεδομένο όνομα του.

-Pseudocarnanx dentex (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) http://fishbase.org/summary/Speciessummary.php?id=1002
-Κοκάλι το πιο διαδεδομένο κοινό του όνομα.
-Very curious fish. If you are calm it will aproach you.
-When it is young it mimes other fishes. Generally has very strange behavior .
-Both photos taken from Paros island (mikri Santa Maria beach) at summer of 2008.

Atlantic trumpet triton - Βούκινο ή Μπουρού

One animal that it is referred to the Mediterranean culture is Atlantic trumpet Triton or Charonia variegata. This specie used to be called Charonia tritonis variegata and that's the reason of confusion with his Indo-Pacific cousin Charonia tritonis (which used to be called Charonia tritonis tritonis). In Mediterranean Sea we can meet one more member of the family the Charonia lampas which can grow bigger than C.variegata but it is relatively rare to meet it at the eastern part of Mediterranean sea.
Tritons take their name by an ancient god of Greeks who was the messenger of the sea and son of Poseidon. They also called trumpet because of their shape and of the fact that their shell was used by the ancient civilization as a trumpet. The bad habit of the divers collecting the Tritons for their shells is a danger for their population. If we like their shell we have to wait until we found an empty one at the beach. Also we should avoid buying this shells at markets. It is said that it lives more than 20 years.
It feeds mainly on seastars and other molluscs. It is makes big distances to find a seastar and it likes moving straight-line undisturbed by any blocks. They have separated sexes.
Photo and video taken at my beloved Apothika beach at Chios.

Lung Jelly or Octopus Jelly

- It's the biggest jelly fish species in the Meditarranean sea.
- photo taken from Pileion Greece (trikeri) at march 09

European barracuda - Λούτσος

- minimum population doubling time more than 14 years http://fishbase.org/summary/Speciessummary.php?id=1765
- when travelling they form school of hundred fish that move peacefully. They look like a river in the sea (if you witness it u/w).
- small school may hunt in an area for several days (ex. a reef or a rock area at sandy bottom). The school makes periodiacal appearances in the area. I think that barracuda strategy is to leave the area so that the other fishes get-off the alert and then suddenly come back with more chances of successful hunting.
-Staying calm u/w will allow you come go near the fishes. Easier is to stay moveless and let the fishes aproach you.
-photo taken from Paros island Greece (small Santa Maria beach), September 08

Homo sapiens