Underwater Photography by Derek Tarr

Despite a large surf advisory today, the water was very clear at La Jolla Shores. We dived to a maximum of 63′ at the edge of the La Jolla submarine canyon, drifting along the sandstone/mudstone edge of a canyon wall, photographing tube-dwelling anemones (Pachycerianthus fimbriatus) that live buried in the soft sediment. The photograph below is a close-up of the anemone’s tentacles and “oral disk”.

Photograph of a tube-dwelling anemone

Toward the end of our dive, swimming out of the canyon in to shallower water, I took a few minutes to photograph one of the few Bay Pipefish (Syngnathus leptorhynchus) that we saw. The shot below was taken of the pipefish swimming over my dive buddy’s black glove.

Photograph of a Bay Pipefish (Syngnathus leptorhynchus)

I’ve now spent over 2,000 minutes underwater this July in support of the San Diego Oceans Foundation Dive-a-Thon. Please consider supporting this great organization by donating on my
Dive-a-Thon Donations page.

Thanks again to North County Scuba Center for providing air for our tanks, and to APS Mantaray for the use of their fins!