Author: William Ihne

Finespotted Jawfish excavate a tunnel down into the sand. They back their tail and trunk into the hole and most often can be scene with their head visible within the opening of the tunnel. As you swim over, the fish will track you with their eyes, and you can sometimes see the head turn to follow you as you cross over their path. Watch! 

Longenose puffers can be pesky! I have been bitten 5 times. Become aware of their behaviors so you can keep that number at zero. Those that have been approached by this cute little fish, please share your encounters in the video comment section.

Here is a video of Stingrays Swimming in Ventana Bay. They have a reputation of being stingy creatures, however, stingrays would rather not sting you. But when you step on them, you leave them no choice! To prevent this, some recommend shuffling your feet in the sand to scare them off.

 Here is a very short video to introduce what a Stingray looks like buried in the sand. Stingrays are harmless creatures, unless you step on one when they are buried in the sand. Some people shuffle their feet in the sand to scare them away. That’s what I do when I enter the water. A Stingray has a barb on the tail that they use to defend themselves; that’s the sting in Stingray. It’s very painful. Stingrays will leave you alone otherwise. I enjoy watching their unique and graceful way of swimming.

Learn to recognize when a female Sharpnose Puffer exhibits nest building behavior so when you snorkel, you too can spot the reproductive behaviors of these fish. This short film shows pairs of Puffers engaged in reproduction. 

I have put together a free reef fish ID resource video with 94 species of fish from our very own Ventana Bay. The photos were taken while snorkeling in the bay. I hope the vid brings some joy to people over the holiday, and is useful to those who want to get to know our local fish residents. Thank you to Mary Sim for collaborating on this project! She’s been so helpful since I started documenting fish around our local reefs in the fall of 2017.

Hawksbill Turtle Sighting in Ventana Bay! Here’s a short video of a beautiful creature sighted Dec 9