The Great Barrier Reef: The Water

Sorry for the delay for these pictures--it's been a while since I had to get a roll of film developed. Without further ado:
Coral-This is one of the more
colorful pictures we took. The water filters out all of the colors, starting with red then moving through the spectrum--remember ROY G BIV? All the great postcard coral pictures you see are taken with a flash and usually at night.
Parrotfish-Named because it is
colorful and has a beak like a parrot. They bite off bits of coral, eating little organisms lliving on it. Parrotfish are responsible for a cup and an half of sand per day from chewed up coral.
Clownfish-Nemo! Nemo! These
little fish are funny because they aren't afraid of anything. You swim down to them and they'll get right in your face, daring you to mess with them or their anemone.
Starfish and clam-The blue
starfish shows up well because blue is the last color filtered out by the water. The clam on the left is rather small. We saw others that were five feet across.
Diver-That's me.
We had a picture of an octopus I was disappointed to see not come out. We only saw its head (the rest was down a hole in a boulder), but it was the size of a soccer ball. He was red, but turned white as you approached him. The marine biologist on the cruise said they do that to appear unappetizing so you don't eat him.
Hope you've enjoyed these underwater photos. The snorkeling was for me the hightlight of the trip. One more entry to go on the cruise, but you shouldn't have to wait as long for the next one.