Tag: soft coral

Cute young Reef fish

reef fish, underwater

Amphiprion clarkii (Bennett, 1830) Yellowtail clownfish

Yellowtail clownfish hiding between the tentacles of an anemone.
I create goods like T-Shirt, iPhone-cover and so on. Please visit my shop, by clicking this photo.

This pic, I shot a few years ago at Owase, Mie, Japan. Owase is a small city that belongs to the temperature zone, even though, the colorful tropic scenery under the sea.
Year after year, the seascape is reaching tropical, I feel.
When I started Dive in Owase, about 30 years ago, I couldn’t watch young Yellowtail clownfish. Yellowtail clownfish was the fish that visited from the tropical zone to the temperature zone and couldn’t overwinter so cold as “extinct migratory fish”.
Two decades years ago or so, We often watch adult Yellow clownfish in early spring. We were surprised to know that they were over winter.
And recently, We can see cute small Yellowtail clownfish easily.
It is or not concerned with the earth’s temperature rising, I don’t know.
I can only say that nature is great!

Location: Owase, Mie Japan

Rock Reef princess

shrimp, Uncategorized

Banded Coral Shrimp

Stenopus hispidus   (Olivier, 1811)

One stone is one of the popular diving points in Owase. It is a large monolith rock reef. Many kinds of soft coral are overgrown, and a flock of cardinalfish and colorful Anthias fishes entertain the diver’s eyes.
There are large and small cracks in this rock reef, and you can see shrimp and crabs.

Banded coral shrimp is common shrimp in such rock holes.
Beautifully colored shrimp decorated with red and white bands.
The Japanese name for Banded coral shrimp is Otohime-Ebi. Otohime is the name of a beautiful princess who lives in a fairy tale undersea palace. Ebi is shrimp. Contrary to its name, it is diligent and is known for cleaning large fish parasites.

The concrete block is an anti symbol of nature?

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Tree soft coral (Dendronephthya sp.)

I like Soft coral against the backdrop of sunshine.
It’s one of the symbolic scenery of the undersea in Owase.
It’s beautiful, elegant, mysterious.
It’s beauty in nature.
However, this soft coral is standing on the artificial fish reef.
It is made of a lot of concrete blocks.


The concrete block is an anti symbol of nature.
It was installed on the sandy seabed about 50years ago.
The time makes it keep changing from an artificial thing to the natural rock reef.
Thanks to the artificial fish reef, you can enjoy the colorful soft coral and many kinds of sea creatures here.

Please visit related articles about Owase
”Can you believe I took these photos in mainland Japan?”

Tsumaguro-hatanpo (Pempheris japonica Döderlein, 1883)

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Tsumaguro-hatanpo (Pempheris japonica Döderlein, 1883) swims between colorful soft corals. Owase, Mie, Japan.

Tsumaguro means a black chip in Japanese. There are black spots at tips of the dorsal fin and the anal fin. The English common name isn’t in Fish Base ( https://www.fishbase.se/summary/13021).

I took this photo at shallow water at HitotsuIshi Point. This point is one of the popular diving points at the inner bay. It is the point enjoy from the shallow like under few feet to the deep like over 100feet.
This point is a reef made from the big rock standing up from the sandy seabed about -60ft. Colorful soft corals cover those walls.
The sandy seabed is continuing gentle slope down to 100ft.
We can see the fantastic Gorgonian wrapper and Ring anemone on the way of that slope also.

A bunch of flowers under the sea

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The visibility is not the same in even the same point, you know. We like clear water for diving. However, sometimes, murky water gives us a chance. When I took this photo, the visibility of the surface was awful. On that day, the sunlight didn’t reach the seabed where was ordinary days bright. I was Swimming in dim light with buddies. Suddenly this bunch of Orange cup coral was appearing in the spotlight of my flashlight. All tentacles were blooming. It looked like a bunch of orange color Daisy flowers.
The Orange cup coral might have been mistaken for the night due to the dark surroundings. Owase, Mie, Japan

whip coral garden

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in the dim sea bed

Whip coral garden at Nagase point, Owase, Mie, Japan.
This is an inner bay point, but the tide is often fast. So, we can enjoy many kinds of soft coral. I like the whip coral garden. Whip coral is an invertebrate with long, whip-like branches covered in tiny polyps. are living on a big rock. The scenery a lot of the whip coral standing in the dim sea bed is very mysterious. Owase, Mie, Japan March 21 2020 -18m

The power of the ocean

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Inside an artificial reef: The stacked concrete blocks covered with colorful soft coral. It looks like a cave.
It built only about 20 years ago. The power of the ocean is excellent. Anything humanmade is reforming easy and makes returning to nature. at Hasama, Chiba, Japan

Article: 尾鷲　Owase

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The Under water flower garden

The Artificial Fish-reef

The Gyosho point is the garden of Marine flowers. Concrete blocs covered with many colorful soft corals. And it is a habitat for a lot of creatures. It is located south of the Kii peninsula. Mie, Japan.
The article linked (The web magazine TRiPE DiTOR) is in Japanese. But you can enjoy photos.

I introduced that place detailed also in Guide Book “New 50 Best Dives in Japan” (in English). On sale at Amazon.com

Macro : A Uroptychus joloensis on the branch of Chironephthya sp.

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Common names, please

A Uroptychus joloensis on the branch of Chironephthya sp. We have a common name in Japanese for both of them. Uroptychus joloensis is Kudayagi-Moebi. Chironephthya sp. is Kudayagi. Moebi is the shrimp belong to Hippolytidae, and also, it means small shrimp in Japanese. I want to know their common name in English. Although I checked many books and sites on the internet. I can’t find out. Can you help me? By the way. According to SeaLifeBase. they live at Deep-water, depth range 20 – 250 m. Fortunately, this pic was taken -18m. Thanks to shallow water, I could stay at the bottom of the sea a long time to take a photo. Hitotsu –ishi point, Owase, Mie, Japan. Owase is nice place.