https://sealifewiki.com/articles/Field notes about marine species, habitats, and destinations.en-usSun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://sealifewiki.com/articles/octopus-garden-warm-springs-california/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/octopus-garden-warm-springs-california/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000Two miles below California, pearl octopuses brood over warm cracks in the rock. A faint shimmer marks a natural incubator that can cut years from the wait for their eggs to hatch.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/underwater-photo-color-white-balance-light/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/underwater-photo-color-white-balance-light/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000The reef looked colorful; your photograph looks blue, and the flash adds a snowstorm of white dots. Here is how distance, lighting, and color balance change the next frame.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/moray-eel-second-jaws/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/moray-eel-second-jaws/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000The front jaws pin the prey. A second set reaches forward inside the mouth, grips the meal, and hauls it into the throat—a hidden handoff behind the teeth you can see.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/little-cayman-grouper-moon-spawning/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/little-cayman-grouper-moon-spawning/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000A grouper beneath a ledge is only the beginning. At Little Cayman’s winter gathering, barred fish turn dark and pale, then surge upward to spawn above the shelf edge.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/green-hawksbill-loggerhead-turtle-identification/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/green-hawksbill-loggerhead-turtle-identification/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000Watch the head, then the shell’s trailing edge. Those two views often tell you more than the color that first caught your eye.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/parrotfish-mucus-cocoon-night-parasites/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/parrotfish-mucus-cocoon-night-parasites/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000A clear envelope helps keep tiny blood-feeders off a resting parrotfish. Catch its outline in the edge of your torch beam, then leave the fish and its shelter undisturbed.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/bonaire-lac-bay-reef-nurseries/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/bonaire-lac-bay-reef-nurseries/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000Look between Lac Bay’s mangrove roots and into the seagrass beside them. Young snappers and parrotfish use different hiding places before many move onto the reef.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/bluehead-wrasse-social-sex-change/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/bluehead-wrasse-social-sex-change/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000The largest female can begin courting within hours of a dominant male’s disappearance. Watch who chases whom: the takeover starts before the new male’s body is ready.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/monterey-sea-otters-urchins-kelp-forest/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/monterey-sea-otters-urchins-kelp-forest/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000Purple urchins cover the bare reef, yet otters hunt among the kelp next door. The apparent buffet holds a catch: a spiny shell can contain very little worth eating.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/blue-tang-yellow-juveniles-reef-gardens/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/blue-tang-yellow-juveniles-reef-gardens/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000A damselfish chases one blue tang while others bite into its algae patch. Nearby, a yellow juvenile of the same species keeps returning to its own piece of reef.https://sealifewiki.com/articles/green-sea-turtles-florida-keys/https://sealifewiki.com/articles/green-sea-turtles-florida-keys/Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000A habitat-first way to use SeaLifeWiki when looking for green sea turtles in the shallow waters of the Keys.