True Colors Thursday... Brown

Lots of Brown stuff in the ocean but it is harder than I thought to find pics that showed brown. When you take a picture of something brown in the ocean it often does not look very brown. (Note that you can click on any of my pics to see them bigger. If I try to make them bigger in Blogger they end up blurry but the uploaded images are usually pretty big!).

The most obvious brown to me is coral. Many people think coral is bright and colorful but I think this idea comes from soft corals, sponges and fish that share the reef with hard corals. Coral skeleton is generally white and the animal itself is usually clear and the color you see is from algae living inside the coral which is usually greenish brownish yellowish in color. A few weeks ago you saw Elkhorn coral as an orange coral but it can also be more of a golden color or even brown depending on where it is living. The coral in the first pic is a 'cactus' coral. and the second one is sheet or scroll coral. These and many others can often have small touches of pinks and greens but in general they are more brown than any other color!




This seahorse is brown. Although it may not be visually all that spectacular they are rarely seen on Caribbean reefs (at least by me) and more common in grass beds. They may be there, but they are pretty good at hiding so they are hard to see! This is the one and only seahorse I have seen in person on the reef in the nearly 2000 dives I have done on reefs. Pretty exciting.



















These porcupine fish are really common but completely hilarious to watch. So ugly they are cute!

One day in Curacao we stumbled on what we decided was a squid family reunion! Usually you see 4 or 5 squid together but there were more than we could count in this spot! I count 21 in this pic but there were even more and many of them looked like babies. They look kinda brown here but they change color before your eyes so it is impossible to say what color they are! (Click on it to get a decent look at it.)

I also have to add that my Moose has some big brown eyes!
Also I found this new site over at Barkability.com. It is called Molly Mutt and she has a great solution for dog bedding that you should check out! Two of my favorites are brown so I figure it is relevant to mention today. I have not ordered one yet but if I do get one I will post our take on the idea here.

This meme is hosted by Blue, and next week's color is Yellow, See you then!