Recent Dives at Kazejima

 

Aka-Isohaze (アカイソハゼ Eviota masudai). Thanks Henmi sensei and Mizuki san for pointing it out to me.

PC Ami Kodera

Probably Chromodoris orientalis

Tons of abalone seen on the northwest tip of the island.

Yabby Pump surveys. Sucking little critters right out of their burrows. Rarely done on scuba so there's a high possibility we could find new species.

Saw a pair of Hoshinohaze (Istigobius hoshinonis) performing a mating ritual. Very similar to what ive seen in Kutsuwahaze (Istigobius campbelli), but some minor differences.

PC: Yumi Henmi

    I've been diving a bunch recently. Summer sampling season is a ton of fun. Diving at least twice a week or so. So many visiting researchers and collaborators asking for collections of certain fish or invertebrates. It is such a rewarding thing to do. I feel like a real life Pokemon hunter haha. I would kill to be able to work a job where this was one of my responsibilities. Dive tech, collections, underwater project management. Its a possibility here in Japan. Not many people use scuba diving for their projects, so there's a lack of in situ studies in the ocean and collections are difficult when the inverts or fish cant be caught by traditional fish traps or other surface methods. Leaves a lot to be discovered, and many of my Japanese colleagues love that taxonomy and finding new organisms.