Wrecks, Coral, and Critters, Palau—February, 2012

Bow cannon on the Iro Maru, a Japanese WWII wreck
Photo by Mark Harrison

Cases of sake
Photo by Mark Harrison

Kind of looks like a German bowl, doesn't it?
Photo by Wendy Wood

Vase
Photo by Wendy Wood

Blue sponges
Photo by Wendy Wood

Surreal sponges
Photo by Wendy Wood

Funky green coral or sponge?
Photo by Mark Harrison

Beautiful red gorgonian coral
Photo by Mark Harrison

Iridescent corals
Photo by Wendy Wood

All sorts of corals
Photo by Wendy Wood

Lots of soft corals
Photo by Mark Harrison

Bill hovers over the lettuce coral
Photo by Mark Harrison

Nice soft coral
Photo by Mark Harrison

Starfish were fairly uncommon
Photo by Steve Bramlett

Here's another starfish
Photo by Wendy Wood

And another
Photo by Wendy Wood

Feather stars, and basket stars at night, were plentiful, however
Photo by Mark Harrison

Banded coral shrimp
Photo by Wendy Wood

Cute little crab--about 1 cm across--nestled in a coral
Photo by Wendy Wood

The crab that Lori found on a night dive
Photo by Hector Manglicmot

An octopus hides well, but Wendy still got the shot
Photo by Wendy Wood

One of several giant (1 meter across) clams that we saw--note how the corals grow on the shells
Photo by Mark Harrison

Another giant clam
Photo by Wendy Wood

A giant clam with iridescent colors thickly encrusted in coral
Photo by Wendy Wood

Smaller clams were numerous and very colorful
Photo by Wendy Wood

Nudibranch
Photo by Rafael Ruiz

Nudibranch
Photo by Wendy Wood

Nudibranch
Photo by Wendy Wood

Nudibranch eggs
Photo by Wendy Wood