best day at the beach

I just got home from the best day at the beach ever. I went to Daytona FL and it was the best trip I think I have ever had in my life.

We saw so many animals.

1: sting rays. saw a ton of them all over the place.
2: barnacle clusters. Found a bunch of them floating onto shore without animals so I took those home. The ones with animals I threw back.
3: huge clam the size of a base ball. I always see tiny clams never a huge one like this though
4: a baby shovel nose shark
5: I saw a bunch of crabs. Saw a couple of crabs (blue crabs I believe) mating and a hermit crab in an awesome long spiral shell.
6: saw some dolphins
7: a tiny eel thing. was about 2" long and black.

but the coolest thing of all...

8: A MANTIS SHRIMP! At first I thought it was a small stick floating under the water, until I realized it was swimming against the current. On closer inspection I determined it to be a spearer mantis most likely a Pseudosquilla ciliata.

I almost saw a sting ray eat said mantis but the ray changed courses when it saw how close I was standing to the mantis.

 

Awesome day, congrats

 

This is so cool. I wanna live near the coast so I can go to the beach.

 

MAAAAANTIIIISSSSSSSS!!!! In the wild!!! Every time I go snorkeling in Destin when we venture to the beach I keep my eyes open for one There was a nice cluster of boulders/rocks on the bottom about 15 feet deep...but the water wasn't exactly calm enough for me to be comfortable going out that far

Man I wish you had an underwater camera.

 

sounds like a reef keepers day out to me Stepho

where you tempted to try and snag the Mantis?
I know it may not be legal in some areas, but either way its a severe test of character Im sure many would agree


Steve

 

sweet sounds like a great day, i heard there were man-a-wars out there like last week or so, did you see any of them?

 

I was very tempted to snag it. It would have been legal too. I just don't have a tank set up right now for a spearer, and no way to transport it home. Don't worry though I plan on setting up a tank and going back to snag one.

My girlfriend caught one today (while I was at work... lame!) and she took a picture. I think this one was sick or something. She said it wasn't as lively as the one yesterday.

 

lol when I was snorkeling in malaysia I saw clams over 3 feet long... I cannot see their shell... It's like all buried in the rock...