Favoritos de davidsando

Warming itself wrapped around the (GRN) Government Radio Network Radio at the Show Cave entrance to Kelly Hill Caves. Felt first then seen. Luckily not bitten. Snake was safely relocated and released into the nearby scrub.

Common on this dive and many were clearly awaiting cleaning (as were most of the other leatherjacket species seen, although I don't include the two smaller Acanthaluteres genus members in this general comment, and FWIW the subject Bluelined Leatherjacket above was foraging when I took the photo. )

These were loitering at a cleaning station, as is so often the case at this location. And again, there were many individuals seen on this 2+ hours dive.[So much so, that I reckon Mosaic Leatherjackets are the commonest filefish under the old jetty on many dives there. The only real contenders are each of the Acanthaluteres genus members, and on some dives here they can be dominant numerically. (Any of the
three species within that genus-Bridled, Toothbrush, and Spinytail- can be prolific here. However, the Acanthaluteres members usually seem less fixated on seeking the old jetty cleaning stations than the Mosaic Leatherjackets. And one often sees small schools of Acanthaluteres members arriving and departing, or generally being more inclined to explore/forage widely when under and near the jetty. So they seem less site attached than the Mosaic Leatherjackets.Ive seen every one of the regular Leatherjacket jetty taxa seek cleaning there, but none seem as though getting cleaned is the main reason they're ALWAYS present. Whereas I'm inclined to think that is the main attraction for Mosaic Leatherjackets. That said, the mosaics seem to be very fond of hanging onto jetty pile fixtures overnight, so perhaps the availability of many cleaning stations is only one factor here. Sorry...another lengthy and speculative ramble;(