Whew! That was a tricky one! After discounting the barnacles and the sea anemone (remember we asked you to ignore the animals stuck to a rock), there doesn’t seem to be much left in the picture. The creature in question in this Challenge was not only tiny but it was amazingly well-camouflaged.
I thought my eyes were deceiving me until Lance verified that he too, had seen a piece of algae swimming. Upon closer observation we discovered that our swimmer was a tiny, bright green fish! Research revealed that it was a Tidepool Sculpin (Oligocottus maculosus). Apparently these little fish are masters of disguise; not only are they small (rarely exceeding 3.5 inches) but they come in a wide range of colors and can change hues rapidly depending on their surroundings. On top of those effective survival traits Sculpins can breath air when out of water and their sharp spines are venomous! Sculpins sound like they are prepared for anything. Which is good because as tidepool residents they live in one of the harshest environments around.
I did not have my big camera with me that day, so my photos don’t do justice to the little bugger. It’s highlighted for you in both the original Challenge photo and in a subsequent one.
Thanks to Alison, Michael, and Karen for taking a stab at it. Though Alison’s guess was in the neighborhood we managed to stump you this time—a rare feat. Looking forward to the next Challenge!
Tidepool Sculpin (Oligocottus maculosus)
(Click either photo for a larger version.)
Well, what you didn’t see was the shark lurking to the right of the Sculpin waiting for just the right moment to attack. Ha! This was a difficult challenge for a desert dweller.
Bummer that we missed out on the shark attack. See, I told you tidepool life was dangerous!
Southern Arizona was once covered by an inland sea, ya know. You’ll just have to go back in time a little bit…
I must say even in real life it was really hard to see this fish—it’s amazingly camouflaged.
Thanks for posting the answer! Andrew and I puzzled over this for a bit. We found two things that looked like fish’s heads/eyes poking out of the sand, but we just couldn’t be sure, so we didn’t post an answer. We were both interested to see the photo of the Sculpin. We look forward to the next challenge…my little scientist really enjoyed the hunt!
Heidi
How fun that you Andrew were super sleuths! Please don’t ever be afraid to guess – after all, you were pretty close since it was a fish.
Yay for young ones who love science!