SeaMop!!

SeaMop, ba duba dop, Ba SeaMop, ba duba dop, Ba SeaMop, ba duba dop, Ba du

Last weekend Ameena was here to visit, and on Monday of last week, we went snorkeling at Richardson. Ameena was finding all of the great stuff that day. There was a nice big honu that we swam along with for a while. That's alway cool. Them creatures are big. I also saw several reef fish I'd never seen there before. Of course, we didn't have the camera, so I have no idea what they were. I guess that'll teach me to start bringing the camera every time.

At one point Ameena called me over, and said there was something crawling across the sea floor. I figured it was a sea cucumber or something, but she said it was like a crazy starfish. So I dove down and got a good look at what she was talking about.

At first glance, it looked like it was a big dust mop, (it had 16 legs) a lot like this, only more purple. I swam down for a closer look.

Yep. It had to be dubbed "SeaMop." 

I really wanted to pick it up, but decided against it (this later was revealed to be the best decision I would make all week). We watched it cruise along the sandy(ish) bottom for a while, just scooting right along, like sixteen of those fuzzy caterpillars moving in unison.

Once home, we looked the thing up on the internet, and found out that it's the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish. This thing is evil. Basically it's a reef-killer. And apart from the coral-eating, just in case you didn't read the wikipedia article, here's why my decision to not pick up anything that has spikes in the ocean was such a good one:

The crown-of-thorns produces a neurotoxin which can be released through its spines. Not only are the wounds themselves serious, but the neurotoxin can cause a sharp stinging pain that can last for hours, as well as nausea and vomiting. Frequently, the area around the wound turns a dark blue and begins to swell (edema), which may persist for weeks.[citation needed] The spine(s) themselves may break off and become embedded inside the skin. This can lead to infection, and increased toxicity.

Awesome. That was almost me.

So people don't like these things at all.  It's not listed on the above-linked page, but divers do a lot to try and eradicate them from the reef.  Funny story, though...  They would stab them.  The C-o-T would heal.  So they started chopping them up into little pieces.  Each of those pieces would each grow into a new 16-legged reef killer.   Crazy.  So they'd grab them and take them way out away from the reef so they'd starve.  Turns out these things can live for six months without food.  Dang, these things are tough.

You know what would kill one though?

Potato rake.

The next day, Ameena happened to be seated on her plane home next to a marine biologist.  Apparently the biologist freaked out at the story and immediately called some friends of hers to go out to Richardson and find this thing and get rid of it.  That's how scary these things are.