Monterey, Natural History Photography Blog

We came to Monterey packing some serious photo schwag to photograph the otters. Between Jon and I, we had two 50Ds and at least one each of 5D, 1DIIN, 1DsII, 300/2.8, 400/DO and 500/4 lenses, plus a nice medium format film rig. This sea otter (Enhydra lutris) was nevertheless quite unimpressed.

A sea otter, resting on its back, grooms the fur on its head. A sea otter depends on its fur to keep it warm and afloat, and must groom its fur frequently. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA. Image: 21605   Species: Enhydra lutris Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA

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When I visit Monterey I always make a stop by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Always. My kids love it, and I can get a better look at some of the undersea life by visiting the aquarium than if I went to the hassle of actually diving. (I used to dive in the cold waters of Monterey, but am now a wuss and … you get the picture.) The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the finest aquariums in the country. This sea nettle jellyfish (Chrysaora fuscescens) is beautifully lit in one of the Outer Bay jellyfish tanks at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Sea nettle jellyfish. Image: 21511   Species: Chrysaora fuscescens

I made this shot using some tricks I know for making good photos in an aquarium setting, hand held with no flash.

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A great egret (Ardea alba) stands on a floating patch of kelp, picking fish out of the water that are unfortunate enough to swim too close. Monterey’s famous Cannery Row stands in the background.

Great egret catches a fish while standing on floating kelp in front of Cannery Row buildings, along the Monterey waterfront, early morning. Monterey, California, USA. Image: 21554   Species: Ardea alba Location: Monterey, California, USA

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Here is one of the cuter sea otters (Enhydra lutris) I managed to photograph in Monterey recently. After shooting one afternoon’s worth of otters, both Jon and I decided that it was not worth spending time taking pictures of the dark-faced otters — their deep brown fur made it tough to get an appealing exposure without blowing out the background. So, like guys are wont to do the world over, we focused our attention entirely on the blondes. Seen in this photo is “Paris,” known for her vacant expression and vacuous intellect.* As one would expect, the blond otters made for the best photos, something about having been to modeling school and having a good surgeon.

A sea otter, resting on its back, holding its paw out of the water for warmth. While the sea otter has extremely dense fur on its body, the fur is less dense on its head, arms and paws so it will hold these out of the cold water to conserve body heat. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA. Image: 21602   Species: Enhydra lutris Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth!

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* The astute observer will note that this otter, being male**, technically should not be named Paris. Good point, we’ll call him Jessica.

** If you are not able to identify this otter as a male, then go here to get the info.

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I was recently up in Monterey to join Jon Cornforth trying to photograph sea otters (Enhydra lutris). We saw a few. In this photo, Casanova (the male sea otter on the left) is holding his lady friend (the female, inverted on the right, apparently not enjoying it) by HER NOSE as he mates with her. It is brutal, yes, but it is standard otter fare. Male sea otters usually mate with females in this manner, so much so that females can usually be identified by their scarred and wounded noses.

Sea otters mating. The male holds the female’s head or nose with his jaws during copulation. Visible scars are often present on females from this behavior. Sea otters have a polygynous mating system. Males actively defend territories and will mate with females that inhabit their territory or seek out females in estrus if no territory is established. Males and females typically bond for the duration of estrus, or about 3 days. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA. Image: 21606   Species: Enhydra lutris Location: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Landing, California, USA

See more of our sea otter photos.

What’s with the title of this post, you might wonder? Strangely, an earlier post of mine entitled “Rough Sex” has become one of the most popular posts on this site. So I thought I would do a little shameless SEO and use the technique again hoping for more visitors.

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This photo of a Hermissenda crassicornis, also known as an “Opalescent nudibranch”, was shot in the early 90’s near Carmel on the Monterey Peninsula. We rented a house in the town of Carmel for a week. Anticipating foggy skies and cold murky water, we did not expect to do much diving. However, surprised with sunny weather and clearer-than-normal water, we made a number boat dives and a few beach dives not far from the house, resulting in a nice variety of invertebrate images including some nudibranchs. This is one of those images.

Nudibranch on calcareous coralline algae. Monterey, California, USA. Image: 01064   Species: Hermissenda crassicornis Location: Monterey, California, USA

The Sea Slug Forum has a great fact sheet page on this species. Also, the SlugSite has an excellent species description of Hermissenda crassicornis.

Keywords: nudibranch photo, sea slug, Hermissenda crassicornis, underwater, photograph, Monterey, California, Carmel.

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