Francis hickenbottom's Nature Notes: La Palma Snorkelling List.

Francis Hickenbottom’s Nature Notes.

Snorkelling Species List

1. Trumpetfish (Aulostomus strigosus) - several of these seen.

2. Blue-Fin Damselfish (Abudefduf luridus) - numerous.

3. Cow Bream (Scarpa scalpa) - numerous schools.

4. White Bream (Diplodus sargus cadenati) or Sharp-Snout Sea

Bream(Diplodus puntazzo) - I think I saw schools of both species.

5. Blacktail Comber (Serranus atricauda) - numerous.

6. Red-Lipped Blenny - numerous. One of these looked straight at me

from a boulder, showing the red lips.

7. Parrotfish (Sparisoma cretense) - several seen.

8. Unidentified blenny - this one had yellow stripes on its head.

9. A black sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) - also known as the lime

Urchin or long-spined sea urchin. This species is numerous and is

becoming a problem in the Canary Islands.

10. Green anenomes - these had long green tentacles but I didn’t see

them well enough to give them a positive identification.

11. A sponge - on several boulders, there was a green covering composed

of what looked like the cells of a bumblebee comb. I think this was a

species of sponge.

12. A small sea slug - this was moving across a sandy area.