Ecuador 2025  ~  Ecuador 2024  ~  Belize 2024  ~  Ecuador 2023  ~  Ecuador 2022

Belize 2024

Glover's Reef Atoll

Approaching Middle Caye, on Glover's Reef, where a remote research station is our base

Looking back out to sea

Once underwater, the real treasures appear, including this Rock Beauty

And these Fairy Basslets

Some fishes are shy, hiding in holes like this Red Hind

Or a parrotfish, rousing itself from a nap in a secluded cave

Some are strongly patterned and have great names, to wit, a Spotted Drum

And a Blue Hamlet

Belize Zoo

We took a break from snorkeling, and visited the Belize Zoo, where rescued animals are nursed back to health and cared for amid natural vegetation by a terrific staff. Among the delightful residents are several Baird's Tapirs.

They get fed regularly by visitors, and certainly know how to ask for another snack!

Puma (Felis concolor), the same species as North America's mountain lion, enjoys a meal of its own

A troop of Geoffroy's Spider Monkeys hang out in a large patch of trees owned by the Zoo

Back at Glover's Reef

Juvenile fishes are particularly appealing, wrapped in bright colors and delightfully tiny, like this Cocoa Damselfish

And the closely related Longfin Damselfish

And still more: Yellowfin and Threespot Damselfishes

There's more than colorful fishes beneath the waves, check out this Flamingo Tongue mollusc

Spots and stripes of color are ubiquitous, on innocuous creatures like this French Grunt

Or this Red Lionfish, a voracious predator that's recently invaded the Caribbean (from their natural home in the Western Pacific)

Ecuador 2024  ~  Ecuador 2023

© 2024 Joe Meisel