May 2023 Sea-Gram

The May

Sea-gram

from MilaBooks.com

For ocean lovers, divers,

and "deep-thinkers."

"You Lookin' At Me?"

A Caribbean octopus glances back at us before scooting away.

Paul Mila Photo, Curacao, Dutch Caribbean

Welcome to the May 2023 Sea-gram,

from MilaBooks.com

First of all, Happy Cinco de Mayo, to all my Cozumel amigos and amigas!

In this month's Featured Creature section, we'll spend some time with the elusive and mysterious Octopus.

We have an interesting Story Behind the Photo from Nature & Underwater Photographer, Divemaster Jorge Gil Rodriguez, from Monda, Andalusia, Spain.

And please check out our Tropical Book Nook, and the Kids' Book Corner, where we have interesting recommendations for you to dive into.

I hope you enjoy the May Sea-gram, and share it with your friends and family.

Paul Mila

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Featured Creature:

The Octopus

Paul Mila photos & videos©

These amazing creatures are highly intelligent, and demonstrate distinct personalities.

They have blue blood, three hearts, can change their color and skin texture to suit their needs, use tools, and have a beak like a parrot. They can taste and smell with the suckers on their arms. And each arm also has a mind of its own. So, they have nine brains: a central brain, and one in each tentacle! They can regenerate their tentacles if any are lost to predators.

Think about all that the next time you see "octopus" on the menu at your favorite seafood restaurant!

And by the way, the plural is "Octopuses," not "Octopi."

This Caribbean octopus watches us warily, as we approach during a night snorkel in Curacao.

This short video shows how an octopus can quickly change it's texture to camouflage itself, and blend in with the surrounding terrain. When that trick didn't fool us, it quickly retreated into the safety of the rocks.

Watch this octopus's color changing capability, from almost white when we startled it, to green/brown when it tried to blend in with the surrounding rocks.

Another octopus decided to leave quickly, combining the fast-crawling capability of its tentacles with it's water-jet propulsion system.

My photo equipment:

SeaLife DC2000 Digital Camera, Sea Dragon flash & video light.

Visit: sealife-cameras.com

This YouTube video shows a Giant Pacific Octopus interacting with its handler at the Monterey Bay Aquarium:

Why We're Suckers for the Giant Pacific Octopus

Have I "wet" your curiosity about octopuses? If so, check out this fascinating book I recently read, that gives you a peek into their alien consciousness.

Click on the book cover for more information:

One Last Octopus Fact:

Octopuses use venom to quickly kill and begin digesting their victims. But only the bite of the tiny blue-ringed octopus (five to eight inches long), native to the Indo-Pacific and South-eastern Australia, is fatal to humans.

One blue-ringed octopus contains enough venom to kill 26 adult humans -- a convenient fact that someone knows in my Cozumel-based adventure, Killer In Paradise.

Click on the book cover for details. Last time I checked, Amazon was running a sale!

Cozumel artist Greg Dietrich, who appears in the story, presented me with his painting of a blue-ringed octopus at the book signing in Cozumel.

Click on our photo to visit his website!

Visit Greg's art gallery, Galleria Azul, the next time you're in Cozumel.

Of course octopuses are very intelligent! This octopus in Greg's painting is reading Killer In Paradise (KIP)!

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Story Behind the Photo

By Jorge Gil Rodriguez

Last month, diver Jeannine Jeannette sent us her macro photo of a spiny head blenny.

This month, diver & underwater photographer Jorge Gil Rodriguez sent us his macro photo of a tiny seaweed blenny that he shot in Brazil.

To connect with Jorge click on his photo, above.

Here is Jorge's Story Behind the Photo:

"I took this picture at one of the better dive sites near Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Ilha Do Ancora, an island where you can see big green turtles, little bennies, and nudibranchs."

"This shot was very difficult because the Seaweed blenny (Parablennius marmoreus), is very tiny, almost 0.5 cm. Since the blenny was 5 meters deep, and the waves and the tide were constantly moving, it was difficult to focus on it."

Jorge's Photo Equipment:

"I used my underwater macro-photography equipment: a Sony Alpha ilce-6500 camera, with Seafrogs Housing Salted Line V3.

For the lightning I used 2 strobes, Inon D200.

The lens I used to take the shot was a Sony FE 90mm macro. Settings: Iso 100, f 11, 1/160 sec."

Thanks for sharing your great photo story, Jorge!

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Your Tropical Book Nook

These exciting beach reads

will get you ready for summer!

Click on my Tropical Author Page below . . .

PAUL'S TROPICAL AUTHOR PAGE

. . . then, click on the Tropical Authors logo

and dive into adventure with our other

Tropical Authors!

Check out this new Tropical Authors Novella!

Ransoms can be expensive, but a great friendship is priceless…

When a wealthy woman and her best friend are abducted during a charity event in the Cayman Islands, no one has reason to suspect they're missing...except one curious witness.

Rella and Harper's best hope of survival rests in the hands of strangers whose paths they cross, as their merciless kidnappers lead them on an exhilarating chase from Grand Cayman to the shores of Virginia.

In book four of the Tropical Authors collaboration series, Deborah Brown, Don Rich, and Nicholas Harvey come up with another page-turning thriller featuring characters from each of their own series.

Click on the book cover below for ordering information: