Animals that are surprisingly rare

[teellbee]

@mnharris

Fish. I live close to the ocean, and in a place with a lot of fresh water, as well. On an average day, I can go out and get dozens of observations of crustaceans, cnidarians, and mollusks. But over months of travelling to the ocean, I have so far gotten one observation of a fish. A tidepool sculpin. I know that observing fish presents some difficulty, because they usually like open water, not the shore, and that there are probably many fish just out of range of my camera, but it is surprising how hard they are to observe.

I can get a pictures of (invasive) European carp in a local man-made lake in a nearby park. Prolly, lost goldfish, or descendants of such.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=97394&subview=grid&taxon_id=53911&user_id=teellbee

But, I recall my former boss made a simple underwater viewer. It was a wide tube, maybe 6-8” in diameter into which he glued a plastic lens at one end and handles at the other. When you lowered it into the lake, it gave a small, but fairly clear viewing area (depending on water clarity).