Recently I did some diving underneath three of Southern California’s offshore oil rigs: oil rig Eureka, oil rig Ellen and oil rig Elly. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again soon. The amount of invertebrate life on the oil rig beams was impressive — copious amounts of large scallops, mussels, brittle stars, Corynactis and Metridium anemones, schools of fish moving through the beams and a few sea lions. Great stuff! Here are a few more underwater oil rig photos from that day. Cheers and thanks for looking!
Oil Rig Ellen underwater structure covered in invertebrate life
Image ID: 31115
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Brittle stars covering beams of Oil Rig Elly, underwater structure covered in invertebrate life
Image ID: 31136
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Oil Rig Eureka, Underwater Structure
Image ID: 31081
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
California sea lion at oil rig Eureka, underwater, among the pilings supporting the oil rig.
Image ID: 31086
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Corynactis anemones on Oil Rig Elly underwater structure
Image ID: 31130
Species: Strawberry anemone, Corynactis californica
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Oil Rig Ellen underwater structure covered in invertebrate life
Image ID: 31102
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Oil Rig Ellen underwater structure covered in invertebrate life
Image ID: 31111
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Corynactis anemones on Oil Rig Elly underwater structure
Image ID: 31124
Species: Strawberry anemone, Corynactis californica
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Oil Rig Eureka, 8.5 miles off Long Beach, California, lies in 720′ of water.
Image ID: 31091
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Oil Rig Elly underwater structure covered in invertebrate life
Image ID: 31132
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
