Lurking in caves, hiding in shadows, large wolf-eels and lingcod wait for prey to stray too near. Warily, sculpins hug the rubble, their mottled bodies blending with the floor. Clouds of rockfishes float by the reef, ready to vanish between rocks when larger predators arrive. The deep reefs offer a bountiful haven for those who elude their hunters. Where clams dig the caves, all kinds of characters move in Soft shale reefs are honeycombed with tunnels dug by mussels and clams that spend years boring into the rock.
Small fish called fringeheads slip into the round burrows.
Sea cucumbers spread feeding tentacles out of caves. And brittle stars , scaleworms and other flat animals slip through the cracks. But newcomers discover that animals already cover most every inch. Up from the seafloor creep sea stars, stalking the unfortunates that settle too low.