Favoritos de anibirdbrain

Is it a fish? Is it a slug? Is it a fishy anemone? I do not have a clue what this is!

It is about 30mm long and there were a few of them in the sand - outgoing tide nearly on the turn. Most were buried and only the "fan fin" was showing.

Resting on the wet sand, when the sand collapsed it arched it's face upwards (2nd and third photos) and seem to spawn capsule from somewhere - there are 2 floating in the 4th pic.

Totally hypnotic, by the time my sister-in-law and I carried on the brother had walked 2kms away from us!

Apparently planthoppers in the family Issidae have these insane tufts emerging from their backsides when they're nymphs. How crazy is that.

ID provided by Andy Hamilton on BugGuide.

With Valeri Ponzo and Don Fraser; a successful visit for Val's lifer adult Yucca Giant-Skippers -- and we got other lifers as well. I am submitting here 132 records, including 11 beetles, 6 dragonflies, 14 caterpillars, 8 grasshoppers, 5 moths, 21 butterflies, and several plants. The weather at the start was partly sunny and 73 degrees, with a light breeze; by the end, it was sunny and 83 degrees. We left around 1500 after having walked 6.03 miles.

Video: https://youtu.be/Ry4IRjS_miE
Long Pine Key
Had to look through many pineland crotons (Croton linearis) before I finally one and then a second one nearby on a separate plant. This was very exciting for me as I 've been wanting to see this species for a while. Next challenge is finding an adult :-)
Second observation of a slightly larger individual: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/55833248/

Video: https://youtu.be/Ry4IRjS_miE
Long Pine Key
Had to look through many pineland crotons (Croton linearis) before I finally one and then a second one nearby on a separate plant. This was very exciting for me as I 've been wanting to see this species for a while. Next challenge is finding an adult :-)
First observation of a slightly smaller individual: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/55833245

Immature male. Identified by plumage and song (see https://www.xeno-canto.org/307241). Obviously exotic. Pin-tailed Whydah ruled out by bill color, leg color, and the dark feathers coming in that don't match the feathers of a whydah.