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