Have you seen a sponge peppered with small dark dots, as it seems from a distance of 1-2 m? Getting closer we see them moving, then we understand it is a tiny marine life form. And only supermacro lens reveals these creatures in a full glory – Polydorella spionid worms.
Red Sea, Makadi Bay Jetty, depth 3 m
To learn more about The Weird and Wonderful World of Marine Worms
Red Sea Marine Life book
The job of a dentist cleaning teeth only seems dangerous in this case. A moray eel will never offend its Cleaner Wrasse. Cleaner Wrasse eats the parasites in Giant Moray mouth.
Small Gubal Island (Egypt Red Sea) is interesting for its dense fish population. You can meet up to a dozen giant moray eels of decent size during a dive. Someone has to eat all that fish soup! The marine life here is truly amazing. But diving is often affected by strong currents. Especially after the new moon.
Labroides dimidiatus, Common Cleanerfish
Gymnothorax javanicus Giant Moray
More information about the fish of the Red Sea in the new book: Red Sea Marine Life (Amazon paperback)
All formats and marketplaces (Apple, Google, Gumroad)
The beauty and the Beast? World of crustaceans is extremely diverse! Did you know that some Snapping Shrimps can share burrows with Spoon Worms? Alpheus barbatus is one of the most beautiful shrimps. It is a facultative associate with rock-dwelling echiuran (Ikedosoma cf. elegans here)
I found this couple under a rock on the coast of New Caledonia. This was during a marine biological expedition of the Paris Museum of Natural History. I was struck by the beauty of the shrimp. Why be such a beautiful crustacean? Living under a rock with a worm 🙂
You will find more interesting facts and excellent underwater photos in the Coral Reef Crustaceans book. http://reefidbooks.com/shrimps-crabs/
Every diver saw these scallops a lot of times. Some of us even tried to photograph them, fascinated by the row of unusual eyes between the tentacles. Less known it the fact that they help coral host to survive Crown of Thorns predation. Contact by starfish usually caused the scallops to generate repeated powerful jets of water, forcing starfish to move away. Scientists from the University of Queensland (L. M. DeVantier, R. Endean)
“Impact of the jets usually caused starfish to retract the sensory tube feet at the tips of the affected arm, raise the arm, and in most instances move away. However, in several interactions, starfish persisted in moving onto or over the scallop following initiation of the jets. On 2 occasions, this resulted in the starfish being lifted several cm above the coral surface by the continuing jets.”
As you probably already guessed, this clam is also a great subject for photography. More interesting facts and inspiring photos await you in the new book, available as paperback and Ebook.
Night dive in the tropical Indo-Pacific – it is always a possibility to find something new and strange. If you dived a lot after sunset you probably noticed strange transparent fishes slowly moving near the soft bottom.
Often the have a row of round dark spots running along the midline
They are hard to notice due to the transparent body and cryptic behaviour and not easy to identify to species. But I can suggest a family name: they are juvenile Lizardfishes, Synodontidae. Look again at the eyes and jaws and you’d recognise them!
Extremely cryptic and always cute, Pygmy Seahorses are very popular among scuba divers and underwater photographers. First of them, Hippocampus bargibanti was described in 1970 and until 2003 remained alone, later accompanied by Hippocampus denise & Hippocampus colemani (2003) Hippocampus pontohi (2008) Hippocampus satomiae & Hippocampus waleananus (2009), all from Western Pacific. Hippocampus japapigu was described from Japan (2018). Finally, 2 days ago (May 19) Hippocampus nalu was described from Sodwana Bay, South Africa. For me, this is the day of victory for underwater photographers and citizen science.
The Sodwana pygmy seahorse was described by Drs. Louw Claassens and Richard Smith. But it was actually discovered three years before, when a local dive guide Savannah Olivier found and photographed this tiny creature. Dr Louw Claassens and Dr Dave Harasti arrived in Sodwana in 2018 looking for an entirely different animals. We can just imagine how shocked they were after dive guide demonstrated a photo of local pygmy seahorse! Definitely undescribed one, found 8000 miles away from other members of the group!
If you photographed pygmy seahorses you know it is far from easy! Sodwana Bay reefs are exposed to waves action and conditions for underwater macro photography are challenging. Congratulations to scientists and Savannah Nalu Olivier, Instructor and Dive Master, Pisces Diving, Sodwana. Great job!
Pygmy Sea Horses: more information and photos: Reef Fishes of the Coral Triangle
First of all about the beauty: Crown of Thorns juveniles are really handsome in their own spiky-snowflake way. They develop spines and begin to feed on coral only about one year of age, drifting as planktonic larval before that age. Getting bigger and bigger they are gaining more and more brutality and spike length.
Adult Crown of Thorns can grow up to a huge size – more than metre in diameter! A few interesting facts:
– Crown of Thorns are a natural part of the coral reef ecosystem. An increase in their numbers only occurs when the reef is unhealthy.
– In healthy reefs Crown of Thorns are playing a positive role by eating some of the faster-growing corals and giving the slower-growing corals a chance.
– Adult Crown of Thorns can survive without feeding for up to nine months. The normal lifespan of a Crown of Thorns is about four or so years.
Lacy scorpionfish, Rhinopias aphanes holds top position on the bucket list of many underwater photographers. You can not find this fish visiting regular diving destinations like Anilao or Lembeh, you’d add some adventure (and money) and visit Papua New Guinea, Australia or New Caledonia.
Usually they are found on offshore reefs, not deep, sitting motionlessly in ambush near crinoid, perfectly matching with surrounds. You are lucky if you managed to get a small collection of differently coloured Lacy – Golden, Grey, Greenish, Red.
The family Harpidae comprises elegant marine gastropods with shell, resembling the strings of a harp. They are nocturnal hunters, hiding in the sand during the day and feeding on crabs and shrimps at night. The prey is enveloped by the foot and mucus, then saliva containing digestive enzymes is injected. Finally, partly digested crab is sucked out by the mollusc.
