Underwater ... Ningaloo

[alcina]

Haven't been around very much lately thanks to a little travel and lots of things going on. Finally got back under the ocean on Friday for two awesome dives so thought I'd pop up a couple shots.

Lots of cleaning station action all over the reef:
Fusiliers

Cod

Batfish

Canon 40D, Canon 100mm macro, Subal housing & port, Inon strobes

 

[Overread]

fantastic underwater work as usual - good to have you back
Must say I love number 2 - cod - is that bone we are seeing in his mouth or some complex fleshy/fishy bits.

And number 3 just shows a great tender underwater moment - even if you can't tell any emotion from a fish

 

[Dmitri]

Very cool, and a bit confusing. But your underwater shots are always cool, so I look forward to more

 

[alcina]

fantastic underwater work as usual - good to have you back
Must say I love number 2 - cod - is that bone we are seeing in his mouth or some complex fleshy/fishy bits.

Thanks!

In #2 you can see through his mouth and into his gills - those structures are part of the gill set up in fish.

Very cool, and a bit confusing. But your underwater shots are always cool, so I look forward to more

Confusing? How so?

 

[Markw]

Ive got to get back into marine life again. Beautiful pics though! How difficult is it to photo the underwater scene?

Mark

 

[Dmitri]

Confusing? How so?

Well, whats in the second fishes mouth, and what the heck is sticking out of the third fishies head?

I don't know much about fish so it could just be my ignorance, maybe this is common knowledge

 

[Markw]

I forget the technical name, but I think its a cleaner wrasse. They clean all the 'yucky stuff' off of the fish. Its like a big fish car wash around the reef.

Mark

 

[alcina]

Ive got to get back into marine life again. Beautiful pics though! How difficult is it to photo the underwater scene?
Mark

Thanks for the kind words.

How difficult is pretty subjective, but generally people think that it's tougher to shoot underwater than on land. More variables - everything is moving and it's all moving differently; you have all sorts of floating things to avoid lighting up or focusing on - even in "clear, clean" water - and this is probably one of the hardest things; you have to really know your creatures to be able to approach them properly; it's expensive, bulky, time consuming; water eats light, even in clear and shallow water ... and, of course, you really do need to have excellent dive skills and spacial perception (for instance, you need to know where your fin tips are without looking and without "feeling") to get good shots. Without the dive skills, you'll end up damaging yourself, your gear or the environment - which is unacceptable to most.

Well, whats in the second fishes mouth, and what the heck is sticking out of the third fishies head?

I don't know much about fish so it could just be my ignorance, maybe this is common knowledge

OK, those are cleaner wrasse. They are little fish that clean other fishes and marine animals.

In photo 3, there are two cleaner wrasse. The batfish has flared open his gill cover so they can get in and clean his gills (the pink parts you can see).

I don't know what you are seeing in photo two in the mouth other than mouth parts of the cod? You can see through his gill slits and out the other side (the black parts are the background water as there's very little light on the other side of the fish).

Does that help?

 

[Dmitri]

aah ok thanks Alcina. They're like lampreys for smaller fish I guess? And yes, I thought those were bones in the first fishes mouth. Thanks for clearing me up on all that, and again - awesome pics. I visited your site, and lots of amazing out-of-this-world pics there. :thumbup: