Best of Mike #318

This is a juvenile Spotted Drumfish. 

No spots yet, those come when they are an adult. 

At this stage of life they are very much what  feather might look and move like if it had fins and gills.

This particular one, gave me a pose that I have not captured before.

Best opf MIke #317

The big fellow (in real life they are not quite a big as this one appears to be) in this pixture is a Creole Wrasse.

But the really interesting part of this pixture is the yellow and black thing in his mouth.

That little guy is one of the many species of Gobys. Contrary to what it looks like, he is not about the be a meal for bigger guy.

He is in fact, doing his job as a cleaner fish.... actually going into the other one's mouth to find and remove parasites.

I understand that this is all done by posture. The bigger fish adopting a pose that says... go on into my mouth and do your job. I promise, I won't chomp you.

Best of Mike #316

The Flamingo Tongue is cowrie. 

They have a shell that is a lustrous shell that is reddish cream to white in color. That shell is then covered with a mantle that provides the orange, somewhat rectangular spots, outlined in black.  

This one is most probably a juvenile as it has only a few spots. 

They like to feed on gorgonians.... such as the one we see this guy hangjng on now.

Best of Mike #315

In case you haven't realized it.... I am a fill the frame kind of photographer.

So I like it when I am able get a good close up.

This fellow is a Honeycomb Cowfish.... and the subject of another successful ambush pixture.

Look closely and you will see their distinctive spines above each eye.

Best of Mike #314

This fancy dude is a Scrawled Filefish.

And as you can see.... he was good enough to let me get very close for a nice closeup.

Actually, as I remember it, I kind of ambushed him.

Not in a mean way.... just figuring out where he was headed as he made his way down the reef and then being is a spot where he would come close before realizing that I was there.

Best of Mike #313

It's a personal quirk I guess.... but I am more than a little bit fascinated by the man made things that we see underwater.

This is anchor bolt (driven in to the rock) and the mooring line for a buoy at the Salt Pier in Bonaire.

Underwater, everything appears to be 25% closer and 33% larger which brings out the detail.... making even ordinary things worthy of study.

Best of Mike #312

A Pedersen Cleaner Shrimp going about his business.

They have a transparent body with purple spotting and two pairs of long white antennae. 

Living in association with a variety of anemone, their business is the cleaning of fish.

They will perch at the edge of their host, swaying their bodies and waving their antennae to attract client fish.

Once they have a customer.... their job is to clean the parasites off the fish by eating them.

Best of Mike #310

An Arrowcrab.

Doesn't it look like he is scrunching down.... or maybe even squatting.

I believe he is either coming out of or going into the crevice in the reef behind him.

And needed to do this to get his normally "gangly" self through the low opening.

Best of Mike #309

Many species of fish have distinctive spots.... such is the case with this Threespot Damselfish.

It is believed that the black spot is intended to make a predator think it is looking at the eye of this fish.

But that spot is on the wrong end to be the eye. So, that momentary confusion could provide the split second of hesitation that is needed to escape that predator.

Best of Mike #311

A few posts ago, I showed you an example of fish camouflage that really wasn't. 

The one that fooled me.... at least for a few moments.

Well here is an example of camouflage that is.... a Scorpionfish.

Thinking of these two examples, you can see why we often have to stop and take a look from different angles.... to know what we are looking at or not.

Best of Mike #308

Many species, on the reef, go through some evolution to arrive at their adult size, shape and coloring.

This is the juvenile phase, the teenage years so to speak, of the French Anglefish.

Basically, the bold yellow stripes will go away as he ages.

Best of Mike #307

I have written before about the wee but fierce Damselfish that we see all over the reef.

Doesn't this one look like he is "on guard".

And no doubt prepared to throw me a beating.... if I do anything at all that he doesn't like.

Best of Mike #306

I have talked many times in this blog about the camouflage capabilities of different fish and critters on the reef.

So, it probably won't surprise you that I went in for a closer look when I thought I saw an eye.

But it this case, there is no camouflage involved.... this is nothing more than a growth of coral on the reef.