Best of Mike #435

 A Goldentail Moray, peeking out of his hole.... and smiling, I think.

.

Best of Mike #434

A Great Barracuda.

Silver, long cylindrical body, large underslung jaw with obvious and pointed teeth.

Yup that's him.

Very menacing to look at. But in all the times we have seen them, nothing in their behavior has backed up that perception.

Best of Mike #433

To be honest, I really don't know what this is.

Something inside of a tube sponge, with something else sitting on top of it.

That's my less than technical explanation.

But still kinda pretty. 

Best of Mike #432

 

 

 The lighting on this pixture of a Queen Anglefish turned out pretty cool.

 

Almost as if it's outlined in neon lights.

Best of Mike #431

Another in my quest for face to face pixtures of the fish that we see.

Today's subject.... a Scrawled Cowfish.

Best of Mike #430

I think I have mentioned before that some dives are something less than non-stop pixture taking action.

When we find ourselves on one of those dives, one of favorite boredom relief tricks is to take super closeups of the common things that we are seeing. 

I am amazed at how often those pixtures give me a feeling of something from outer space.

This is one of those closeups of a Brown Tube Sponge.

 

Best of Mike #429

This guy is a Rock Beauty. 

Not a bad looking fish.... but perhaps a little over-named when they threw in the beauty part.

They are known to establish and patrol defined territories on the reef. But they are both shy and curious. 

They will always retreat when approached by a diver but often turn to observe the diver when  they are what they feel is a safe distance away. 

As you can imagine this retreating behavior most often takes them out of camera range.... so they have for quite some time been on my "wish I could get a good pixture" list.

Best of Mike #428

Another one of my many favorites.... a Smooth Trunkfish.

And another example of a pose that caught my attention.... and prompted me to make yet another pixture of a repeat offender.