dancingfish news

See anything? Stonefish just look like rubble. This is a closeup of the face of a stonefish. And about what I was looking at when I first found him. I was following a dragonet over the rubbly bottom, when I just noticed the face in the sand, and it was quite startling!

These little catfish school on the reefs in largish groups, moving over the bottom and feeding. I find it amusing to try to get in front of the school and capture their faces as they encounter the strange bubbling photographer in their way.

Would you believe this is a clam? A tridacna clam, once of several marine species that can grow quite large. Some of the clams have beautiful blue or green colors and patterns and some are almost iridescent. I like to take photo abstracts of these.

Here’s another pretty little character. This is a tiny squat lobster, perhaps a half inch in length or so, that lives on a barrel sponge. I’ve heard these called Hairy Crabs, Fairy Crabs and even Sid Vicious crabs :). They camoflauge very well against the sponge, despite their vivid pink and purple coloration. But when you put a little light on them, they almost sparkle.