Anthias species are, as any one who has watched them will know, not an easy group of fish to photograph.  They’re skittish and easily spooked and swim so very fast.  Every so often though you com across a nice well-lit reef where the conditions and the fish combine to allow you to get some decent images.  This time it’s P. evansi.

Most of anthias shots feature P. squammipinis, for one main reason, I travel to the Red Sea at least once a year and they seem to exist in huge numbers on most of the reefs.  So when I came across a nice reef in the Indian Ocean with a fish I wasn’t too familiar with I was quite pleased.

This was a particularly pretty reef with a nice shoal of P. evansi, along with a few other easily recognised species such as the black and white Chromis dimidiata, top right. I didn’t need to use much flash to just fill in the shadows and add color to the fish.

This image shows a slightly different view of the reef and just how much green algae was to be seen. I also came across a coral head with my first encounter with P. Cooperi.

Do not adjust your set here!  These fish were swimming upside down, taking their reference from the coral head that was creating an overhang for them to shelter under.