We all love Pomacanthid angels, don’t we?  I’m just going to assume that everyone is a fan of this genus of colorful, characterful, and engaging fish.  For many years my best capture of the regal was the pretty rubbish one below.

The Klunzinger’s Wrasse (Thalassoma rueppellii) is a Red Sea endemic.

At the time I was quite happy with this pic because as soon as you get your camera pointed in the right direction, the Regal has a habit of diving straight into the reef and keeping out of sight until you’ve gone.

My next encounter was a little better and my 105mm macro lens allowed me to keep a bit of distance. The image above has been cropped a fair bit, but just look the spines on the operculum – just gorgeous!

It seems that the best way to find specimens for photography is to wait until a courting pair comes along. The image below shows the female (I assume), when I could get a shot of her, on her own.  Her color is simply stunning, with my flash guns capturing the richness of the orange, something that many wild shots fail to achieve.

However, in came the male (I assume the male is the one doing the chasing, but I let them have some privacy out of politeness if nothing else).

I was happy with just getting one decent shot, but to get two fish was a real bonus.