A while ago I posted some images of a species of wonderfully camouflaged Scorpionfish. I thought I’d trawl my images to look for a few other scorpionfish that are somewhat rare and unusual. My first fish is a curious little species (main image) known as Scorpaena maderensis, the [...]
The international trade in sharks and their close cousins rays has driven many of them to the brink of extinction. New protection under CITES will offer protection for Wedgefishes, Giant Guitarfishes and Mako Sharks. If you’re unfamiliar with CITES, it stands for the Convention on [...]
One of the most common corals on some Indo-pacific reefs is not technically a coral at all, but it does a very good job of blending in. Here’s a little about Millepora, the aptly-named Fire Coral. You’d be forgiven for thinking this coral head, complete with a shoal of [...]
My guidebook to Red Sea fishes says of the Little Dragonfish: ‘Rarely seen, but probably more common than thought’ I tend to agree; it took two of us almost an entire dive to find these two fish, it was worth it though, to see one of the oddest looking fishes I’ve ever [...]
I recently shared some images of butterflyfish from the Indo Pacific and Red Sea regions, touching in brief on Chaetodon semilarvatus, the Masked Butterfly. Given that’s it is such a wonderful fish and such an impressive species when photographed, I thought I’d share some of my [...]
In my last post I shared some images of superficially similar Chaetodon species from the Red Sea and Indo Pacific region. Here are three more similar fish from the same part of the world. My first species is the Head-band butterfly, C. collare. I first came across this species whilst [...]
Time after time I’ve been out on a reef photographing something – a coral head full of anthias perhaps – when part of the reef gets fed up with me and scuttles away, well, that’s what it feels like anyway, for the spilt second before I realize that the bit of coralline [...]
Out on the reef, yellow is a very prominent color, especially in full tropical sun. Yellow fish, especially members of the Chaetodontids, make great photography subjects. Here are several Indo Pacific species I’ve recorded over the years; note just how superficially similar they can [...]