by Barry Brown | Mar 1, 2016 | Fish, Reef, Science
Good morning friends, I have a super cute, two inch long juvenile Rock Beauty for you all today that I found under the pier at Caracas Baai and YES fish can be cute!! Over the years this little fish has been very illusive and we have only seen these babies a handful of times. Like most tiny newborn fish these Rock Beauties find a safe home and will stay there in the same place until they are older only coming out to socialize and feed. Photographing these fish can be very difficult as they usually won’t come out until it’s safe so I usually have to wait in the same place for an extended amount of time, sometimes for the whole dive. NEWER POST: by Barry Brown | Feb 24, 2016 | Reef, Science
Good morning friends, we had a little “fake rain” last night that barely wet the ground and did nothing for the plants. We are really seeing a pattern of less and less rain here each year and a major increase in the wind which is great if you are into flying kites and wind surfing! We have another very busy day underway with a large group of kids from Bonaire that are in the sub today so your truly is in and out of the water. NEWER POST: by Barry Brown | Feb 11, 2016 | Reef, Science
Good morning all, what a week!! So much diving in freezing cold water, it really wears you out! Aimee and I have been packing like crazy to get ready for our Washington trip which is now only days away. We have a friend staying at our house and all the neighbors will be helping walk the dogs throughout the day, that alone is a big relief! I have been so busy this week that I wasn’t able to go biking at all but tomorrow morning I will be making up for lost time in the saddle and picking up a friend at 7:30. I have a beautiful Blue Tang for you all today that I found swimming under a pier up against a beautiful sponge encrusted wall! by Barry Brown | Feb 10, 2016 | Fish, Photography, Reef, Science
Good morning all, I have a fun Lionfish portrait for you all today that I shot yesterday with my trusty 105 macro. We still see these beautiful invasive fish on every dive but on some reefs they are really doing a good job at keeping the numbers down. We ended up doing three dives yesterday, two of them were with my intern trying to teach him something about the difficulties of underwater photography, he’s finding out it’s not so easy…. Pretty much everything about the venomous lionfish—its red-and-white zebra stripes, long, showy pectoral fins, and generally cantankerous demeanor—says, “Don’t touch!” The venom of the lionfish, delivered via an array of up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins, is purely defensive. It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. by Barry Brown | Feb 1, 2016 | Fish, Reef, Science
Good morning out there, check out this outrageous Scorpionfish that we found on a night dive, he or she has the biggest lips I have ever seen on one of these fish, I think he could swallow just about anything! Besides the big mouth check out all the exotic plumage this fish has as well, it really helps him blend into the reef. These fish are so patient and will just sit there all day waiting for some poor unsuspecting prey to swim by. Most species of scorpionfish are bottom-dwellers that feed on crustaceans and smaller fish. Many inhabit shallow waters, but a few live as deep as 2,200 m (7,200 ft). Most scorpionfish, such as the stonefish, wait in disguise for prey to pass them by before swallowing.
