Undwerwater Indonesia - VERY image heavy
Discussion
I've just got back from 2 weeks in Northern Sulawesi, and thought you might like to see some of my piccies. N Sulawesi has the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world, with more species of fish, coral and weird critters than anywhere else. For macro photographers (like what I is) it is a dream come true to be able to see so many strange and bizarre creatures.
If you are interested, I use a Nikon D70 in a Sea & Sea DX70 Housing with Sea & Sea strobes. Almost all these pcitures were taken with a 60mm Macro lens (expect the last two, which were taken with an 18-70mm zoom.
Hope you enjoy them.
Here's ME (obviously I didn't take the photo
) with my rig taking a photo of a Mimic Octopus
Here's the very same Mimic Octopus as taken by ME! They're called Mimic Octopus because they can mimic other sea creatures - flatfish, lionfish, feather stars, cuttlefish etc. This one did a good impression of a flatfish, but my piccie was crap, so I haven't shown it to you. Technically this particular mimic octopus is a quadropus as he only has 4 tentacles. They lose them by hurrying down other people's burrows (usually a moray eel's). They do grow back eventually.
And now, in no particular order...
A Paddleflap Scorpionfish
A common or garden Scorpionfish
Mr & Mrs Porcupinefish
A Giant Frogfish - frogfish mimic sponges and are hard to spot
Banggai Cardinalfish swimming in front of an anemone
A Porcelain Crab
A Pygmy Seahorse. They live on a particular kind of sea fan and look identical to the polyps of said sea fan. They're about 1cm tall
Ickle Cup Corals
A Cockatoo Waspfish - why it's called that I dunno, as it looks like neither a cockatoo or a wasp
Pegasus Sea Moths
A baby cuttlefish, about 2cm long
A Yellow Frogfish
A Wunderpuss - they have tiny bodies and really long tentacles
A Mandarinfish - they come out at dusk to mate. They're very cute.
An Anemonefish in a Bubble Anemone
Another type of Anemonefish
Nemo
More Nemos!
The eye of a Crocodilefish
A Harlequin Shrimp
Orange Cup Corals feeding at night
A Boxer Crab - check out his eyes!!!!
A shrimp on a Cushion Starfish - they are camouflaged to the same colour as their host and live their entire lives on the same beast.
A blue shrimp on a blue starfish
A Coconut Octopus - this is MY coconut and you can't have it...
A Robust Ghost Pipefish - these guys look like bits of dead seagrass. You can just make out his eye at the top of his snout (he's pointing downwards).
An Ornate Ghost Pipefish. These guys mimic feather stars, in which they live.
Close-up of an Ornate Ghost Pipefish
A shrimp in a Plumose Anemone
Detail of a starfish's mouth
Coral detail
Sea squirts
Octopus
A miniature Upside Down Jellyfish
The eyes of a sting ray that's buried in the sand
A Stargazer - these guys only come out at night and bury themsleves in the sand except their eyes and mouth, and just wait for prey to wander past.
The arms of a Brittle Starfish entwined in soft coral
A juvenile lionfish (about 3cm across)
A Leaf Scorpionfish - they sit on the bottom and rock from side to side like a dead leaf in a current
A Nudibranch - these are sea slugs. Nudibranch means "naked gill". You can see the little tuft of gills on his back. There are hundreds and thousands of species
Here's another variety
A Featherstar's foot attached to soft coral
A Blue Ribbon Eel
A Clown Frogfish. These guys are about 3cm long
A Flambouyant Cuttlefish. These are 3-4cm long and photos do not do the justice. They pulse bands of colour down their bodies and are incredible to watch!
An Orang Utan Crab. No, I'm not making it up!!!!
A shrimp on a Bubble Coral
An just to show that I can take wide angle pictures...
Soft corals
Mrs Pluckah and some kind of coral...
I thank you.... I'm here all week...
If you are interested, I use a Nikon D70 in a Sea & Sea DX70 Housing with Sea & Sea strobes. Almost all these pcitures were taken with a 60mm Macro lens (expect the last two, which were taken with an 18-70mm zoom.
Hope you enjoy them.
Here's ME (obviously I didn't take the photo
) with my rig taking a photo of a Mimic OctopusHere's the very same Mimic Octopus as taken by ME! They're called Mimic Octopus because they can mimic other sea creatures - flatfish, lionfish, feather stars, cuttlefish etc. This one did a good impression of a flatfish, but my piccie was crap, so I haven't shown it to you. Technically this particular mimic octopus is a quadropus as he only has 4 tentacles. They lose them by hurrying down other people's burrows (usually a moray eel's). They do grow back eventually.
And now, in no particular order...
A Paddleflap Scorpionfish
A common or garden Scorpionfish
Mr & Mrs Porcupinefish
A Giant Frogfish - frogfish mimic sponges and are hard to spot
Banggai Cardinalfish swimming in front of an anemone
A Porcelain Crab
A Pygmy Seahorse. They live on a particular kind of sea fan and look identical to the polyps of said sea fan. They're about 1cm tall
Ickle Cup Corals
A Cockatoo Waspfish - why it's called that I dunno, as it looks like neither a cockatoo or a wasp
Pegasus Sea Moths
A baby cuttlefish, about 2cm long
A Yellow Frogfish
A Wunderpuss - they have tiny bodies and really long tentacles
A Mandarinfish - they come out at dusk to mate. They're very cute.
An Anemonefish in a Bubble Anemone
Another type of Anemonefish
Nemo
More Nemos!
The eye of a Crocodilefish
A Harlequin Shrimp
Orange Cup Corals feeding at night
A Boxer Crab - check out his eyes!!!!
A shrimp on a Cushion Starfish - they are camouflaged to the same colour as their host and live their entire lives on the same beast.
A blue shrimp on a blue starfish
A Coconut Octopus - this is MY coconut and you can't have it...
A Robust Ghost Pipefish - these guys look like bits of dead seagrass. You can just make out his eye at the top of his snout (he's pointing downwards).
An Ornate Ghost Pipefish. These guys mimic feather stars, in which they live.
Close-up of an Ornate Ghost Pipefish
A shrimp in a Plumose Anemone
Detail of a starfish's mouth
Coral detail
Sea squirts
Octopus
A miniature Upside Down Jellyfish
The eyes of a sting ray that's buried in the sand
A Stargazer - these guys only come out at night and bury themsleves in the sand except their eyes and mouth, and just wait for prey to wander past.
The arms of a Brittle Starfish entwined in soft coral
A juvenile lionfish (about 3cm across)
A Leaf Scorpionfish - they sit on the bottom and rock from side to side like a dead leaf in a current
A Nudibranch - these are sea slugs. Nudibranch means "naked gill". You can see the little tuft of gills on his back. There are hundreds and thousands of species
Here's another variety
A Featherstar's foot attached to soft coral
A Blue Ribbon Eel
A Clown Frogfish. These guys are about 3cm long
A Flambouyant Cuttlefish. These are 3-4cm long and photos do not do the justice. They pulse bands of colour down their bodies and are incredible to watch!
An Orang Utan Crab. No, I'm not making it up!!!!
A shrimp on a Bubble Coral
An just to show that I can take wide angle pictures...
Soft corals
Mrs Pluckah and some kind of coral...
I thank you.... I'm here all week...
Stig said:
Not only are they fantastic pics - the ability of creatures to adapt to their environment never ceases to amaze me?!?
I mean, how does an organisms cellular make-up 'know' what to evolve to look like? Quite mind boggling really.
Great job. I'm off for a lie down
Depends if you're a creationist or a evolutionist I mean, how does an organisms cellular make-up 'know' what to evolve to look like? Quite mind boggling really.
Great job. I'm off for a lie down
One side says those that had a small mutation to look like something nasty tasting or poisonous get eaten less so those genes get passed on more and so more and more offspring look like the nasty thing.
The other side says [insert deity of choice here] decided as they'd made one thing they liked the look and made something looking very similar but a different animal just to confuse us.
Lazy workmaship if you ask me rolling out the same old design again, mind you it does explain the 911
One thing I find simply staggering in the natural world is the animals like octopus and cuttlefish actually responding to changing colours and stresses in their environment by controlling muscles that stetch the skin to show differnet coloured cells in their skin show different colours. There is even a theory that cuttlefish use these changing colours to communicate. Incredible creatures.
Chris
edited to correct my description
Edited by CVP on Wednesday 8th October 18:21
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