Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler
These are a couple of photos that, while of debatable artistic merit, I'm happy to have taken. While pipefish are not terribly uncommon in Hawai'i, they inhabit environments that (for me, at least) are among the least hospitable for camera-wielding SCUBA divers. These photos were taken in a tight, surge-swept lava tube near the shoreline. The surge in and out of this tube was so great that I had to brace myself against the walls with both legs and one arm while shooting with my free hand. To make matters more challenging, bubbles from my regulator dislodged silt from overhead making vis poor and causing backscatter in the photos. Also, pipefish get nervous easily and swim kind of erratically when photographed.
Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler
Pipefish are classified as tube-mouthed fishes and are closely related to the seahorse. Like the seahorse, it is the male pipefish that carries the eggs until they hatch. They are quite small and easy to miss. This one was around three or four inches long.
Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler
Photo Copyright 2010 by Barry Fackler
I really like that first one... so tough to get a whole body shot of those things.
ReplyDelete