fish behavior
When I became a diver, worms were among the first reef creatures to attract my attention. More accurately, it was the exposed crowns of frilly gills of Christmas Tree Worms, Spirobranchus giganteus, that drew my eye—so colorful, so appealing, so utterly unwormlike, and to Anna’s and my unending irritation, gone in a flash whenever we swam too close. While the worms’ long segmented bodies remain tucked away safe and sound inside strong calcareous tubes, their delicate crowns, vital for absorbing … Read more
We see fish yawn fairly often, but have to be in the right place at the right time to capture the behavior. In Papua New Guinea, this Lacy Rhinopias, a member of the scorpionfish family, was on the same coral head every day for a week so everyone had a chance to photograph it from every angle. Ned saw it yawn from a distance and knew he wanted that head-on shot, so he went back and sat for quite a … Read more
Here is your dose of fishy cuteness: The Signal Goby, a.k.a., Crabeye Goby, a.k.a., Twinspot Goby. Not only fun to watch, this fish has some pretty curious reproductive behavior, as we learned a few years ago. Signigobius biocellatus feeds by sand-sifting so we find them just off reefs or near shorelines in silty, nutrient-rich sand. We have seen them from Palau through Indonesia, so they aren’t really rare, but their populations are certainly not dense. Almost always found in pairs, … Read more
Lembeh Strait, Indonesia ~ October 2012 Here is one of my favorite examples of mimicry in fishes: a Striped Fangblenny (Meiacanthus grammistes) model and its mimic, a juvenile bream, Scolopsis bilineatus. Neither fish is that uncommon on the Indo-Pacific reefs where we dive but this was the first time I took the time to follow a little Bridled Monocle Bream to see if it would lead me to the blenny that it is known to mimic. The relationship of this bream … Read more
Since this summer’s launch of Blenny Week, we have been on the go! Some planned and several unforeseen (but necessary) road trips have kept us running. Three short trips were all we could manage to Riviera Beach’s famous Blue Heron Bridge. We owe much of our success there to the local crowd, known to some as the Mucksters (a subset of whom are also known as the Ladies of the Muck), who dive the area every week and share their … Read more
The blenny is our poster fish but we love all fish, even the big ones; we just don’t talk about them as much. We blog about whatever strikes the BlennyWatcher’s fancy – fishwatching, SCUBA diving, travel – our topics are happily all over the place. It may take us a while to settle into this new blog home but we’re excited about sharing our adventures with you! We celebrate the launch of this blog by introducing Blenny Week, videos created … Read more