Yellowhead Jawfish
Bonaire, 2009 – Hatching jawfish eggs! A male jawfish has guarded these eggs in his mouth for close to a week, and we managed to photograph and video them hatching. It only took fifteen years to get the shot! We fell in love with jawfish in 1995 in Bimini. The first magazine article that Ned and I wrote together for Ocean Realm magazine was about Yellowhead Jawfish, Opistognathus aurifrons (a link to a scanned copy of the 1995 article is … Read more
This week’s Photo Friday topic is Dad. The Yellowhead Jawfish male incubates a ball of fertilized eggs in his mouth for 5 to 7 days before releasing the hatching larvae. In this photo, the fish is aerating the eggs in a process called churning, in which the fish spits out and turns the eggs in a series of rapid motions. More about this fascinating little fish, including a photo and video of a dad releasing his eggs, is featured in … Read more
Note: This post was republished on April 23, 2021 to include more information about our experience. The updated story is here: https://www.blennywatcher.com/2021/04/23/yellowhead-jawfish-hatching-eggs/ Bonaire, 2009 – A jawfish releasing its eggs – we finally got the shot – and it only took fifteen years! We fell in love with jawfish back in 1995 when we were working on the Reef Fish Behavior book. In fact, the first magazine article that Ned and I wrote together for Ocean Realm magazine was … Read more