�
Blue-eyed triplefin
Blue-eyed triplefin, Notoclinops segmentatus, Poor Knights Marine Reserve, New Zealand.
Lionfish family
Lionfish family, Pterois volitans, Solomon Islands. For about a month, a group of nine lionfish hovered around this large red sea fan at 90' off a wall in Morovo Lagoon.
Two-Band Anemonefish, Amphiprion bicintus , Red Sea. Just about anyone who has hovered over a tropical anemone has been mesmerized by the anemonefish, a very specialized species of damselfish that flutters in and out of the anemone's poison-tipped tentacles in a dance that would kill almost every other fish on the reef. . Anemonefish in the larval stage team up with specific anemones because they recognize unique chemical signals secreted by their preferred host. Scientists also believe that the thin mucus coating which covers the fish and protects it against the anemone's venomous tentacles is actually a combination of substances secreted and altered by both the fish and the anemone. The relationship between anemones and anemonefish represent the kind of give and take social interactions in the sea which extend far beyond the normal links between food webs and energy exchange pathways. It is in these deeper associations binding the anemone community and others like it that we discover the reef's true driving force, that creative and self-guiding energy which sustains the sea as well as the planet.
Triplefin on tunicate/zoanthid collage, Helcogramma striata on tunicate Polycarpa aurata, Banda Sea, Indonesia. We think there is a mistaken impression that large vertebrates dominate the reef. If you look closely at the tightly packed communities of reef animals what you'll see most often is a collage invertebrates, accented in this case by a tropical triplefin surveying the scene from atop a yellow-skinned tunicate.
Mating nudibranchs laying their egg case, Chromodoris bullochi, Komodo Island, Indonesia. You have to wonder how many different evolutionary highways nudibranchs hitchhiked on their way to becoming some of the loveliest animals in the sea. Their superficial beauty hides a wealth of bizarre habits. People love them for their looks but what would the unsuspecting public think if they knew the truth about nudibranchs? Most of them are hermaphroditic. They change sex and mate with the same voraciousness that urges them to consume stuff no other marine creatures will even walk over like stinging hydroids and poisonous sponges. One was on one side of the coraline algae, nonchalantly laying an egg ribbon when the other crawled over from the back side of the algae plate with unfinished business. Able to do more things at one time than an underwater photographer with zoom lens, the two joined up and proceeded to mate while continuing to spew out the egg spiral.
Table coral and anthias, Acropora sp. and Pseudanthias sp., Sipadan Island, Malaysia Table corals spread out horizontally in response to water movements and so that the entire colony will receive maximum sunlight exposure. The resulting flattened coral colony has lots of nooks and crannies for small fish like the ubiquitous anthias to hide in. It's significant that one animal's visible response to the environment so easily becomes another's safe refuge. Table coral colonies are great example of the reciprocal nature of things in the sea.
Other links :-