• Photo by Rantje Allen

  • Photo by William Tan

  • Photo by Rantje Allen

  • Photo by William Tan

  • Photo by Rantje Allen

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Monthly Archives: May 2007

Durban hinge-beak shrimp

Durban hinge-beak shrimp pair RADurban shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis) are a favorite of divers not only because of their striking color pattern but also because of their behavior. The high rostrum (nose) is distinctive of hinge-beak shrimp. They are found in deep crevices and holes, usually living together in large numbers. When they move, they tend to hop about, which is quite humorous to watch. A patient photographer can wait until the shrimps are no longer afraid and begin to hop out of their holes and into the view finder. But don’t be surprised if the shrimps keep hopping towards the camera housing as if to inspect a new addition to their home. Who is watching whom? Miguel’s Diving staff knows only one spot where these funny shrimps congregate.

Baby Cuttlefish & Big Mama

Baby cuttlefish nestled among tunicates RAMiguel’s Diving staff gets a little stir crazy during off-season. This week we braved the growing swells of May to check out a new muck site. Directly below the dive boat, hiding in the shadow of a pink sea pen was the first of three baby cuttlefish we found during the dive. All were merely the size of a thumbnail and no doubt recently hatched. It was pink like the sea pen and absolutely still. Only a careful observer like Yunis our dive guide would ever spot it. Beneath its semitransparent body, you could see its cuttlebone in the camera’s viewfinder, a body part only found cuttlefish. The next baby was brown and hovering among some dead leaves but too skittish to photograph. The third one lay perfectly still among Molle tunicates, only its distinctive half-moon eye slit betraying its presence. Toward the end of the dive we discovered one of the largest adult cuttlefish we have ever seen, its girth bigger than a dive tank’s diameter. This Big Mama drifted unconcerned over the sand bottom for a spectacular photo. Click the thumbnail to see a larger photo of a baby cuttlefish.

Book Review on Wetpixel

Willy Volk has posted an extensive review of our book Gorontalo: Hidden Paradise on Wetpixel along with about ten of the book’s amazing photos taken by top underwater photojournalists William Tan, Takako Uno, and Stephen Wong. To read the review, click this link. Information about ordering your own copy is found on our main website.

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