Acro-anglerobics

Part of diving and photography is to understand the actions of the subjects you are looking to get images of. For some its fairly obvious that its a mating ritual. Take the cuttlefish for example, they dance around, flash some colours and get jiggy with it. Whilst their appendages may not be human you get the idea of whats going on..

But coming across this striate anglerfish doing a one arm handstand in a sponge, you wonder what was going on its mind. There's no missus anglerfish nearby, so perhaps he's just showing off or keeping trim for when she does come along.

The one below was going for a little walk, then began to lean forward on its front legs and kick its back legs in the air. If you have ever seen a friend 'do the worm' on the dance floor, then its kinda like that. 

Whatever they are doing its pretty amusing to watch.

Anglers below the anglers

Chowder Bay in Mosman, NSW is a small beach with a pier in Clifton Gardens. The pier has shark nets to section off an area for swimmers to be able and enjoy the water without fear of man-eating sharks. I do say this very much tongue in cheek but Sydney harbour does have a number of bull sharks, including a relatively recent attack on Paul De Gelder.

The net became encrusted in soft coral and sponge growths and a new home to whites seahorses. Above the surface, fishing is permitted on the ocean side of the pier. Its popularity with fishermen seems to be increasing with a multi-cultural contingent setting up numerous rods looking to catch dinner. Under the water you often find the heads and filleted remains of their catches.

I imagine the words of David Attenborough saying "but nothing goes to waste in the oceans". It seems there is a small ecosystem that lives off the remains of other fish, which in turns attracts predators to feed. When you compare the main pier with the pier on the other side of the bay, you see the increase in species and numbers of fish that feed on the free meals.

I always look out for anglerfish, some of them you see by the wreck in middle of the bay. Others are in and around the pier. Its been a while since I had seen them and after seeing other people images on social media, you start to question your eyesight. Finally it happened, I found the striate anglerfish I was looking for. 

The moment you the angler you need to ensure that the current is working with you as the silt on the bottom is prone to kick up with slightest movement and the hairy nature of some anglers leave them prone to have the muck stick to them like velcro. Generally they are hiding away under a piece of sponge, but not Usain Bolt, this guy was a sprinter but rather than running away from me, he ran towards me. It could have been the focus light or the reflection of himself in the dome port, but either way he was on a mission. A slight bit of surge would leave him rocking from side to side with bis hair swaying in the water. He regained his balance and then decided it was time for some fishing. The lure on his head came out and started to dangle it in the hope that he got a nibble. 

Whilst he didn't actually get any dinner, you can see in the image below how they open their mouth wide extending it forward and with a big gulp or sucking motion, inhale their meal.

The amazing thing with anglerfish is their diversity. Whilst they sit under the same family (Antennarius striates) and yet they differ significantly which is what makes them so cool.

From the little hairless yellow/orange ones

To the bigger but less colourful (and very hard to find) grey ones.

To the bigger redder ones, its really hard to know whether they start off their lives small orange and bald but then begin to transform in colour and texture with age, or whether they just happen to have their own genetics that separate them evolutionary. Like most creatures in the ocean, dollars to study them in detail are limited, so a lot of information is from the people that dive and record them at the weekends. 

With all things photography and diving, there is always one holy grail that I am yet to get a good image of and thats the black angler. I have seen and had the opportunity to photograph plenty, some too big for the 100mm  macro lens I use with viz too poor to get a decent image. Others where the angler is so black (and not hairy) but sucks every ounce of light you blast at it, laughing at your feeble attempts to get contrast and finally the time when you think you got the shot. You check the histogram, zoom in and everything is perfect. High giving yourself you move onto another subject only to find when you download it that some gremlin got into your camera and replaced your perfect image with one that is terrible. I am yet to work out how that happens, but its always with black anglers. Until next time..............