Text will be terse today, as I am swamped by work in the computer room. Everybody needs everything right now.  It’s not something that system administrators are not used to. It does get a little irritating when you’re also trying to roll out an entire new network at the same time.

Enough complaining. Let’s have some fish.

This cute little critter with the improbable beard is, of course, a Goatfish – what else would you call it? Specifically, it’s a Manybarred Goatfish (Parupeneus multifasciatus):

The whiskery things are used to find food. It digs around in the sand for a meal. As you watch, you can see the whiskers flying around like mad. It’s speculated that they are extremely sensitive to the electrical fields around living things. Spooky, eh? I wonder if weapons researchers are checking into this.

This little one has the delightful name of the Pink Anemonefish . How harmless does that sound? If you’re on more formal terms it’s (Amphiprion akallopisos):

Everybody knows that this is a Moray Eel (Gymnothorax javanicus).  What you may not  know is the it is the wrong colour.  This is another reason that I’m always whining about the use of flash for underwater photography. The eel looks nothing like this with the naked eye in natural light: Compare it with these images taken with available light here, here, here and here. This shot was too deep for available light. I had no choice but to use flash.

Steven Goodheart sent several very nice nature shots, but I could not get any but this one to load properly. It’s worth a solo appearance. It is, as Californians will recognise, a Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis):

This is a particularly nice shot for identification and I like it because the composition is also very clean.

And now, because I never tire of seeing myself on the silver screen, I’ll show you this shot of me at Blueblood with our missing friend Heidi Majano:

As is usual with most keen photographers, we hardly ever get an image of ourselves that we really like. This one tickles me. Put “heidi” in the search box in the sidebar to see some of her great images.

Related posts:

1. The Eyes of Heidi Majano Teaching those with good eyes for an image and natural talent for composition to refine their images with Photoshop is my idea of fun. Meet Heidi Majano....
2. All the Colours of the Sea I'll not show you ALL of the colours of the sea, but a fair number of them from this dive at Planet Rock near Madang, Papua New Guinea....
3. Still at The Eel Garden – Can’t Get Enough of It A few more shots from our dive last Saturday on The Eel Garden near Pig Island in Madang, Papua New Guinea. Despite sinusitus, my head did not implode....
4. Grass and Water I was standing out in the front yard this morning watching the sun rise up steadily, much too bright for good sunrise shots, and I looked down at my feet. The warm wine light of the fat, yellow orb was casting a very curious glow on the vegetation and shallow...
5. A Steamy Jungle and Guests Steven Goodheart & Pascal Michon Guests Steven Goodheart & Pascal Michon visit today. We take a walk in Berkeley, see a mob of Lady Bugs, explain Hermit Crabs in French and see a Steamy Jungle....
6. ¡Vaca Santa! – CWA Latino Night I feel that I am in danger of becoming a hermit. Latino Night at CWA is the second major Madang party that I’ve missed in a row. The first was because the tickets were sold out. I missed Latino Night because I was “too tired” – translation: Too embarrassed to...
7. Yeah, Man! Give Me That EXTREME Science! Steven Goodheart bangs out another one. This guy has gone blog crazy! First Buddhism, then nature walking in Berkely, now Extreme Science! What next?...

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 15:56 and is filed under Guest Shots, Mixed Nuts, Under the Sea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.