Fishy highlights from our recent expedition to Fiji. SCROLL DOWN for species shot list. Enjoy, and please share this with your fellow fish geeks! -Josh Jensen
0:01 Fusiliers feeding on surgeonfish spawn
0:08 Bigeye Trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus)
0:14 Bluestripe snapper (Lutjanus kasmira) with many different soldierfish and squirrelfish
0:20 Gold-lined sea bream (Gnathodentex aureolineatus) mixed in with snappers and others
0:28 Pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus pontohi) hunting in dead-ish black coral
0:33 Fire dartfish (Nemateleotris magnifica) looking typically magnificent
0:40 Shy toby (Canthigaster ocellicincta)
0:46 Juvenile and female Exquisite wrasses (Cirrhilabrus exquisitus) dancing in the rubble
0:52 Old glory (Koumansetta rainfordi), one of my favourite and worst-named gobies
0:59 Blue-striped fang blenny (Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos) -- a sneaky little bastard waiting to bite passing fish
1:04 White-tip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus)
1:10 Bigeye bream (Monotaxis grandoculis) hovering typically motionless
1:15 Dwarf hawkfish (Cirrhitichthys falco), typically skittish and annoying to film
1:19 The “cabbage patch” (Turbinaria reniformis) at the end of Nigali Passage
1:25 Yellow-lined goatfish (Mulloidichthys vanicolensis)
1:35 My first ever Crescent-tail hogfish (Bodianus sepiacaudus)! Very excited to find this guy 38m/125′ down Mount Mutiny’s “Rainbow Wall”.
1:45 Insane amount of marine biodiversity in one spot: all the cleaners, including juvenile Axilspot hogfish, and the pile of fish poo from cleanees could be the cause of the hotness of the spot.
1:52 Juvenile Axilspot hogfish (Bodianus axillaris) cleaning a monster Coral trout. Tricky to pick species at this size, but my guess is the Footballer (Plectropomus laevis). The cluster of fish in the previous shot was directly below this cleaning station.
1:59 Yellow-Mask surgeonfish (Acanthurus mata) joins the line at the cleaning station, and changes from light to dark colouration so that the Bluestreaked cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) can more easily find parasites
2:06 A female Morrison’s dragonet (Synchiropus morrisoni)… doin’ nothin’
2:12 White-tip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) having a snooze, while a remora (Echeneis naucrates) waits patiently for a ride
2:19 Golden damsel (Amblyglyphidodon aureus) tending eggs. This species has done very well post-Winston with unlimited damaged fans which they prefer to lay their eggs on.
2:32 Lots of fans and soft corals seem to have dodged Cyclone Winston’s bullet, while some show signs of damage from hard corals falling on them from above
2:39 Soft corals (Dendronepthya sp.) love the current
2:46 The dive site “Mellow Yellow” looks just as I remembered it. Stunning. Those soft corals need that strong current, though, which makes filming pretty tricky.
2:52 Fiji’s most common planktivore, the Scalefin anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis), makes most current-swept areas look spectacular. The purple ones are the males, the females are orange. This one little bloke has his hands very full.
2:59 Swim into the current to find the leading edge of the reef. Action central. Always worth the effort. At “Mellow Yellow”, in Vatu-I-Ra.
3:07 More soft corals
3:12 “Fantasea” was a site smashed by Winston; this hole was offered some protection, and looks pretty good when lit up with 14000 Lumens
3:18 Dotted sweetlip (Plectorhinchus picus) chilling with a Longfin bannerfish (Heniochus acuminatus)
3:23 This was the only male Blue Ribbon Eel (Rhinomuraena quaesita) I saw on the trip-which used to be far more common. This particular guy is missing a nostril.
3:30 Fiji’s own anemonefish, Amphiprion barberi, has been officially named since we left 10 years ago. I’m happy to have contributed to that initial research by helping Dr. Les Kaufman take fin clippings for DNA analysis-non-lethal samples, and the fish were immediately returned to their host anemones.
3:36 Another sneaky little bugger: the endemic Fiji Fangblenny (Plagiotremus flavus) mimics the other Fijian endemic Canary fang blenny (Meiacanthus oualanensis, not shown), then bites passers-by
3:41 The White-lined rockcod (Anyperodon leucogrammicus) usually hangs below corals waiting to ambush damsels that retreat in its direction. I guess this spot was taken and they don’t like to share.
3:53 Randall’s shrimp goby (Amblyeleotris randalli) is still common in caves and overhangs; keeping a lookout for his digging mate, the shrimp Alpheus djeddensis
3:59 Tanaka’s wrasse (Wetmorella tanakai) is one of my favourite and most challenging species. While always in caves and crevices, and usually only seen in glimpses, this particular individual was unusually cooperative
4:07 The Giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) rarely does anything but look mean and get cleaned. Nice to see this big fella on the move.
4:15 Another endemic, the Fiji clown blenny (Escenius fijiensis)
4:19 Random Fiji reefscapes in Vatu-I-Ra
29 авг 2024
