Mating Mandarin Fish


Posted by ChrisRoss on Fri Nov 23, 2018 5:32 am

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Mandarin Fish Synchiropus splendidus

The mandarin fish is quite small at 60mm long and during he day hides in coral rubble, emerging at dusk to rush about 300mm above the coral to mate and disperse their eggs.  They start to mate as it is just getting completely dark.  So catching them requires good timing and the camera needs to AF relatively quickly. 

I picked the 12-40 as I knew it would AF faster even though I'd need to crop the image a little.

Larger image:Mandarin Fish

Olympus OM-D EM-1 MkII + 12-40mm f2.8 @ 40mm.  INON strobes, Nauticam housing.

1/250 @ f8 ISO400
Chris Ross
Sydney
Australia
http://www.aus-natural.com   Instagram: @ausnaturalimages  Now offering Fine Art printing Services

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by Mark Boranyak on Fri Nov 23, 2018 8:22 am
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Chris, this is a wonderful shot. As a semi retired u/w photographer who has photographed this species I can attest how difficult it is to get this shot.

Thanks for sharing.
 

by SMB on Fri Nov 23, 2018 8:42 am
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Absolutely one of the coolest looking fish. Great shot to capture the mating fish. I have spent many nights playing with theses guys.
(One of two or three reef fish that can actually produce a blue pigment. The rest rely on reflective scales.)
They are poisonous and apparently have a terrible "odor" to other fish. What is amazing is how different the psychedelic colors are on these fish, region to region.
Great patience to get this image.

The coral reefs are such a cool ecosystem!
Stan
 

by ChrisRoss on Fri Nov 23, 2018 9:20 am
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Thanks Stan and Mark, funnily enough I didn't feel too stressed getting this, I was using a focus light with red filter which they didn't like so I turned it off and found the EM-1 MkII would easily focus on them in the very dim light at dusk when they emerge for their quick dash to mate.
Chris Ross
Sydney
Australia
http://www.aus-natural.com   Instagram: @ausnaturalimages  Now offering Fine Art printing Services
 

by Tom Whelan on Fri Nov 23, 2018 5:22 pm
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Excellent image of the beautiful fish, congrats on the capture.
Tom

http://www.whelanphoto.com Portraits and Abstracts (web site)
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by rhighercat on Fri Nov 23, 2018 8:18 pm
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Another exquisite image! great colors as usual. what is most precious is the moment!
 

by Matthew Pugh on Sun Nov 25, 2018 8:15 am
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Hi

Neat capture of these remarkable looking chaps - and great job of getting in close to these small subjects


All the best
Matthew
 

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