FINDING NEMO
When diving, it’s quite easy to find Nemo, when you pass over a coral reef they will find you if you come too close to their home. You will know as the largest of the pair, the female, may actually charge you and even take a small bite at you, quite a surprise if you aren’t ready for this diminutive ball of energy, far smaller than a human. These two share their anemone home and can be seen taking protection among the stinging tentacles and getting ready to charge my camera dome port.
Twobar Anemonefish / Clownfish - Amphiprioninae
Clownfish or anemonefish in the wild, form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones and are unaffected by the stinging tentacles of the host anemone. The sea anemone protects the clownfish from predators, as well as providing food through the scraps left from the anemone’s meals and occasional dead anemone tentacles. In return, the clownfish defends the anemone from its predators and parasites. Clownfish are small-sized, 10–18cm, and depending on species, they are overall yellow, orange, or a reddish or blackish color, and many show white bars or patches. Clownfish are found in warmer waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and in the Red Sea in sheltered reefs or shallow lagoons.
Nikon D300 Nikkor 10.5mm f2.8 Fisheye lens, 1/30th sec @ f18, ISO 200, Sea & Sea Housing and Two Sea & Sea YS250,Taken at 18m on scuba at Sodwana Bay, South Africa
Photograph by Andrew Woodburn