From endemic angels to widespread butterflies, the Longnose Butterflyfish is another one of my favorites. It's very widely distributed (from East Africa to the eastern Pacific) but never super common anywhere. It is absolutely beautiful though, always a joy to photograph!
Staying on rare angelfishes for a bit, this one is the Yellowhead Angelfish (Centropyge joculator). It's only found in the Australian eastern Indian Ocean Islands of Christmas and Cocos. I photographed this one back in 2007 in Christmas Island. #ichthyology
Today a throwback to a very rare fish: the Resplendent Pygmy Angelfish (Centropyge resplendens). I photographed these beauties at about 15m depth in Ascension Island, the only place in the world where they are found. They were quite common in rubble habitat at those depths.
It's common for fishes to orient themselves towards where the physical structure is. That's called "ventral substrate response", and it's what this stunning Coral Beauty (Centropyge bispinosa) is doing here in this photo I took in a cave in Australia's Coral Sea. #ichthyology
The Guineafowl Pufferfish (Arothron meleagris) has several different color morphs. The most common one is black with white spots (that's where the common name comes from), but the prettiest is bright yellow! They are especially abundant in remote oceanic islands. #ichthyology
Speaking of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), here is another good looking wrasse from there, Pseudolabrus semifasciatus. The island is so remote that a lot of species are only found there (endemics). This is one of them. #ichthyology
Throwback to Easter Island! Anampses femininus is very unusual among wrasses. In this group, males usually are the colorful ones, so Jack Randall named this species "femininus" because females are more attractively colored than males!
Most juvenile angelfishes look different from adults. In the genus Centropyge, the differences often are not big, but I still think many of the babies are prettier, like this Centropyge bicolor that I photographed in Australia. Beautiful, right?
Butterflyfish are my faves when diving. Always in pairs, always so cute. My fave is the blue masked yellow butterflyfish from the Red Sea.
Too much going on these days, I think everyone needs some more fish in their lives! So here is a beautiful but very underrated butterflyfish to brighten your feed, the Saddle Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ephippium), enjoy!
