Rarities underwater

[Luiz Rocha]

Thanks for the nice words guys, yes, it has been very nice to travel all over the place and hang out with these fish in the wild.

In west Africa there is nobody exporting fish regularly (not that I know of at least). The only way fish goes out is when some collector comes in and exports them, so most are hard to get. Unfortunately A. kingi is not in the area where I dove (Sao Tome), but there are some gems here, like the wrasse below, Coris atlantica, or, it is classified as C. atlantica, but this morph from Sao Tome is very different (and beautiful). So, here is the juvenile:

And the adult:

The downside is that you would need a fairly large tank for these guys, the adults are about 25cm long and swim all the time...

 

[amore169]

Amazing photos, thanks for sharing.

 

[myerst2]

Now does P. imperator and P. chrysurus overlap in there ranges in this area? If so have you ever seen the fish below? I believe it to be a hybrid of the above fish and an absolute show stopper? With no collecting outfits there, anyone want to move to Africa and start up? With fish looking like this and many tjem being endemic, I am suprised no one has started to collect? Thanks. T

 

[Luiz Rocha]

That is one great looking hybrid... P. imperator and P. chrysurus overlap along the Indian Ocean coast of Africa, and the species that I posted above are from the Atlantic coast of Africa. But I did some diving in the Seychelles not long ago and all I saw was "normal" fish...

Now, these odd lines in the hybrid you showed reminded me of a really odd looking Acanthurus lineatus that I saw in Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) last year:

This guy doesn't look like a hybrid, just something really odd, maybe a genetic defect.

 

[tcmfish]

That clown tang pic is awesome!!! (So are your other pics ) That is the first time I have seen a pic of one like that!

BTW your pics are very nice, and you do a good job with underwater photography. And not only are the pics of good quality you take them of some awesome fish!

 

[Mark]

I dove East Africa last fall, which included Durban S.A. and Mozambique. The variety of diving within a 4 hour drive is astounding. Mozambique and the Northern Natal coast of South Africa have the imperators, flagfins, regals, etc. Then in Durban you have a very subtropical environment similar to the Eastern Pacific on the coasts Central America and the Baja peninsula. There you find the kingi and "old wife" angels, as well as some strays from the warmer north. And then everywhere you have these stray schools of Gem tangs cruising both the subtropical and tropical reefs all along the coast. The variety of sharks is just amazing as well. I hope to go back and also make a pitstop in Cape Town for a quick cage dive.

I honestly think South Africans have the best diving in the world because of variety. They have the tropical pacific, subtropical pacific, temperate pacific, and subtropical atlantic.

 

[Luiz Rocha]

Very nice, now I just HAVE to go there. And since we are talking about diving, a couple of weeks ago I made the strangest dive ever, I dove at the Georgia Aquarium with the whale sharks! The aquarium where they keep the whale sharks is so big that have a dive program now there. It is very expensive and I would never pay for it, but since I was a visiting scientist they took me for free

So here I am with the whale shark:

And here a shot of the group:

The one with the funny looking gear (two small tanks) is Rich Pyle, he was using his rebreather there. Unfortunately they didn't allow us to take cameras during the dive, so photos were taken by a friend of ours from outside the aquarium.

 

[Luiz Rocha]

Now, just so that we don't go too far off-topic, another rare one, not as rare as the previous ones, but still rare, Centropyge joculator:

Photographed at 16m deep, off Christmas Island (Indian Ocean).

 

[LukFox]

Wooow that clown tang is out of this world. These are all fantastic shots! Diving with the whale sharks must have been amazing, too .

 

[mpoletti]

Now, just so that we don't go too far off-topic, another rare one, not as rare as the previous ones, but still rare, Centropyge joculator:

Photographed at 16m deep, off Christmas Island (Indian Ocean).

That is an awesome photo of a wild joc

 

[myzislow]

Verrry nice pics! Thanks for taking the time to share them with us!

 

[Luiz Rocha]

Thanks all, I have some more and I will try to keep them coming... Here are a couple of hybrids:

Centropyge vrolicki X C. eibli photographed in Bali:

Centropyge vrolicki X C. flavissima photographed in Guam:

 

[gasman059]

Great thread probably one of the best threads in this forums in ages! Thx for your time and dedication.

 

[Rare Angels]

Awesome pictures! It must be amazing to be able to see these fish in there natural habitat. That clown tang was insane and I would have had a hard time not trying to catch to take home.

Thanks for sharing and keep the angels coming.

Dave

 

[wickedfish]

That is one great looking hybrid... P. imperator and P. chrysurus overlap along the Indian Ocean coast of Africa, and the species that I posted above are from the Atlantic coast of Africa. But I did some diving in the Seychelles not long ago and all I saw was "normal" fish...

Now, these odd lines in the hybrid you showed reminded me of a really odd looking Acanthurus lineatus that I saw in Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) last year:

This guy doesn't look like a hybrid, just something really odd, maybe a genetic defect.

O.M.G. Awsome pic..

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I cant even pictures even close to that quality with them contained in an aquarium, and all day long to shoot.

 

[ReeferJeff1]

Great Pics

 

[michael_cb_125]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing them with us.

~Michael

 

[SDguy]

Stunning pictures! Thanks for sharing them. That African coris really caught my eye on DD a while back... gorgeous fish.

 

[Luiz Rocha]

Here are a couple more from the Marquesas, first Chaetodon declivis:

And the beautiful male Pseudanthias regalis:

Quality is not as good in these as in the previous because I took those a long time ago with my film camera! Now I have to go back there with digital P. regalis is common and abundant all over the archipelago, but I only saw a few C. declivis, always deeper than 20m.