Storytime again for us fish nerds... Southern Japan and Guam dive/fish trip 2012 :)

[copps]

And the whale meat section...

A $60 piece smaller than the palm of my hand...

And how about "whale bacon"...

Koji handed me this package and pointed to his tongue... that's right... this is whale tongue in the center... sliced very thin...

 

[copps]

John - thanks for the seafood shots, lol.

You were right. This was the Interrupta in the tank with the two bandit angels. It did look post larval when I was there but must have filled in more in your picture. Amazing that such a small fish was caught!

Yup... I photographed it in late November not long after it was caught... smaller than my thumbnail!

 

[copps]

A cool little bar that Kengo, Nori and I hit up... that had a customer's tank in it! This is Kengo... the young gun at Blue Harbor... Koji loves this kid so much he said he wouldn't be surprised if he takes over BH when Koji retires!

Unlike any other bar displays I've seen in the world...

... with these species on display...

Different cultures... same passion! Me with the owner... two fellow conspic owners... Sugoi!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was one fat conspic... fed all the time!

 

[SDguy]

Awesome conspic! Great pics John!!

 

[copps]

Thanks Peter... some shots of Blue Harbor...

 

[humaguy]

This is a fascinating thread...
Love the stories and pics...
Thank you!

 

[copps]

Thanks Ted... let's get to some more fish... here was some of the stock at Blue Harbor...

Some more interrupta... you saw the smallest juvie... and the largest stud male earlier in the thread... this was a standard adult female/subadult...

And one of the larger juvies...

The undescribed deepwater Bodianus that was completely unknown until this small group was collected in Tahiti... similar to the Hawaiian Bodianus sanguineus... what a fish!!!!

Aberrant Centropyge potteri...

Beautiful specimen of a juvenile Apolemichthys arcuatus... the Hawaiian bandit angel...

Pseudanthias hawaiiensis

Odontanthias fuscipinnis...

Prognathodes guyanensis...

Liopropoma carmabi

 

[Yurivd]

Thanks for always shearing your stories !
You have most of the fish in your tanks lol
How much was the french butterfly

 

[copps]

Thanks for always shearing your stories !
You have most of the fish in your tanks lol
How much was the french butterfly

Lol Yuri... you know my collection well... Yes I own most of these... but as I get to some of the customer tanks you'll see some things I wish I had in my collection... The French butterfly was not for sale... Koji has had it I believe about eight years or so... but he's sold a few specimens through the years as I've saeen a few in his customer's tanks... don't know the prices... on my trips there it is often like drinking from a fire hose... even my hard core fishy brain cannot hold in all of the info...

 

[copps]

Anyone who has seen me lecture has probably seen me with a Blue Harbor polo... and Koji as usual hooked me up with some swag... including the Blue Harbor winter jacket I used while I was there...

Koji even included one in "shocking pink" for my wife... the purple was for me and according to Kengo that color is "management shirt"... ... unfortunately there were none small enough for the other woman in my life...

Copps

 

[humaguy]

More excellent pics....love the baby bandit...

 

[copps]

Thanks again Ted... I'll post more photos later on tonight or this weekend...

My next adventure is here... in March...

Copps

 

[Overboard]

Just guessing here. Not much but an airstrip. Johnston Atoll or Midway Island?

 

[aquaph8]

Thanks for all the great pics and stories John, always enjoy them. Your little girl is a cutie.

 

[humaguy]

John,
Looks like another another exciting trip on the horizon...
Looking forward to more stories and pics- your book is going to be killer!
Ps, I have been shopping around for a solid micro lens, the 60mm was on my list but I was unsure...thanks for posting such incredible pics, I am convinced...just ordered one!
Ted

 

[Tactics]

John, where are the pics of the Koji's customer tanks? =)

 

[SDguy]

Ugh, dying over the Prognathodes guyanensis!

 

[copps]

Just guessing here. Not much but an airstrip. Johnston Atoll or Midway Island?

Nope... those are both on my bucket list but unfortunately both have been left to the birds... and there is no longer travel or people there... keep guessing!

Thanks for all the great pics and stories John, always enjoy them. Your little girl is a cutie.

Thanks so much... I love my family, fish, diving and travel (in that order)... much of my life is some combination of those... our daughter is four... going on eighteen... While most of my fish travels are an offshoot of business or speaking engagement travel, I travel quite a bit with the family too... last summer we visited and had hotel stays in all six New England states... this summer is coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama... here's our little Isabella with our son Nicholas, my future dive buddy, in Cape Cod last summer... where we were unknowingly bathing with a growing population of great whites! Our son has already visited twenty states... and we hope to hit all 50 with the kids before they leave the nest!

John,
Looks like another another exciting trip on the horizon...
Looking forward to more stories and pics- your book is going to be killer!
Ps, I have been shopping around for a solid micro lens, the 60mm was on my list but I was unsure...thanks for posting such incredible pics, I am convinced...just ordered one!
Ted

Ted the AF-S replaced an old model of this lens that was already incredibly popular... this newer model is even more so... I got the port to shoot it underwater also, where it is equally popular.

John, where are the pics of the Koji's customer tanks? =)

In my computer... coming soon...

Ugh, dying over the Prognathodes guyanensis!

You're aware they are available Peter right?

Copps

 

[Overboard]

Cute kids you have there John. Glad to see you are enjoying them. Our three are all off and married and we certainly miss them, but at least we have two grandsons that keep us busy often.


Took me a while, but that is Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, right? It is gorgeous. Home of Rhomboids I believe. Should be great diving.

 

[humaguy]

I agree with the location...Kwajalein Atoll...we had a carrier named USS Kwajalein in WWII.