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| Dragon Eel, Kona Coast, Hawaii. This
little guy chased me all over the bottom. We'd been on the Kona Aggressor for a
week, and we were finishing up with a couple of shallow morning rubble dives. Broken
coral and lava chunks covered the bottom. We picked through it, turning over rocks,
checking things out, and putting them back carefully so we didn't blow the cover of
whatever was underneath. The dragon eel stuck his head up and I headed in his
direction, expecting him to run away, but that wasn't in his plan. I'd sneak a shot,
and he'd try to get closer to, I suppose, nip my fingers with those sharp, transparent
teeth. I'd back away and the whole thing would start over. You've seen all those pictures of moray with their mouths open, looking terribly fierce. Once you've seen a few morays, you realize that they usually are pretty docile. Dragon eels are a whole different thing. Lucky they're only 12 to 18 inches long. Nikon F, 105mm f/4 Micro-Nikkor lens, Ikelite housing, 2 Ikelite 150 strobes, f/16, Kodak Ektar 100. |