Beqa Lagoon (Fiji)

• 
  Anemone Mouth

  This picture was made about 25 feet below the surface, on a part of a bommie that had started to roll off vertical. There was quite a lot of surge, and the anemone was being tossed around by it. Anemones have no anus, and when they have too much junk in their stomachs, they force their digestive tract out their mouths -- that's what the red stuff is. The colors are more saturated than in real life.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Kodak Ektar 100.
• 
  Anemone Shrimp on Bubble Coral

  I hardly ever consciously copy some other photographer's picture, although I admit to influence, but this is an exception. I'd been fascinated by Chris Newbert's picture of an anemone shrimp on some bubble coral in Within a Rainbowed Sea, and I'd been looking for the same subject. I found it two-thirds of the way though a dive in Beqa Lagoon, lower than I really wanted to be at that point (55 feet), on the part of the bommie that was sideways to a strong current. Hanging on with one hand and feeling something like a flag, I calculated the exposure compensation for the nearly-white subject, and went the wrong way (I've since come up for a rule that works even when I'm narced or rushed -- "Dark down, light up").
  
  So maybe I wasn't fated to make Chris Newbert wannabe images. On another level, maybe all my pictures are Newbert wannabes. I still like this.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Kodak Ektar 100.
• 
  Brittle Star on Gorgonian

  This is one of those sights that you see all the time underwater, and pass on by. There's nothing unusual going on here, just part of a brittle starfish clinging to the trunk of a large Gorgonian fan. This picture reminds me to stop and look at the commonplace. The fan is a dirty brown color in the 40 feet of water where I made this picture, since the water diffracts blue light, but the flash shows how intense the color is.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Kodak Ektar 100.
• 
  Tridacna Clam Siphon

  The mantle of some of these clams are fluorescent, although now as florescent as shown here. This one was a little over a foot across.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Fuji Reala.
• 
  Mushroom Coral

  There are lots of these pie-plate sized white discs on the bottom. If you turn one over, many are white on the bottom, too. Some have green accents, and some have purple ones. If you're lucky, you can find one with both.
  
  This stuff has the same name as the white anemone-looking animal. Can they really be the same? They are indeed; the inner ends of the hard protuberances (lime-green in this picture) are the ends of the tentacles.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Fuji Reala.
• 
  Tridacna Clam Mantle

  Here's another tridacna, this time a blue one. The exhaust siphon is at the upper left.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Fuji Reala.
• 
  Split Fan

  A fan in a strong current had a split, and I noticed that the white algae seemed to like the top part. Extra points if you spot the gobie.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Fuji Reala.
• 
  Anemone Back

  In about 45 feet of water, in the surge channel between two bommies, was a lonely-looking anemone flapping in the current. I took a picture of its back.
  
  Nikon F4, 105mm Macro lens, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite AI/n strobes, f/16, Kodak Ektar 100.