Photo of the Week: May 18, 2009

Hi Gang!

I guess there are at least two things I can’t get enough of- (1) Hawaiian diving and (2) taking pictures at cleaning stations. Lucky me! I was back in Hawaii during the past two weeks where I enjoyed excellent weather, water and diving conditions!

During my trip I acquired several shots that I considered using for this week’s POTW, including some nice images of spinner dolphins and a monk seal, but the image I settled on for this week is a picture of a Hawaiian cleaner wrasse providing its services to a yellowfin goatfish. No doubt, in Hawaii it’s hard to make a shallow reef dive and not come across some busy Hawaiian cleaner wrasse doing their thing, but the “cleaner with it’s head in the goatfish’s mouth” makes this shot special to me.

I was diving over at the Big Island at a site that is literally about 30 seconds out of Honokahau Harbor near Kona. I remembered the site because it is in less than 25 feet of water and there is a resident population of goatfishes (several species) that often hover in mid-water near the mooring or drop down near the sea floor where they vie for the services provided by Hawaiian cleaner wrasse. A wide-angle set up usually provides a good photo opportunity with the goatfish schools in mid-water, but I opted to see if I could get a good cleaning shot as I felt reasonably confident that if the goatfishes were there, some Hawaiian cleaner wrasse would be busy cleaning away.

Cleaner fishes make their livings by picking skin parasites (mostly a variety of crustaceans), dead tissue and mucus from the bodies of client fishes known as hosts. Interestingly, in the case of Hawaiian cleaner wrasse these fish feed mostly on the mucus of other fishes. Some experts claim this makes Hawaiian cleaner wrasse more of a parasite than a helpful partner, but other ichthyologists suggest that the removal of tiny bits of mucus is beneficial to the host fish because the act spurs the production of more mucus. A healthy mucus coating is very beneficial to the host fishes serviced by these wrasse.

Hawaiian cleaner wrasse often work in pairs, but at times as many as five fish establish a permanent territory where they provide their services. The wrasse work hard at advertising their presence to passing fishes as the cleaners flare their tail fins and actively swim from place to place in rather conspicuous, somewhat erratic, start-stop patterns.

Interested host fishes often darken or lighten their skin in what is believed to be an effort to make parasites standout more conspicuously against their skin, and many host fishes hover in a vertical orientation with either their head held upward or downward in an effort to convey their desire to be serviced. These behaviors are commonly seen in a variety of goatfishes, including the yellowfin.

At the dive site as soon as I hit the water and my entry bubbles cleared I saw a school of goatfish. While descending I saw that cleaning was underway near under the bow near the mooring line. I watched for a few minutes and located a good spot to position myself. I took my best guesstimate as to how close I could get to the cleaning without disrupting the behavior, and I set up my strobes and camera accordingly. I achieved neutral buoyancy and slowly moved into position as I hovered a foot or so above the bottom.

Over the next hour I had a number of excellent photographic opportunities, meaning a goatfish opened wide and an eager Hawaiian cleaner wrasse was quick to enter the goatfish’s mouth and stay there for a few seconds as it cleaned away. The challenge was getting in front of the action without being disruptive.

There were long stretches of time during which the cleaning was “hot and heavy,” but because there were so many goatfishes competing for the wrasses’ services the wrasses were only able to pick away at the skin of one fish for a few seconds at a time. But if I waited long enough there were also times when most of the goatfishes swam away for a few minutes and the remaining handful appeared to receive a more thorough cleaning, including the “dental” services.

When the opportunity presented itself I was able to shoot several shots, and this week’s POTW is clearly my best effort. While the photograph is not exactly a one-of-a-kind image, as a photographer I do find this kind of behavioral shot to be very satisfying. I hope you enjoy it as well!

See you next week!

P.S. Captain Steve: You live and dive in a wonderful place, but I suppose I am not telling you anything you don’t know. Hope you enjoy your home waters as much as I do!