Photo of the Week: March 21, 2011

 Hi Gang!

 For the last several weeks I have shared images of relatively large animals such as spinner dolphins and humpback whales, and a large event, the growth of an island as shown from the lava flow from the Kilauea volcano on the Hilo side of the Big Island. This week I am not only going to change the size of my POTW subject, but the location as well. I have recently made a trip to the Caribbean islands nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and want to share an image from that area. This off the beaten path destination that consists of 32 islands doesn’t get the publicity that many diving destinations receive, but St. Vincent and the Grenadines is truly a diamond in the rough.

 St. Vincent and the Grenadines (including the word Grenadines is the only way to say the nation’s name if you don’t want to greatly offend the locals) is part of the area known as the Lesser Antilles that lies in the southern part of the Windward Islands. To find St. Vincent and the Grenadines on a map you will want to look at the southern end of the eastern sector of the Caribbean where this sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. Look between St. Lucia and Barbados to find St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

 From a diving perspective this location provides an interesting mixture of marine life. Many species such as French angelfish and great barracuda that are often seen in other parts of the Caribbean are common, but there are a number of species that are only seen from this portion of the Caribbean southward to Brazil. The bottom line for me was that despite making dozens of previous trips to a variety of Caribbean destinations I encountered a number of species that I had not seen before.

 This week’s POTW is an image of a male bluethroat pikeblenny, Chaenopsis ocellata, in a display intended to lay claim to his territory and ward off any other males. The bluethroat pikeblenny occurs in the western Atlantic, southeastern Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba. It is not all that uncommon, but it is rarely seen because the bluethroat pikeblenny usually inhabits sand and rubble areas, and seagrass beds that are less than 15 feet deep where the water is somewhat turbid. As divers we tend to quickly swim over those types of bottoms to get to more colorful reefs and clearer water.

 In addition to inhabiting the types of sea floor that most divers are quick to swim over, the color and pattern of the bluethroat pikeblenny is well matched to help it go sight unseen. On top of that, this usually solitary species lives in abandoned worm tubes.

 However, male bluethroat pikeblennies are highly territorial, and they are very aggressive toward intruders, especially considering their diminutive size. The reach a maximum length of only 6 inches, but they behave like crazed pitbulls when another male gets too close for their liking!

 I created this image with a 60 mm lens. I got as close as I could, set my strobes on full power, and used an f/stop of f/32 so that I could maximize my depth-of-field as the pikeblenny displayed and “danced about”. I used two Ikelite DS 125 strobes to light the scene.

 I hope you enjoy this week’s POTW!

See you next week,

Marty