If there is a special critter on your bucket list that you have always wanted to photograph, some knowledge about its habitat, eating habits and behaviour may help you find it and capture better shots. Lawson Wood offers some pointers.
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When looking at marine life—or even “hunting” specific species for your bucket list, as a photographer would—if possible, it is best to read up on your subject beforehand and try to gain a little more understanding of your quarry. There are four specific regions or aspects of the subject’s life that need to be explored and hopefully to have some understanding of.
Habitat
Where does the critter prefer to live? Which ocean or sea can it be found in? Can it be found in caves, deep recesses, under piers or inside wrecks? Does it prefer sea grass meadows or algae fields? Is it a creature of the night, a predator or prey? Is it a creature of the kelp forest? Is the fish or mammal pelagic and roves the oceans, or overwinters in freshwater springs, such as the manatee?
Does the critter prefer vibrant coral reefs or perhaps dead coral rubble areas, where stonefish like to blend in due to their incredible camouflage? Does it live on or under the sand or mud seabed, like the yellowhead jawfish in the Caribbean (where you have to wait for it to emerge before you can photograph it)?
Is it an active predator on rocky or coral reefs, and what prey species does it prefer? Does it like surface waters or the midwater column? Does it prefer shallow water, close to shore, or in mangrove coastal forests? Can you find it in deeper rock pools, or may it actually prefer fresh water, brackish ponds or estuaries? With that in mind, perhaps it is only found in rivers, mountain lakes or still or fast-moving water.
Habit
Does the creature or fish live on its own, or does it have a partner (symbiotic or otherwise)? Does it prefer a small group, perhaps with a dominant male and his harem, or prefer to swim in a large shoal?
Could the creature have a special idiosyncrasy, such as internal or external camouflage mechanisms, use a lure, like frogfish and anglerfish, or utilise this superb camouflage, such as octopus or squid, which can even alter their body shape as well as colour? Does the creature or fish build a home, or utilise someone else’s home, like a hermit crab? Does it change colour, shape or sex during its growth cycle, such as the clown coris wrasse?
Is it a daytime-only predator, or does it prefer to come out at night, or even only on a “blackwater” dive? Chances are that, if it is a daytime hunter and feeder, it will rest at night, and it is only then that you are able to approach the subject more closely to take its photograph.
Is the creature light or pressure-sensitive, such as a Christmas tree worm? Or does it behave aggressively towards intruders into its personal space, like clownfish or triggerfish?
Diet
– “Find the food; find the beast.”
Does it hunt in a pack? Does it filter feed or trap plankton? Does it eat fish, invertebrates, turtles, mammals, algae or corals? Does it trap creatures within its tentacles? If it is a bottom feeder, then does it sift sand or mud particles, or does it burrow under the surface in search of its prey, or perhaps use the sand to hide under and wait for passing prey to ambush?
Is the fish an active hunter, targeting schools of sprats or sardines, like sailfish, or maybe it is a seabird, such as guillemots, puffins or gannets? Perhaps it uses a snout or adapted fin rays to disturb the surface of the seabed to search for food. Is it a glutton that always eats, or does it gorge itself infrequently?
Reproduction and broods
Most importantly, you need to have some knowledge of its reproductive cycle, if possible. Does it bear live young, or, more importantly (from an observation point of view), does it lay eggs? If it is an egg layer, then there is a very good chance that, if you find the specific eggs in question, you may hopefully be able to find the creature that you are hoping to photograph. If you are unsure of the origin of the eggs that you find, then hang around some; there may be the creature responsible for laying these eggs close by.
It will also pay you to check up on the types of eggs found. Very obvious eggs are the pinkish-red colouration and rose petal shape of the large Spanish dancer nudibranch. Looking closely at the Spanish dancer, you may also discover a small partner shrimp. Distinctive eggs usually have distinctive creatures.
Cephalopods. Cuttlefish lay small clusters of what look like black grapes with a pointed tip attached to algae or small stones on or near the seabed. Squid lay long, white, gelatinous strands attached to kelp stalks, usually during the full moon of summer and autumn. Octopuses lay small egg clusters, which hang like bunches of grapes underneath rocky crevices. The female usually dies after laying has completed.
Sea slugs. Nudibranch eggs are perhaps the most distinctive and most sought-after by photographers. These are usually in the shape of small circular whorls or thin ribbons containing many thousands of eggs, often the same colour as the host. Egg cases can be found in almost every habitat and usually on the host that the nudibranch likes to eat. These are usually hydroids or bryozoans. You can quickly become quite adept at nudibranch spotting by finding the very distinctive egg shapes. Some species of nudibranch and sea hare congregate in huge numbers for mass spawning. You can find these quite regularly on dives, though they are often overlooked because of the confusing shape structure they make.
Molluscs. Moon snails secrete their eggs into a mucus and sand mousse, which is shaped roughly into a spiral disc with a hole in the middle, and may look vaguely like a small toy car tyre embedded in the sand. Helmet shells create an intricate honeycomb-like rigid mucus structure several centimetres tall, attached to stones and usually pink or dull purple in colour. This may resemble a sponge or even a coral, but the uniform cylindrical column and lattice-like honeycomb structure will give it away. Common whelks lay masses of small, oval-shaped, cream-coloured eggs, roughly ball-shaped, under piers and large boulders.
Hiding in plain sight
Some eggs are, of course, difficult to find as they are often attached to their host, such as crabs, shrimps and lobsters, which have adapted swim rays that keep the eggs in place. Seahorses hide their eggs inside the male’s brood pouch before they are expelled into open water.
Fish. Fish are, for the most part, very territorial and will lay their eggs wherever there is a sheltered area nearby, or in their home, or adjacent to their hosts, such as the clownfish laying its eggs within the reach of its symbiotic partner anemone.
When approaching fish, if they exhibit any unnaturally aggressive behaviour towards you whilst darting repeatedly back into a hole, there is a fair chance that eggs are nearby. Some fish tend to the eggs inside their mouths, and even when the young hatch, they also retreat into the safety of the parents’ mouths. Other fish, such as the lumpsucker, are easier to find, as the red coloured male always stays on guard next to the egg mass until they hatch, ferociously attacking any would-be predators, including divers.
Sharks. Cat sharks (commonly called dogfish!) and skates lay what is quaintly known as a “mermaid’s purse”, which is a single gelatinous sack with four extended corners that harden on contact with water and are wrapped around kelp or coral sea fans for security, whilst the embryonic youngster develops within.
Camouflage
Camouflage is more common than you may realise, and in fact, many of the more interesting critters use camouflage very expertly indeed, and these techniques may just add to your confusion. Stonefish are usually the fish most people think of, but there are great examples in the North Sea, such as the bottlebrush hydroid and the isopod Astacilla sp., which when it has its young, they climb up the adult and mimic the hydroid.
In warm waters, we have tiny flat worms of the Waminoa genus that can cover bubble coral and various anemones, looking like they are just a colour variation. Myzostomid worms cling to the arms of feather starfish and assume the same colour, making them almost impossible to see.
Relationships
One of the main points to look out for is the distinction between mutualism, commensalism, parasitism and symbiosis. Once you know what you are looking for, it may be easier to spot the host and the partners.
Mutualism is where two different creatures live quite happily together, with both species gaining from the other, such as “cleaning stations” where small gobies or shrimp ‘clean’ a fish of parasites and decaying or injured skin and both are very happy!
Commensalism is where two different creatures live quite happily together, but only one of the creatures benefits from the association, such as remoras attached to sharks or turtles, which feed on scraps and parasites without harming the shark or turtle, or hermit crabs using an empty snail shell for protection after the snail has died.
Parasitism is when one species is a host to another, which feeds directly from its host, such as parasites attached to a host, like sea lice on lumpsuckers.
Symbiosis is where two different species live in very close harmony, with both species benefiting directly from the association with their partner. For example, the alpheid shrimps live in a burrow with shrimpgobies, and of course, clownfish and anemones exemplify this relationship.
Final thoughts
So, with some of the knowledge beforehand, or even a part of the story of the combination of knowing where it lives, what it eats, coupled with knowing its preference for company or not, and recognising the eggs, there is a fair chance that the object of your (photographic or marine biological) desire may be in sight.
Of course, the particular critter that is on your bucket list may not be as close to home as you would like, and this may involve air travel, liveaboard dive boats, specialist guides or, even if you are the BBC, unlimited time and resources at your disposal! However, this is generally not the case, and finding your critter may be rather hit or miss, but as always, a little bit of knowledge will help you to get closer to your subject. But you still have to have empathy for the subject you are observing or photographing, and hopefully, with a little more understanding of the subject, there will be less stress involved for you or the subject, making for a more pleasing, friendly and informed photograph.
Finally, make sure your buoyancy is perfect, particularly if you are working close to the seabed or any fragile corals. Have some empathy for the subject and do not overstay your welcome by taking literally hundreds of photographs or even queuing up to photograph the same thing that someone else may have already spent some time on, trying to get the perfect image. If the fish is asleep on the reef at night, try to avoid getting face-to-face with it, as this can stress the fish so much that it may leave its safe place, blunder into other corals and possibly end up being eaten by nighttime predators.
Empathy, patience and knowledge will give you the best chance of success in photographing your dream critter bucket list. ■
