Macro & Close-ups

Shooting macro can be very difficult – you get within a couple inches of fish who are darting about, the sea surge moves you against your will, the shooting scene is reduced to just a couple square inches, depth of field (focus) is generally about 1/4 inch deep.    It can also be the most rewarding – imagine seeing the beautiful blue eyes of a 3-inch red hermit crab, or a 1-inch transparent shrimp with purple feet (and laden with hundreds of eggs).  Without macro, these things would be impossible to see, and impossible to photograph.   Here are some of my favorites from the lilliputian world of underwater macro… (click to launch larger images)  

Old Blue Eyes
A blue-eyed crab peers out of a conch shell – Cayman Brac
Peek-a-boo Blenny
Little Blenny carved out a home in the coral polyp colony – Cayman Brac
Golden Beauty
Blending In
There’s no mystery why these beautiful & delicate critters are called SeaHorses! They come in various colors to camouflage themselves with their surroundings. It’s a thrill to watch them drift from place to place, then grab onto something with their prehensile tails – Honduras
Black & White in Color
Coral Fingers

This appears as tiny delicate hands evoking various emotions. Actually, this is how it grabs food particles passing by  – Cayman Brac

Tubeworm Bouquet
Bay Islands, Honduras
Tiny File
A small file fish takes refuge in a colorful coral formation – Wakatobi, Indonesia
Baby Clown

A new addition to the Clown Family sits atop his anemone home.  See his Mom (right photo) for scale – Palawan, South China Sea

Mom Clown

A Mom Clown keeps a watchful on her baby Clown (left) –  Shot at the same anemone –   Palawan, South China Sea  

Close-up – Alligatorfish eye
Close-up of an Alligatorfish eye. Chromatophores (light-reflecting cells) above the camouflaged eye of an alligatorfish help it disappear into the sea floor – Indonesia
Flaming Scallop
Actually a type of clam, Flaming Scallops prefer darker recessed areas. I spotted this one inside a cave – Palau, Micronesia
Neptune’s Whisper
A coral formation which appeared as a sweet whisper from Neptune himself – Philippines
Homeward Bound
Close shot of a clown homeward bound – back to his host anemone. South China Sea
Jellyfish Petticoat
An ‘upside-down’ jelly generally travels with its tentacles tucked inside its cap, which faces downward – Key Largo
Rainbow Jelly

A beautiful glowing jellyfish with delicate tentacles – photo credit this shot: John Mawk

Delicate Jellies
Jellyfish performing their free-form dance.
– Singapore
Sea Nettle #1
Sea Nettle #2
Sea Nettle #3
Sea Nettle #4

These semi-transparent jellyfish are Sea Nettles. Their caps or bells usually grow to about 6 to 8 inches in diameter. They have four oral arms attached to the underside of the mouth, and many long tentacles which can extend several feet.   Looking like underwater aliens, jellyfish have been drifting along ocean currents for around 500 million years, long before dinosaurs. There are over 2000 species of this oldest, multi-organ animal.

Harlequin Star
I found this unique starfish off El Nido, Palawan – Philippines
Star. Fish.
A star and fish share similar, camouflaging colors – Philippines, South China Sea
Star-Studded
Another beautiful starfish gem –
Wakatobi, off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia
Purple Toes

Clear Harlequin Shrimp – It’s possible to see through her to the  coral behind her.  
Philippines, South China Sea 

Purple Sea Fan
A delicate Purple Sea Fan main branch and a latticework of smaller branches. Polyp buds catch plankton drifting by. Cayman Brac
Pucker Up!
Sea Cucumber mouth. Feeding tentacles around the mouth ingest tiny food particles.
Philippines, South China Sea
On Parade
A very small and delicate Banded Coral Shrimp marches over the reef – Honduras
Baby File Fish
I believe this is a mimic filefish, whose appearance is strikingly similar to the noxious fish it models itself after – Honduras
Flamingo Tongue
The Flamingo Tongue is a brightly-colored mollusk which likes to dine out on sea fans, generally in the Caribbean – Honduras
Inside the Swarm
View Inside a swarm of Silversides – they usually form ‘fish balls’. Roatan, Honduras
Home Sweet Sponge
This little fish makes his home inside a sponge, with a hydroid porch – Honduras
Small but Mighty
A shy but curious fish swims just above the reef – Cayman Brac
Eye-to-Eye
Up close and personal with a Seahorse – Roatan, Honduras
Sweet Lips

Close-up glimpse into a Tridachna clam. The bright and convoluted pattern is almost hypnotic –
Palau, Micronesia

Eye of the Puffer
Pufferfish can move their eyes independently. Roatan, Honduras
Bubba Shrimp
Shrimp are rather extraterrestrial-looking. I do have to admit fondly thinking about how tasty shrimp are, when I saw this guy..
Under the Star
Underside of a starfish. They move and grip objects with thousands of little tube feet under each arm. An internal hydraulic system pumps sea water into or out of each foot.
Sea Humor – Making Faces
Christmas Tree worms (colorful marine worms with beautiful, spiraling plumes). I can’t help but see an expressive face – Cayman Brac
Bubble Coral

Not to be mistaken for eggs of any sea critter, bubble corals are stony corals with skeletons just below their fleshy surface – Philippines,
South China Sea 

Starship Enterprise
Sea Nettle Jellyfish whimsically morphs into the shape of Star Trek’s Starship ‘Enterprise’.
Trunkfish
A shy but curious fish swimming slowly above reefs, often hovering under ledges or over small holes – Cayman Brac