Moth Eyes

Juvenile yellow boxfish (Ostracion cubicus), photographed in the waters off Pelorus Island, Queensland.

Yellow boxfish have four life stages, each very differently coloured.

Longfin grouper (Epinephelus quoyanus), photographed in the waters off Pelorus Island, Queensland.

I love these fellows. Their habit of finding a bit of sand or a bit of rock and sitting around on it, instead of darting all over the place like most fish, makes them terribly easy to photograph.

Phyllidia ocellata, photographed in the waters off Pelorus Island, Queensland.

Nudibranchs (including Phyllidia ocellata) form a “clade” (meaning that all species of nudibranch descend from a common ancestor that no non-nudibranch descends from) of predatory sea slugs. Nudibranchs tend to be vibrantly coloured, and there is a great deal of variation between species in not only the colour patterns but even in the anatomy – which makes them great photography subjects!

Blue-spotted stingray (Dasyatis kuhlii), photographed in the waters of Pelorus Island, Queensland.