Rock Beauty
A juvenile rock beauty (holacanthus tricolor) in front of mountainous star coral (orbicella faveolata).
Rock beauties are teases. They are relatively numerous, obviously easy to spot and they allow for a somewhat close approach, but not as close as you would like for an underwater shot as they often turn away or duck into a crack at the last moment. This juvenile wasn't as skittish as a typical adult. Unlike many other fish, juvenile rock beauties look like what they will become as they age, but maybe more of a red accent on the dorsal and anal fins.
It is a challenge to get a clean background underwater. Here, the rock beauty is posing in front of a large mountainous star coral. Unfortunately, there is a good chance this coral is dead now. This image was taken earlier this year. We returned to this site in the summer and much to our disappointment, probably 1/3 of the hard corals, if not more, were dead.
I don't know if it was "just" coral bleaching or due to disease, such as the stony coral tissue loss disease (first identified in FL in 2014, bit.ly/3fBTIEt), but it was very deflating to see it happen at a site that had so many magnificent and massive hard corals. Mountainous star coral is listed as "endangered" by IUCN.
Rock Beauty
A juvenile rock beauty (holacanthus tricolor) in front of mountainous star coral (orbicella faveolata).
Rock beauties are teases. They are relatively numerous, obviously easy to spot and they allow for a somewhat close approach, but not as close as you would like for an underwater shot as they often turn away or duck into a crack at the last moment. This juvenile wasn't as skittish as a typical adult. Unlike many other fish, juvenile rock beauties look like what they will become as they age, but maybe more of a red accent on the dorsal and anal fins.
It is a challenge to get a clean background underwater. Here, the rock beauty is posing in front of a large mountainous star coral. Unfortunately, there is a good chance this coral is dead now. This image was taken earlier this year. We returned to this site in the summer and much to our disappointment, probably 1/3 of the hard corals, if not more, were dead.
I don't know if it was "just" coral bleaching or due to disease, such as the stony coral tissue loss disease (first identified in FL in 2014, bit.ly/3fBTIEt), but it was very deflating to see it happen at a site that had so many magnificent and massive hard corals. Mountainous star coral is listed as "endangered" by IUCN.