Deeper than deep
To see this fish we had to go 36.6m (120ft) down. That is at the limit of how deep you can go on the gas mix we were using (Nitrox). Any deeper requires a more sophisticated gas mix and decompression diving. In fact, my dive computer told me I had 9 minutes before I would enter required decompression stops. I understand the dive computer is conservative, but this is not a line that you want to flirt with. Nitrogen narcosis is not pleasant at best, fatal at worst.
So the fish is a sargassum triggerfish. It isn't very big (maybe about 20cm, 8in). And they are skittish. As already mentioned, I didn't have much time to work. I would have preferred a different background, but I got a few sea rods. Nevertheless, we did all of this effort because it is an interesting fish and we hadn't seen it before. Just not one we can visit on every dive.
I do have a thing for triggerfishes. If you scroll down my photo stream a bit, you can see a queen triggerfish, an ocean triggerfish, and a black durgon (which is also a triggerfish). They swim by moving their dorsal and anal fin, not the usual tail fin movement that you would expect. Plus they tend to have interesting color patterns (all but the ocean triggerfish).
Deeper than deep
To see this fish we had to go 36.6m (120ft) down. That is at the limit of how deep you can go on the gas mix we were using (Nitrox). Any deeper requires a more sophisticated gas mix and decompression diving. In fact, my dive computer told me I had 9 minutes before I would enter required decompression stops. I understand the dive computer is conservative, but this is not a line that you want to flirt with. Nitrogen narcosis is not pleasant at best, fatal at worst.
So the fish is a sargassum triggerfish. It isn't very big (maybe about 20cm, 8in). And they are skittish. As already mentioned, I didn't have much time to work. I would have preferred a different background, but I got a few sea rods. Nevertheless, we did all of this effort because it is an interesting fish and we hadn't seen it before. Just not one we can visit on every dive.
I do have a thing for triggerfishes. If you scroll down my photo stream a bit, you can see a queen triggerfish, an ocean triggerfish, and a black durgon (which is also a triggerfish). They swim by moving their dorsal and anal fin, not the usual tail fin movement that you would expect. Plus they tend to have interesting color patterns (all but the ocean triggerfish).