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The zebra frogfish (also called striped anglerfish) is rare for New Zealand. It must have arrived as a swimming larva in the warm currents arriving from the north. Its breast fins (arms) have been developed into walking legs with proper little hands at their ends. Its rear legs (ventral fins) are usually placed in front of these. Between its eyes it has one dorsal spine modified into an angling device that it can swing freely in front of its mouth. At the end of this fishing rod sits a flap of skin that looks very much like a little worm. Camouflaged by its stripes and furry skin, the zebra fish waits in ambush until a hapless fish tries to catch the worm. This fish was photographed in Whangaroa Harbour.

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Not mother's beauty, this snapper would have been thrown away at birth. 'Monkeyface' as he/she is affectionately known, frequents the Goat Island Marine Reserve where it astounds school children by its sheer size and awesomeness. Weighing in at about 15 kg and some 35 years old, it does not enjoy much protection from a marine reserve that is far too small to cover its wanderings.

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Grumpy old man, looking down on the world. Anyone interested in a friend like this? Neighbouring fishes aren't, because this oven-sized john dory is a redoubtable and resourceful predator. Even fish almost his size are caught in his flip-out mouth and they pass eventually into his equally extendable stomach. Why do fish and humans often look like their personality?

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Maori warrior or over-excited teenager? Who on earth would paint his face like this and body to match? But for this raunchy male goatfish, resting on an undersea wreck, this is the suit that turns the girls on. Goatfish are not only beautifully coloured but can also change colour profoundly and very rapidly. For most occasions and moods they have different attire: overalls, dinner jacket, pyjamas and a wedding suit.

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Sex in broad daylight and on this show! For a female octopus (inside the hole) it won't be enough to keep her suitor at arm's length. For he inserts his right-hand third arm - specially adapted for the purpose - into her very private body space. There he deposits packets of sperm that she will break once she decides to lay her eggs. A dream-come-true for feminists: sex at arm's length and fertilisation when it suits.

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Invader from space? Escapee from a horror movie? This four-eyed mantis shrimp, occasionally found when dredging for scallops, is quite brainy and versatile. Shaped half-round across, these sea bugs can turn around in the round burrows they cement into coarse sandy bottoms.  Built like a fold-out Swiss army knife, it has over 15 utensils: mandibles for eating, antennas for tasting/smelling, fingers for handling, snap-out catch arms, trowels cum ailerons, paint brushes, six platters with nippers attached and outside the photo many more - a pinnacle of adaptation.

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Flowers for the picking? Don your divegear and dive the Rainbow Warrior at night. This variety of jewel anemone grows on the railings where it swells from insignificant lumps by day to half a finger at night. Jewel anemones occur in an amazing variety of colour, many fluorescing bright pinks, oranges and yellows in the monotonously blue depths. Baby anemones simply sprout from the parent's foot as these walk around a bit - birth without pain.

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Better have big bro around when coming across this guy. Looks like a villain and is one for sure. His huge gob opens like a garage door toward a spacious barn behind. A red scorpionfish (or grandaddy hapuka) swallows some remarkably large prey. Unwary fish coming too close are sucked in when the mouth opens. Hidden by its disruptive colouring and skin protrusions and its red colour turning to black in the blue light, it hunts both by day and by night, resting as it hunts.

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Better duck for cover, for the stealth bombers come to sort out the enemy. These short-tailed stingrays are found hovering in the dark currents of Northern Arch in the Poor Knights marine reserve. The white one is albino. Ten years ago a couple of stingrays had fun paragliding in the uprising current over the doorsil to the arch. A few more joined in until today at any time over 30 can be found crowding the narrow gap in the daytime. It is a unique and awesome spectacle. Surprisingly these long-lived fish, like many other species, have adaptable social behaviour as they enjoy life.

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A Christmas tree decoration? Toothpicks vying for an olive? A photographic trick? This closeup shows the fleshy sack protecting the inlet sieve to this diadema sea urchin's internal hydraulics system, which powers the motion of its spines and tubefeet. Thought to be unique to New Zealand, this exquisite and agile sea porcupine comes out at night to forage the sandy flats adjoining the sheltering reef. Its spines are very sharp and feared by divers, who could swear they have eyes on them, because the spines follow your every movement. Some sea creatures exceed one's wildest imagination.

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The ghost of your mother-in-law? A French cheese gone off? In this bottom-up view of a hairy seahare, the animal looks threatening and unflattering. But in real life this friendly and useful creature is well adapted to the muddy bottom, which it resembles and also eats (see inset). This hairy seahare is protected by its repulsive taste. They form small, social groups and meet up regularly. Being bi-sexual, seahares can form mating chains, one mounting the previous from behind. They seem to 'know' each other 'personally' and 'miss' the one that is taken.

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Monster of the deep, with its angry eyes, threatening jaws and barblike teeth. This brown mottled moray eel, one of the bigger ones in NZ, is not only a scavenger of the recesses in the reef but a fearsome predator as well. Hunting mainly by smell and taste (see the indented olfactory pores and nose tubes), and being able to slither through narrow holes, it is a living nightmare for those fish that sleep at night. Moray eels get attracted to bleeding fish form far afield, even more so than sharks. Once gathered around their quarry, amazingly, they co-operate in tearing the corpse to bits.

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The End   Isn't it amazing how weird and beautiful our underwater world is? All inhabitants have specialised in such a way as to be able to eat different things and to live in different places, so they do not need to obstruct one another or to compete for a living. Click index to see another show.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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