Recent Curious Underwater Footage

Usually I have a pretty good idea what the fish I am observing during dives are doing … escapes (too often, from approaching divers with loud bubbles), then there is feeding and mating.

Last Saturday I managed to shoot a short sequence where I don’t even have a decent guess what happened here. A banded snake eel, a sea krait mimic, foraged in the sand next to my dive buddy and myself for 5 minutes or so. The eel wasn’t bothered by us it seemed. Then, completely out of the blue, it dove into the burrow of a mantis shrimp, knocking the mantis shrimp to the side. It didn’t seem that it was trying to prey on the mantis shrimp. The mantis shrimp then followed the eel underground.

What’s your guess what happened here?

Tres Crab Amigos

Another unusual episode of underwater behavior, this time by crabs. Is this an attempt by two males to mate with the same female? Are they fighting over her? Are they waiting for her to molt? I am not sure.

Nothing like encountering these natural history surprises underwater!

Best Fishes,

Klaus