A Few Short Underwater Pieces

I like to film underwater. Usually when I get something worthwhile in front of my camera, I put it on YouTube, together with some – I hope – insightful commentary. Sometimes I end up with short clips which are too brief for the YT but are nevertheless worth sharing. I occasionally upload then on – gasp, hate, fascism, omfg – X! So, let’s check out a few brief clips of underwater natural history from the Philippines, filmed in the last three weeks:

Everybody loves gobies, and their escape behaviors have been the subject of my academic research too:

A whip coral goby, a small fish which lives its whole adult (post larval) life on an elongated soft coral. You can see its escape reflex in slow motion – the fish just flee along the whip coral. Dauin, Negros, Philippines, filmed yesterday. More: https://t.co/HOVlQMCnpK pic.twitter.com/gCDBsplvqw

— Klaus Stiefel (@Pacificklaus) February 7, 2025

Here we have some cleaner fish aktschn:

Dirty Dascylus getting cleaned by a juvenile cleaner wrasse. Dauin, Philippines, seen today underwater. pic.twitter.com/eYhnikjbbm

— Klaus Stiefel (@Pacificklaus) February 7, 2025

I am still hoping to put together a proper documentary about these small fishes with a high level of intelligence to fit their unique niche:

And, the danger of anemone licking:

Don’t lick anemones, and don’t take everything seriously which you see on the internets. pic.twitter.com/uaUxwvaYVE

— Klaus Stiefel (@Pacificklaus) January 20, 2025

Can’t be serious all the time, especially underwater,

Best Fishes,

Klaus