More Videos and a new Video Gallery

A couple more videos this week and I finally got round to updating the Video Gallery page on the website.

The new Video Gallery is really cool. It’s a little tricky making a video gallery, but this one seems to work well. It’s responsive, so should work on any screen resolution and mobile device. Please have a look and let me know what you think and if it works ok.

 

Hopefully in a while I’ll get Barb’s Photo Gallery up too.

And a couple more videos too…

The first is of Flamboyant Cuttlefish, and I’ve even done a bit of narrating on this one.

Flamboyant Cuttlefish are one of the stars on the underwater world. Beautiful creatures to watch, as they display wonderful shifting colours. They are also relatively unconcerned by divers, allowing close interactions.

This video shows an amazing capture of the cuttlefish extending its two feeding arms independently, rather than pushing them out together to feed. I have never seen this behaviour before and I managed to film it in slow motion. You can see this behaviour at around 2.32 minutes into the clip.

The second is of one of our most famous critters, the Rhinopias.

Rhinopias, a member of the Scorpionfish family, are perhaps the ultimate underwater critter. Famed for their striking colours and body shape, their rarity adds to their legend. A firm favourite of underwater photographers and videographers, it is one of the reasons that divers come to Ambon. The come in three flavours, Paddleflap, Weedy and Lacey. Ambon has both the Paddleflap and Weedy.

Found anywhere from 2m to 30m+ in depth. Even though their vibrant colours would seem to suggest otherwise, Rhinopias utilize camouflage to blend into their surroundings. Their fronds and frills, together with their unique body shape, help them to disappear in the broken algae-strewn rubble they like to inhabit. Ambon is fortunate to have a stable population of these amazing creatures.

They do not move around very much (making them a great photography subject) and rely on their camouflage to lay in wait for prey to get close, then make a quick strike. Like Frogfish and other Scorpionfish if you are lucky you get to see them ‘yawn’, stretching their mouths wide open.

I was very lucky to find a very ‘tired’ Paddleflap Rhinopias and capture this fascinating moment.