418 Dive Log Australasia JUNE 2026.pdf

Parrot fish protrait from Raine Island. The easiest fish to photograph is ones that sit still

number of favorite subjects on a night dive. I love photographing Parrotfish. During the day, they are constantly on the move and rarely come close enough for a photo. At night, they settle down inside a coral grotto or cave. It is only in the last few years that humans have understood the secret behind their mucous sleeping bag. During the day, they scrape and

bite at corals. The chunks of limestone laden with slimy polyps are crushed up in their pharyngeal jaws, a second set of teeth in the deep throat. It creates a coral slurry and is passed down into the digestive system. Parrotfish are unusual in the world of vertebrates in that they do not have stomach acids. Obviously, acids would react with the limestone coral and create frothy bubbles of carbon dioxide.

The Chevron Butterfly is a very nervous fish that is impossible to photograph during the day.

The Blue Spot Butterflyfish, Chaetodon plebius on a night dive in the Capricorn Bunker reefs in S.E. Qld.

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Dive Log Australasia #418 JUNE ’26

www.divelog.net.au