418 Dive Log Australasia JUNE 2026.pdf

Yellow Cheek Angelfish asleep in the staghorn coral on Lissenung’s Home reef, one of the best night dives anywhere. It is only a few metres from the resort.

is their life. It provides food and shelter. At night, they sleep deep within the arms of Staghorn corals, away from the jaws of predators. Like most sleeping fish, they have night-time colours. They are usually pale bleached colours that blend in with the white coral and sand. Many other fish, develop red colours at night. Red is the first colour that is absorbed by the dense water and is much less visible in the darkness. As a result of this pale complexion, you have to

adjust the light to avoid over-exposing the fish. Nocturnal animals At night, there is a whole world of critters that come out to feed. I have read that up to fifty per cent of all life on a coral reef, you never see or are nocturnal. Many of these are vulnerable to predators and so feed when most predators are sleeping. In the dark of night, the marine life is partly transformed into a world of Echinoderms and crustaceans.

Some dive sites, the echinoderms dominate so much that I liken it to time travel. Huge Gorgon’s Head Basket Stars, Feather stars, sea stars, Sea urchins and sea cucumbers come out to feed. I imagine it is how the ocean looked five hundred million years ago, hundreds of million of years before sharks, fish and dinosaurs. Bright light v weak light. Many nocturnal animals immediately retreat when you shine your bright torch on them. For these subjects, a very weak torch is an advantage. When you try to photograph the

Gorgons Head Basket Star, Solomon Is on Bilikiki.

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Dive Log Australasia #418 JUNE ’26

www.divelog.net.au