418 Dive Log Australasia JUNE 2026.pdf

Eunice aphrodite has a powerful double clamp for capturing prey.

for a brief moment. Then, I spot a beautiful Mimic Octopus. The excitement has begun! I follow John down to fifteen metres. Within a few minutes we have a stunning one metre Bobbit Worm. Its head is twenty centimetres out of its burrow waiting in ambush for its dinner. I photograph it left, right and close up, fascinated by its terrifying clamp-like jaws and shimmering body. I imagine the excruciating pain if the worm decided to bite me. The worm has waited until a baitfish approaches closer. The Bobbit worm takes the scent. I pre

focus making sure that I have the prey fish in focus and room for the Bobbit worm to enter the viewfinder. The monster strikes with lightning speed! I press the shutter as soon as I can. I completely missed it! The worm had caught the fish, dragged it down into its burrow underground in a few hundredths of a second. My reflexes operate in mere tenths of a second. I was out of my league in the lightning fast game of survival in the sea. All I managed to photograph was a cloud of sand.

Imperial Shrimp have a commensal relation ship with Sea Cucumbers. They can avoid danger by creeping underneath the host and possibly taking on colour pigments as well as toxins from its host.

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Dive Log Australasia #418 June ’26

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