Seahorse Birth at Nelson Bay

I thought some wetpixellers might be interested in a marine birth that has caused a stir around our dive shop...

On recent visit to the great diving in Port Stephens NSW, Dive 2000 founder and pro-photographer Kevin Deacon came across a daddy seahorse releasing his offspring into the big blue at the Pipeline divesite.

Fortunately Kev had his camera with him…check out the story and images on the dive club blog

http://www.dive2000.com/blog/_archives/200.../4/4005947.html

That's just nuts, great timing! Thanks for sharing it.

Steve

baby most things are cute, even seahorses it seems.

BTW, if it is a world's first set of pics, I must say it couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.....

That is an amazing moment and capture. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Diggy

Congrats! Amazing shot's and great story

Cheers,

Scubamoose

That is a great moment to live .

The photographer writes:

I was shooting a new genre of underwater photography I have developed which I call, extreme wide angle macro, a style that utilises new lenses in combination with special port optics to create images that reveal macro subjects and a wide angle view of their habitat.

What kind of new lenses etc... is he using? as I see a fairly flat perspective picture instead of what I would expect from an endoscope kind of lens.

definitely cool! also interested in what this new development is... is he a member?

definitely cool! also interested in what this new development is... is he a member?

Don't think Kev is a member, but here's a bio .

Kevin is the Australian Seacam agent, and offers fantastic service...

darren

Very Nice, excellent timing and luck!

Too funny, Keri and I were just discussing such a shot yesterday. It's on my dream list. I've seen video before but figure the odds of seeing it are miniscule. Thanks for posting the info. Amazing shot.

Rand

Lucky dude - I have seen them do this in fish tanks at a seahorse farm, but never in the wild. Amazing timing

Lucky dude - I have seen them do this in fish tanks at a seahorse farm, but never in the wild. Amazing timing

Kevin is incredibly lucky!!! I've been doing 2 hour dives at the Pipeline 4 times a week since the middle of September studying the seahorses during their breeding season (this is my PhD research in my spare time). Out of all the hours spent underwater looking at these buggers I've never seen them give birth, seen plenty of mating action but never a male popping the babies out! If you look closely at the seahorse you will see it has a green spot near the abdomen, this animal has been sitting on the same sponge for 4 weeks and was pregnant again when I checked on him a couple of days ago.

Also, I should point out its not a world first for photographing a seahorse giving birth, I know of a couple of people who have photographed and filmed several different species with Rudie Kuiter having some great shots in his book "Seahorses, Pipefish and their Relatives" of Hippocampus whitei giving birth and mating.

cheers,

Dave

Great Stuff!

Even if it is not a world first. It is really cool stuff.

/Erik

So cool ... thanks for sharing!!

In a word: WOW! Thanks for sharing this. Robyn

and while this little video by bret posted on smugmug isn't in the wild, it kind-of sets the scene...

Absolutely wonderfulllllll !!!!!

Trouble, thanks for sharing some truly wonderful photos.

I can't wait to get to Nelson Bay now, diving there in January. Just wish I could capture a pic 1/10th as good as Kevins.

I've just been looking at a friends website, http://www.tazzieblowingbubbles.blogspot.com , since I first added this post and she also talks about wide angle macro shots. There is several people using diopters in combination with the macro lens. Not sure if this is the same as what Kevin is using but apparently there is a discussion on http://www.digidreen.net regarding this topic. I also uderstand that Shannon Conway, http://www.underwaterphotography.com.au , is another person who knows a bit about this sort of set up.

Hopefully this sheds some light for those who are interested.