Australia - Giant Cuttlefish

In May I spent four days down at Whyalla in South Australia to dive with the Giant Australian Cuttlefish (Sepia Apama) during the annual mating aggregation. It was quite something - sex is indeed a powerful thing as the male cuttlefish were so intent on finding & keeping a mating partner that they were almost oblivious to my presence.

I finally finished editing the hundreds of images and have posted a gallery on my site www.indopacificimages.com and will complete the location pages soon as I get time. Virtually all of the images in the gallery were taken with the Tokina 10-17, mainly set at 10mm...

Here is the LINK to the image gallery.

Don

Hey Don

Your images are beautiful, great sun burst also. Great job

Great job Don!

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers

Karel

Hi Don

That is a beautiful selection of shots. I espcially like the blend of strobe light and sunburst light you have achieved on a number of the shots! Very good work!

Bent C

Spectacular series of photos. Your balance of light is spot on. A pleasure to view.

Thanks for the feedback - I was really lucky with the weather and the light on the first morning at Whyalla and got the cathedral light effect. It was quite surreal actually becuase I had never dived there before and the combination of great lighting, the general dream-like area and the total focus on mating of the cuttlefish was unlike anything I had experienced previously...

When I went back in the afternoon it was quite different and none of the subsequent dives had the same lighting, but the cuttlefish did not seem to notice!

Don

Very eye catching work. Beautiful images and you got lots of action and a good feel of the situation

In May I spent four days down at Whyalla in South Australia to dive with the Giant Australian Cuttlefish (Sepia Apama) during the annual mating aggregation. It was quite something - sex is indeed a powerful thing as the male cuttlefish were so intent on finding & keeping a mating partner that they were almost oblivious to my presence.

 

I finally finished editing the hundreds of images and have posted a gallery on my site www.indopacificimages.com and will complete the location pages soon as I get time. Virtually all of the images in the gallery were taken with the Tokina 10-17, mainly set at 10mm...

 

Here is the LINK to the image gallery.

 

Don

great images. At what time did you take the pictures? Was it early morning?

I just found your gallery, and I am very impressed, especially if you filled the frame at 10mm. The sunbursts are truly beautiful images, but the behaviour shots are fascinating.

Tim

great images. At what time did you take the pictures? Was it early morning?

Hi, the images were taken at various times of the day - the "sunburst" ones were mid-morning on the first day and I assumed it must be like that all the time....but obviously it wasn't.

The thing is that the cuttlefish are just "there" - infact they are everywhere... and with a ratio of 11:1 of males to females, and the females being very choosy, the males are totally fixated on getting their piece of the action. The big alpha males dominate, so the smaller males try all sorts to sneak in, including pretending to be a female to slip under the radar.

So with care it's possible to get really close.

It all reminded me of a bar in Thailand I used to fequent, but that's another story!

Don

The colours of the cuttlefish are insane. I've seen gian pacific octopus do amazing displays of colour, but none that compare to the insane blues and greens of these cuttlefish!!

The colours of the cuttlefish are insane. I've seen gian pacific octopus do amazing displays of colour, but none that compare to the insane blues and greens of these cuttlefish!!

That must be the "sex effect"....

Great images. also, love the sunburst effect, i seem to fail miserably at that. I think the third one is my favourite. That shot evokes a sense of personality and charisma. almost like it is checking you out.

Thanks for your good work.

Loved the frogfish gallery also.. I have a couple of images of those critters to from Mozambique.

You'll find one here.

http://delacy.smugmug.com/Underwater/Under...001298082_9uiCm

Thanks for the wonderful pictures. Really alien looking stuff and masterfully shot.

Great images. also, love the sunburst effect, i seem to fail miserably at that. I think the third one is my favourite. That shot evokes a sense of personality and charisma. almost like it is checking you out.

 

Thanks for your good work.

 

Loved the frogfish gallery also.. I have a couple of images of those critters to from Mozambique.

 

 

You'll find one here.

 

http://delacy.smugmug.com/Underwater/Under...001298082_9uiCm

Thanks for the comments - yes the alpha male cuttlefish certainly exude personality & charisma.

Nice frogfish shot and I saw your whale shark image also - I am going to Tofo in Mozambique next month for 2 weeks and hope to get some images of them myself!

Don