Milne Bay - Papua New Guinea

Ha ha, now you got me curios, what sound would sea cucumber pooping like, squeaky, fart-y, popping...... I once saw a fish poop in mid air and the next fish went behind and eat up the poop...... makes me wonder if marine life are conscious about hygiene........ alright, I think too much

 

Oh, one last thing, how do you know when the sea cucumber is going to poop? It's not like it has some sort of expression to make (do they?) I think one of my videos lack is capturing unique/interesting behavior, and your videos have lots of them. It's hard to know and anticipate when they're going to do something or strike for food. My videos are mostly staring contest with fish before either one of us swim away. Being diving in a group (as small as 2 people per group), I can't just sit there and wait for things to happen most of the time because there are other divers behind me waiting to take photos.

I was referring to my sounds, laughing and cheering...not the sea cucumbers...lol. As for this shot, I actually caught it mid-poop. So I was a quick 15 second ordeal. Based on the poop that was below him, it appeared it was having a cleansing situation...

Behavior is very hard. And I'm not great at it either. Although, typically with macro shooting, I don't have an issue with having other divers around. Typically I let the photographers, normally my wife take the pictures first and then I do my thing. Places like Anilao, PNG or lembeh, we normailly have small groups, or even hire a private guide in some cases. For Macro, the guide is there to find critters, not babysit. I expect the same situation when I goto Bali in Sept.

Sometimes behavior I catch, I don't even see it until I review the video on the laptop. I try to leave the record on for a while, so that all the shakes from the camera and lights stop so that there isn't any movement in the camera. So that bodes well for capturing behavior as well.

The Kalinga Ornata Nudibranch eating the brittle stars that I captured, again, didn't even see it until I viewed it after the fact. In that case, I was behind the camera a few feet with a much brighter light trying to attract all the sea lice away from my shot....lol. I hate that crap!

In PNG I was with a mantis shrimp that had a big clutch of eggs, and I stayed with it quiet a while, it was only 15 feet deep. And eventually it started aerating his eggs. Pretty fascinating, and I got killer video of it. Stay tuned for 'Rolling in the Deep - Eastern Papua'!

Dustin

Thanks Dustin! That make sense, a dive buddy that understand what you're trying to do and give you space. Once in a while I do capture something unexpected and didn't see it until I review back at the computer. I guess I just have to dive more and probability of those interest shot would occur eventually.

Thanks Dustin! That make sense, a dive buddy that understand what you're trying to do and give you space. Once in a while I do capture something unexpected and didn't see it until I review back at the computer. I guess I just have to dive more and probability of those interest shot would occur eventually.

Location is important. Like I said places like Anilao, lembeh, milne bay make it easy. When we went to Komodo, I didn't really like it too much. too much current for my liking. Only about 25% of the dives gave me the freedom to spend the time needed for filming.