Chasin´ Salango Fish

The reefs on coastal Ecuador definitely deserve time to be explored, and luckily the dive shop I am helping out likes to go to different sites within their boats range. This past weekend we went to a new location near Isla Salango, a small island near the next town to the south, Salango.
Also, I have been working on my camera techniques and different ideas on how to improve the photos. After consulting with a couple of friends I now have a couple of tricks up my sleeve to remove moisture from the camera housing. The photos are not where I want them to be yet, but we made some crucial improvements this past week. Here are some samples from a shallow reef (20 to 25 feet) near Isla Salango.

The dive shop is named “Exploramar Dive Agency” and this is the flagship of the fleet, Explora I.

This is a general reef shot. I enjoy this type of reef because it is a nice mixture of coral and rock. The coral harbors certain critters and the rock creates a different habitat by not discouraging algae and other encrusting critters to build an ecosystem on the surface.

Among the first critters you see are the larger colorful fish. But since they don’t hold still, the photos are a little blurred. Here is a smattering of the better photos of the more cooperative fish.
There are two fish here: a spotted one in the center and the grey and black one in the upper right. I was itchin’ to get a good picture of the spotted fish, but it was quick and wouldn’t let me approach.
A large school of clupeid type fish. They resembled peanut bunker, but this appeared to be their full grown size.
When I approached the grey and black damsel it defended its territory and charged the camera.
Not all fish want to be seen. The next couple blend in with the bottom very well.
And three more beautiful fish. The colors are brighter than the photos convey.
This small iridescent blue fish was present in many of the small crevices on the floor of the reef. Usually in pairs, they defended their dens from other fish, but hid from the divers.
The gorgonian coral was represented by some beautiful examples. They grow perpendicular to the dominant current in order to fliter small suspended food particles out. It is amazing to see a field of them, completely covering the rocks, all standing at attention, and wonder how they all know to grow perpendicular to the current. The skeleton is incredibly flexible, as they can double over in a strong current, and covered with the living polyps that give them their unique colors.
Some of the common echinoderms you see are these bright blue skinny ones.
And these almost kaleidoscope-esque chubbies (and their skin up close).
Others have short rotund spines and like to hide in crevices.
While others yet have long needle like spines.
In some places you can see brittle stars, another echinoderm. They don’t crawl on tube feet, as the others do, but rather use their “legs” to walk like an octopus. Here you can see a small one in the center of the photo (on the purple sponge) and some other “legs” of brittle stars sticking out here and there.
I only found one nudibranch on this dive, but it is pretty. It blended pretty well, having some green and being speckled with white spots. The blue stripe in the middle gave it away.
A scallop smiling.
This is one of my favorite photos of the dive. I was shooting for the small fish with the clear body and blue and red head, but the fan worm to the left and the urchin in the foreground give the photo a nice composition.
As I have mentioned, I like the macro world a lot. Here is a panned out photo of a small goby with bright orange eyes and lips that lives in old worm holes. Only its head pokes out, and when a tasty morsel passes by it extends halfway out of the hole and grabs it. If an extra tasty looking morsel happens to pass by a little too far away, the fish will shoot out of the hole, grab the morsel, return to the hole, turn around and back in all within a second or two, almost too fast to watch. Absolutely amazing.
And with a little patience, if you sit and wait with your camera six inches away from the goby hole, it will get accustomed to you and let you take a nice profile portrait!
Here is a cone snail with an orange-eyed goby skulking in the shadows.
And a very pretty patch of coral.
And a very pretty patch of sponge.
Here on the rock is a reminder that it is a tough place to make a living. The scratch marks on the bare substrate are from some fish chewing all the organic matter off for a snack.
And I think my friend Adan said it best with “Two thumbs up”. It was a good day.