Shedd Aquarium - 12.2011 - Last Post - Fishes

So this is my last post for this particular trip to the Shedd.  These are the actual fish.  Like I was saying yesterday, there are ways that shooting the fish can be easier than shooting the air-breathing animals, since you typically don't have to worry about dirty glass.  Scratched glass, however, can be a whole different issue.  It seems to be more visible when against the water.

This little guy is a freshwater goby.  Again, I had problems with scratches in the glass, but he was pretty still (for a fish) in a bright area of his tank.  I really like the way his eye is such a dark, contrasting spot compared to the rest of him which is kind of milky, translucent white.  His coloring is so sparse, you can actually see some of the viscera above his right fin.

 The colors on some of these fish make me think of having an aquarium again some day.  When I was in college I had a fishtank with a few mollies and some African frogs and some salamanders.  They were the only pets were were allowed to have in the dorms.  I kind of miss it.  Though I hesitate to think of what would happen if the ferrets intersected with a fish tank.  But the amazing color displays on these reef fish make me miss having a tank of my own.  I find it amazing that these fish don't just have two colors of stripes like zebras or tigers where you just have the stripe against the background color.  In these fish you get these outlining third colors that make them look more like works of ink art than just a natural adaptation.  I also love how much blue shows up in fish.  You certainly don't see that in mammals.  I particularly like this shot because of the white belly in the shot.  It's kind of "I'll be beautiful on the sides, but I still need that camouflage belly, so that I'm harder to see by any animals swimming under me."

Copperbanded Butterfly

 Butterfly fish are amazing.  Partly because of the same coloring issues - like this one having the black between the bands of white and yellow.  But I also find their lips interesting.  Not too many fish have that long 'muzzle' like a horse or dog.  I also find the false eye on the top of his back a fascinating evolutionary development.

Moving Targets

Dragonets are probably my favorite of all the tropical fish. The layers of color are amazing.  These spots are four concentric circles deep.  There are others with even cooler colors that have been moved to a tank downstairs by the whales with the seadragons, but shooting them is nigh on impossible in that light.


Okay!  Finally finished with this post - it's been languishing in draft phase for, what?  Two weeks?  I had a new shoot yesterday, so I'll start posting those shots in just a bit.