Monkfish
I was SCUBA diving on a small wreck named the Keel Wreck off the coast of New Jersey, USA with my dive buddy, Joe Pakan. This wreck consists almost entirely of one low-lying wooden rib. At one of the rib, there is a large overhang. As I swam up to it, I saw the monkfish lying on the bottom (Monkfish #1). I took a few pictures and along came a black sea bass (Black Sea Bass). In the blink of an eye, the monkfish lunged and grabbed the black sea bass. While I was clicking away, I was thinking what an incredible opportunity to see some thing like this happen. The photos are shown in the sequence that they were taken.
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These photos were taken with a film camera and any underwater photographer that has had the opportunity to film a unique event understands the worry of waiting for the film to return to assure yourself that all your settings were correct and that you captured the moment. I am no different. I sweated for days until the film came back from the lab. If this happened now while shooting digital, I would have had instant feedback while shooting. I also wouldn't be worrying as much about running out of film before the event ended.
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The part of this encounter that will be etched in my mind forever occurred at the very end. I only had one shot left on the roll of film and I had focused on the monkfish. He had finished his meal and his belly was so swollen that he was lying flat on the bottom anymore. I was just about to take the photo when he opened his mouth and burped. Fish scale and other oddities floated out and I started laughing. By the time that I took the shot, his mouth was closed again. I may have missed the actual burp but I will never forget it.
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You can see more monkfish photos in the Monkfish section of my Stock Photo Gallery. |
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