Honorable Mention Compact Behavior

Lawrence Alex Wu

"Fighting for the Female"

The Story: A vibrant and protective male cuttlefish guards his egg-laying mate against other intrusive males. Sometimes, the other males will even try to pretend to be a female to "sneak" a mating attempt with a fertile female by hiding their sexually dimor-phic fourth arms, acquire the mottled skin patterning typical of females and shape their arms to mimic the posture of egg-laying females.

I was fortunate to be relatively solo (on twin tanks) when i shot these 4 cuttlefish for over 20 minutes underwater. A privilege for photo divers underwater. 

Location:  Richelieu Rocks - Similan Islands, Thailand

Equipment Used:  Olympus TG4 Camera, Olympus PT-056 Housing, Inon UWL-H100 Lens, Inon Dome, Inon Z-240 Strobe, Inon Z-220 Strobe

Camera Settings: 1/40 sec, F3.2, ISO 100

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