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
