A broadclub cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) looking transfixed.
Nikonos RS SLR camera; Nikonos 50mm objective and Rene Aumann UW Services X2 teleconverter; two Nikonos S-105 strobes; Ektachrome VS 100 film; F22; 1/125s; TTL. Taken at: 7m depth; diving from MS. FeBrina. Trip organised by Chris Newbert of RS Tours. Shot on: 14:00 3 March 2004; sunny day, flat calm with no current. Towards the end of the dive as I was doing my safety spot I noticed two cuttlefish. The female was laying eggs, the other flashing red and inserting itself between and the female keeping me far back from her. Cuttlefish are amongst the most intelligent of underwater animals. I stretched out my arm sideways, and used my hand and fingers to primitively mimic the head and tentacles of the male. As it moved its tentacles, I moved mine, and the colour of the male paled from bright red to brown with white spots. It started to mimic my hand movements, and moved closer and closer, until it was filling the viewfinder screen. It then let me take several pictures, it jerking and flashing red in response to my strobe flashes.
Size: 5313px × 7887px
Location: Observation Point, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.
Photo credit: © Malcolm Ross / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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