Wildlife Photography

Just a nice mix of insect/arachnid life of photos I took in Japan.

This beautiful Cormorant was soaring over the cliff side and water, before landing on top of Meoto Iwa, in Mie, Japan.

This very photogenic mantis was very patient and seemed to pose as I played around with my macro lens.

Just a few crustaceans I found on a snorkel trip from Toba, Japan. Unfortunately there was pretty horrible visibility and could not see all that much

Miyajima, a stunning island near Hiroshima, is home to amazing wildlife, both on land and under the waves. These waters are home to a huge oyster fishery, which are considered a treat to eat when you are there. Always worth a visit if you're in Japan and want to see somewhere different.

A big, beautiful flathead I found in the seagrass.

While this particular individual is white, the Blue Blubber sea jelly (Catostylus mosaicus) are a very common species found around my area, often washing up on the beaches, or tucked up between the boulders on the rocky shorelines. It's not all that often I've seen one so full of life, swimming around. Turns out, the day prior, there was a swarm of over 100, that I missed out on.

Found this sea jelly close to the shoreline, washed in overnight from deeper waters, and just slowly floating up and down in the water column.

Just a short video to show just how fast a ray can be underwater.

A nice close-up of an Eleven-armed seastar (Coscinasterias muricata), showing off the small tentacles that help keep the body clean from debris or parasites. The thorny protrusions help as a defence mechanism, which can be extended/retracted as needed.

This pair of Tambja verconis are looking to mate together, seeing over half an hour how they found each other, then lined themselves up and found them like this. With each nudibranch being hermaphroditic, their sperm tubule and egg-sac opening are on the right, allowing them to exchange sperm simultaneously. When diving two days later at the same site, I found a massive egg ribbon just below where I took this.

While a lot of fish often prefer to swim away or hide and peek from crevices, this leatherjacket was happy to get VERY close to my camera and show off that smile!

I feel as though this sea horse was channelling the Riddler with that adorable little ? on the back of it's head!

These little Rockpool Shrimp (Palaemon serenus) are almost invisible at a first glance until you stop and really focus. Being semi-translucent, it's only the movement that catches my eye. My fingers/gloves always seem to draw them out when I rest it on the sand. What starts with one or two, may end up with 10+ having a look.

A close up image of an egg ribbon laid by my favourite nudibranch (Tambja verconis), which can also be seen in this image. An egg ribbon is a gelatinous matrix which holds a huge number of freshly laid eggs. This ribbon helps keep the eggs safe from external problems.

A cute little hermit crab peeking out of it's shell

Cute little smiles from a Japanese finless porpoise! Always full of smiles from the photos I took.