Yellowhead Jawfish ( Opistognathus aurifrons )

Taken off the coast of Roatan. I waited for several minutes for this

little guy to pop back up from his burrow. Thanks for any suggestions

or critique.

I think your patient was rewarded. The way he stands out as if posing for you , is unusual because fish are more looked at as in horizontal form than an upright one....;-)) But what is more interesting here , is the wonderful light and transparency ,which is so well timed, and we can see the inside of his entire delicate structure of bones . Also the BG looks far enough, so he has all the " stage " for his " show". Interesting as well is the different colors of him and his surrounding, a fact that adds more to accentuate him .Thanks for uploading your experience in the underwater, so we "land animals" can be a small part of it....;-))

Great shot Gordon! Love the color and that expression ... Do fish have expressions ?? LOL...

Well, this has all the drama of one of Pnina's dancers. There's almost a cartoonish, Disney-esque expression on his face.

 

 

For some reason, I'm thinking of Don Knotts.

 

 

The colors are quite nice.

;-)) You are right!

Pnina;

 

These jawfish are quire small and a bit translucent. Using a wide angle and being close to the subject allows the flash to give truer colour to the fish while the background is influenced by the light filtering effect of aprox. 50 feet of water.

 

Andrea;

 

Thanks and yes I at least do believe that fish have expressions.

 

 

Jeff;

 

I agree that these fish do look cartoonish. I think that big jaw is a contributing factor. These fish use that large and powerful set of jaws like an excavators bucket to lift and move sand and bits of coral debris. They excavate burrows in which to hide for protection as well as to ambush food. This guy is perched directly above his burrow and in a very Disney-esque fashion would pop back down the hole out of sight at the slightest sign of danger. A group of these fish popping up and down in the sand does indeed look like something out of a cartoon.