Jeff Mullins Photographs First Rhinopias In Tulamben
Professional underwater photographer and my good friend Jeff Mullins recently had a great discovery in Tulamben-a Rhinopias. Its not as if Tulamben needed another reason to visit it, but it now has one. Here is what Jeff had to write about the experience.
Tulamben on the north-east coast of Bali, is renown for its famous Liberty Wreck and the abundance of rare and beautiful creatures that inhabit the local reefs and sand slopes.But one creature that has evaded me on this coast is the Lacy Scorpionfish Rhinopias. There have been odd sightings around Bali, mostly around the Padang Bai area on the far east coast, and mostly during the period of cool water upwellings during July/August.
This year has seen lots of unusual creature sightings along the Tulamben coast during the cool water season. In particular, an abundance of hairy ghost pipefish at various sites and regular sightings of Mola Mola (oceanic sunfish) at the Liberty Wreck.
But what took Dawn (my wife) and I deep this day were Fire Urchins, the beautiful coloured urchins that harbour Coleman Shrimp and Zebra Crabs. These guys were dotted around the bottom from 20 metres down, but as we got deeper, so did the number of urchins. We quickly found ourselves around 30 metres with a urchin that had two Zebra crabs and a Coleman Shrimp in residence. After some photos it was time to start heading up, when I noticed a purple coloured shape in some rocks a few metres deeper than us.
As we approached, a beautiful purple Rhinopias Scorpionfish was staring right back at us. We always expected that if we found one of these fish it would be hiding among crinoids or perhaps lurking in a dark recess. But this guy was perched out in the open, high-up on a rock showing-off in all his glory.
Needless to say, decompression was very high on the list of priorities after another 10 minutes of photo taking.
And now we are on the look-out for its mate, that we hope is pink or yellow and a little shallower?
Jeff Mullins - Tulamben, Bali
reefwreckandcritter.com
Here are some photos Jeff shot of the beautiful animal.
A big thanks to Jeff Mullins for this story
