Mandarinfish Mating
A Loving Couple On the search for a mate Mission accomplished! Ever since first seeing a photo of a rare fish called a mandarinfish, ( Synchiropus splendidus ), I have wanted to see one for myself. I had high hopes for seeing them in Lembeh, Indonesia last year but both Heidi and I came down with sickness that kept us from scheduling a mandarin dive. That just made me double my efforts at my next dive destination, the Philippines. I wasn't sure where in the Philippines these fish could be seen but I committed myself to the mission. First a little about the mandarinfish and why it is such a rare fish to encounter. It lives in tropical waters in the Pacific, and is a bottom dweller spending most of its time hiding in rubble or coral. One might think that their bright colors would make them easy to spot but their small size, about 6 centimeters, makes it tougher still. The best time to find and take a photo of these timid fish is right after sunset. This is ...