A few of the amazing creatures living in Okinawa’s ocean.  The top photo is of the male ribbon eel (Rhinomuraena quaesita). Amazingly, some blue male ribbon eels change to bright yellow female ribbon eels in later life.

This next fish is a honeycomb grouper (Epinephelus merra) whose spots help camouflage  it while on the reef. It was also named “Fish most likely to turn into a giraffe.”

Next is a Naia pipefish (Dunckerocampus naia) which was about 3 centimeters long. Similar to a seahorse, but less pretentious.

The striped puffer (Arothron manilensis) looks like it’s wearing prison uniform. It’s a relative of the tiger blowfish (Takifugu rubripes) that occasionally kills diners with its  tetrodotoxin poison.

The black-finned snake eel (Ophichthus altipennis) watches the world swim by from its hole in the sand.

This tiny Dinah’s goby ( Lubricogobius dinah ) didn’t have to bother making a hole, it was quite happy with a ready-made glass bottle.

Just as tiny was this sea cucumber crab  (Lissocarcinus orbicularis) living on the surface of a sea cucumber.

And even smaller was this tiny emperor shrimp (Periclimenes imperator) who was the crab’s neighbor.

But for camouflage skills that rival the creature in Predator you can’t beat the glass anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis).

All pics shot with the Pentax K5IIs & 50mm macro in an Ikelite housing with two 161 strobes.