Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Just Passing Through

Wordless Wednesday
Watery Wednesday

What: A school of Heller's Barracuda (Sphyraena helleri)

Where: I took this photo off the coast of Puako, Hawaii.


Sphyraena helleri
[Click on the photo to enlarge.]

29 comments:

Sara Chapman in Seattle said...

I love these pointy fish. Perhaps a fabric pattern could be made of their lovely shapes and colors. Exciting photo!

napaboaniya said...

They're actually one of the most interesting species of fishes with their shapes :)

2sweetnsaxy said...

You always have the best shots. Have a great Watery Wednesday and a wonderful Thanksgiving!
:-)

dianne - bunny trails said...

Wow - what serious and awesome looking fish! Nice shot, as always! :D

Will said...

I actually caught a Barracuda once back in the days when I was mean old fisherman. It was quite the fish!

Thanks for your visit and comment. Yes it looks like the last of summer, but those Calendulas often pop out even in the coldest weather. They even re-seed themselves. A real easy and pretty plant.

Happy WW and Thanksgiving!

DNLee said...

They look delicious, too.
happy ww.

Indrani said...

All very disciplined and focused!

Greyscale Territory said...

What an amazing range of fish shapes! Incredible shot!

JO said...

cool!

Here's my WW. Thanks!

Shannon said...

Somehow all the barracuda make me think of some sort of "hive mind" being from a sfi-fi movie. Of course that could be because I have both a Star Trek movie and the latest Indiana Jones movie in the last couple of weeks. It is amazing how they manage to move in synch.

Carletta said...

You never cease to amaze me with the shots you get - I love this! I really like your composition of it.

antigoni said...

Great company!

Bernie Krausse said...

I used to scuba dive, but havn't for quite a while. I think I may take up free diving though again. It's fun looking at your underwater photography. The technology is so wonderful these days to record and transcribe whatever makes us feel alive, even if its underwater and in another realm. That's awesome. I'll be back to visit.

SandyCarlson said...

They look so remote, somehow. What an interesting shot. Beautiful.

June said...

Love the horizontal pattern!

Leora said...

That really is one watery photo! Great capture.

Darla said...

I'll say it again, you capture the most interesting photos!

kjpweb said...

Great pictures you have on your site.
Cheers, Klaus

Denise said...

Those Barracuda are something else, great photo! Always a pleasure to visit your blog.

jams o donnell said...

What a wonderful shot. They are such beautiful fish.

lavenderbay said...

The third one up from the bottom, centre, is he breathing (i.e. taking in water to pass over the gills) ? It strikes me that none of this group are doing anything resembling a guppy gulp.

Gill - That British Woman said...

as always a super shot.

Gill in Canada

Lori said...

Great shot...do you actually swim with those fish?? They sure do have big eyes:) Happy WW and thanks for stopping by my friend. Hows the weather in Hawaii?

Mary said...

Very nice, very blue :-)

michael bird said...

I would say that the 'eyes' have it. I think I have actually eaten barracuda once in a long ago time and place - Southern California in the '70's. Nifty photo.

Jim said...

That would be an interesting place to be, in the middle of that school of fish! I don't suppose you scared them.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Jerry and all!
..

Dennis the Vizsla said...

They don't look quite as scary as I thought they would!

Becky and Gary said...

They look like darts, and I wouldn't want to be alone with these guys.
Excellant picture!

BNS said...

Thanks to everyone for visiting and for your nice comments.

@ Shannon -- Hive mind, or 'The Borg' -- they really do seem to think and move as one.

@ Lavender -- They do open and close their mouths at times while they swim, but they don't really do that guppy gulp as a rule.

@ Lori -- Yes we swim with them. It.s kind of hard to get an underwater photo if you're not swimming with the photo subjects. ;-)

Barracuda of this species are not very big -- maybe a foot to a foot and a half long -- and they are very slender. The school during the day, usually over the edge of the reef near dropoffs, and swim around kind of lazily. At night they scatter to hunt as individuals.

Bobbie