In Search of the Seris

Beneath the Sea of Cortes

In the warm, plankton-rich waters of the Sea of Cortes exists a myriad of strange and wonderful creatures, some of which can be found nowhere else on earth. This is the exotic realm, too, of skin divers: fish-watchers equipped with masks, fins, and snorkeling tubes. And, in my case, cameras. As an underwater photographer, I became intrigued quite early with the challenge of capturing reef creatures on film. After many hours at the task, I became adept at recognizing the subtle interactions of these "denizens of the deep." But there were times when I completely misunderstood. Once, while I was photographing a moray eel several feet beneath the surface, an inch-long twerp of a fish darted unharmed between the menacing teeth of the eel's open jaws. Unfamiliar as I was with the so-called cleaning symbiosis, I thought it was a courageous act on the part of the little guy. Actually it was little more than routine activity: one fish removing parasites or dead tissue from another fish. As I watched, another "cleaner" fish climbed on the back of my hand and began tugging at bits of skin on a healing scratch, tidily grooming me for several minutes until its task was completed. Not all of my dives have been this tame. I was watching a colony of small fish hovering over a coral

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Continued from page 33 head in the southern part of the Sea of Cortes when an enormous sea bass-perhaps 500 poundsdecided I was encroaching on its territory. Suddenly turning toward me, it approached so close I finally had to drive it off with a solid punch to the snout. The bass eventually retreated, but the eerie feeling that it was out there somewhere, watching me, remained for the entire dive. A marine animal need not be large to be aggressive. A five-inch damselfish will militantly defend its territory, just like its larger cousins, particularly during the mating season. On several occasions, I've been forced to retreat by these little creatures, who pursue my every move, pecking at whatever skin is exposed: hands, neck, earlobes. And they will behave the same with any other invader. Fish are not the only inhabitants, of course. There's a kaleidoscope of invertebrates: red sea stars, flowering anemones, clouds of minute shrimp, sea snails with porcelain-like shellsall part of the wondrous concentration of exotic and delicate beauty that exists in this world beneath the sea. Legions of fish coexist in this underwater paradise.