Photos from Kapalai / Sipadan

[markietan]

first time using my Canon 350D w/ 1 inon strobe, 100mm macro lens

did some post processing to correct the colors (shot in raw) and remove backscatter

for the complete album, check out this url

http://scubuddies.com/photos/my_photos_dis...spx?albumid=220

[markietan]

[Underwater]

Beautiful pictures.

[ambystoma82]

nice....

[yikai]

the fire fish looks exquisite! nicer than those i see in shops

[Underwater]

the fire fish looks exquisite! nicer than those i see in shops

Ya, especially the pair of mandarin fishes. Likely cos they are in their natural environment, not like ours...in a captive environment where lives depend on our hands.

[markietan]

Ya, especially the pair of mandarin fishes. Likely cos they are in their natural environment, not like ours...in a captive environment where lives depend on our hands.

yeah the house reef of the resort where we stayed had lots of mandarin fishes... for the 4 days i stayed there, i dove that site everyday to watch them mate... really different from how they behave in our captive environment

they actually live in groups, 1 male and a bunch of females in 1 "den". then at around 545 to 615, they will bang bang non stop. haha and when the bang bang they come close together and are quite photogenic. but the light is quite low and its abit harder to focus, so must catch the timing right and get your buddy to be light man.

can't get enough of watching mandarinfish ######. haha very cute!! this is my first time seeing them in the wild btw. if anyone is a mandarinfish fan and is a diver, u definitely have to go there to check it out

as for the fire dartfish, it was everywhere. quite friendly too.. but this pic had a nice sexy posture to it so i thought i'll post process it and put it up.

[yikai]

the fire fish colours dam vibrant la!! and the fins....so perky and erect. i love it.

[peacemaker]

The mantis looks fearsome as always... will they launch an attack if you come too close?

[markietan]

The mantis looks fearsome as always... will they launch an attack if you come too close?

dunno... dun think so. i think they quite shy actually.. but i nv try to go too close anyway. heard they punch really hard and will break the camera housing. dun wanna try.. haha there are alot of nice mantis shrimps there... they even had it at the seafood restaurant. taste pretty good actually...

[yikai]

dunno... dun think so. i think they quite shy actually.. but i nv try to go too close anyway. heard they punch really hard and will break the camera housing. dun wanna try.. haha there are alot of nice mantis shrimps there... they even had it at the seafood restaurant. taste pretty good actually...

mantis shrimps are also known as pissing shrimps! when u buy at the restaurant. It is said that they will pee before u cook them. i saw it on a show once. dunno if real or not haha!

[markietan]

mm... when i went hong kong, they had these pissing shrimps at all their restaurants. but it looks different from a mantis lay... also the mantis they had at the restaurant were all kept in plastic coke bottles, coz i think they have a powerful punch. but those at hong kong, the pissing shrimps were all just swimming around in a group. so i think it might be different from pissing shrimps

also according to my hong kong friend, they are called pissing shrimps because when you peel them open, they piss. haha thats why they are called pissing shrimps. dunno if its true anot as i didn't try the pissing shrimp when i was in hong kong. according to the seafood stall owner, they are imported from Malaysia!

[yikai]

mm... when i went hong kong, they had these pissing shrimps at all their restaurants. but it looks different from a mantis lay... also the mantis they had at the restaurant were all kept in plastic coke bottles, coz i think they have a powerful punch. but those at hong kong, the pissing shrimps were all just swimming around in a group. so i think it might be different from pissing shrimps

also according to my hong kong friend, they are called pissing shrimps because when you peel them open, they piss. haha thats why they are called pissing shrimps. dunno if its true anot as i didn't try the pissing shrimp when i was in hong kong. according to the seafood stall owner, they are imported from Malaysia!

haha yea maybe they are not mantis shrimps. coz if u are able to use hands to catch and peel.......maybe its not mantis. mantis will punch ur hand i think haha

[TntR2]

very nice shots!

[markietan]

haha yea maybe they are not mantis shrimps. coz if u are able to use hands to catch and peel.......maybe its not mantis. mantis will punch ur hand i think haha

oohhh i meant peel when they are already steamed.. but yeah.. they weren't kept in bottles unlike the ones i saw in Tawau.. so thats why i conclude pissing shrimps are not mantis. hehe

[markietan]

very nice shots!