Red firefish (Pterois volitans)...also known as 'lionfish,' 'turkeyfish,' and by a few other common names. These scorpionfish were common around Madang, and the most abundant scorpaenid that I encountered there. This is the first one that I saw, during a dive very early in my trip. (Milinat Pass, Madang)
A red firefish...the same species, that was eminently photogenic (Milinat Pass, Madang)
A red firefish swims toward me with its fins splayed out in a spectacular display of form, color, and virulent poison. (Henry Leith, Madang)
A red firefish cruising through a cloud of potential prey — as is true of many predatory fishes, the scene is more than vaguely reminiscent of a lion and its antelope prey on an African savanna. (Milinat Pass, Madang)
A pair of red firefish lurking about theircustomary haunt on the southwest corner of a barrier reef pass, in the shelter of a coral column that provides some refuge from the current. Plenty of prey for them here. (Milinat Pass, Madang)
A 'ball of spines' moseys along the edge of a seamount. (Planet Rock, Madang)
The red firefish's spectacular pattern is actually effective disruptive camouflage under natural (ambient) light conditions, at least in deeper waters. (Planet Rock, Madang)
The top side of a red firefish's left pectoral fin. Each firefish — each fish on the reef, for that matter — is an evolutionary work of art. (Planet Rock, Madang)
A red firefish slowly searching its home range on the edge of a seamount. (Planet Rock, Madang)
A red firefish prowling the sand slope that leads deep into the lagoon, just on the other side of a pass in the barrier reef. (Milinat Pass, Madang)
A red firefish on a beautiful seamount that's invariably crawling with fishes, and that was only discovered relatively recently (it's named after Alan Raabe's daughter — Alan's skipper of the world-famous FeBrina liveaboard dive boat). Our boat is moored above the reef in this picture. I was having problems with my camera's strobes on this dive and others around this time — finding out after the fact that a strobe isn't working is not very joyous — and the photo on the left fell victim to only one strobe working with a super-wide 14mm lens whereas the one on the right is a bit too brightly lit as a result of more strobe weirdness. If I take the average of these two I have the photo that I was shooting for. (Joelle, Kimbe Bay)
A close look at the red firefish's head. The apparently bold coloration can actually be effective disruptive camouflage under natural light conditions. (Restorf Island, Kimbe Bay)
Everyone has to sleep sometime, and it's not uncommon to see one or a pair of red firefish catching a few 'z's in various spots on the reef or, in this case, the wreck. While sleeping during the day, red firefish darken their color pattern — a similar response to that of many fishes that sleep at night. (Henry Leith, Madang)
A young red firefish, its not-yet-fully-developed fins (lacking the feathery look of the adult) giving it quite a different and very striking look. This one was skulking about a small patch reef near an island. (Restorf Island, Kimbe Bay)
Ragged fin firefish (P. antennata), a smaller species than the red firefish. None of my encounters with this firefish species during two months in Madang gave me a good look at the fish's head, that they seemed particularly skilled at keeping obscured. Nice blue spots on the pectoral fins, though . (Milinat Pass, Madang)
A pair of ragged-fin firefish on top of a seamount during a night dive. I saw several other of these small firefish that night, clustered within this patch of rubble. (Inglis Shoal, Kimbe Bay)
Ragged-fin firefish from the same night dive. One of the few times that this species has ever presented me with a side view. (Inglis Shoal, Kimbe Bay)
A ragged-fin firefish on patrol as night falls on an inshore reef near Walindi. (Mandarinfish Reef, Kimbe Bay)
Another perspective on the ragged-fin firefish, from the same location during my last dive of the trip. The blue spots on its pectoral fins are distinctive of this species. (Mandarinfish Reef, Kimbe Bay)
On the same dive as above, I was able to get another side view of the firefish. (Mandarinfish Reef, Kimbe Bay)
A ragged-fin firefish at the same site, moseying along in the half-dark. (Mandarinfish Reef, Kimbe Bay)
Check out the benthic scorpionfishes...