Brilliantly orange-red nephtheid soft corals, blooming on the rail of the wreck of a tugboat located on a 20-meter sandy bottom within swimming distance of an island near the barrier reef. The encrusted wreck is a great place to puddle around and see a huge variety of life and is a spectacular and easy night dive. (Henry Leith, Madang)
A large bush of pink nephtheid soft coral brightens a rubbly portion of a lagoonal patch reef's slope. (B-25 wreck, Madang)
A spiky, low-growing version of Dendronephthya on the crest of the barrier reef. This soft coral was so brilliantly red that it almost hurt the eyes to look at it. The small fish in the center of the frame is a speckled damselfish (Pomacentrus bankanensis). (Blueberry Fields, Madang)
A nephtheid soft coral (Dendronephthya or Scleronephthya sp.) and elephant-ear sponge (Phakellia flabellata) compete both visually and for planktonic prey in a reef channel. (Ann Sophie's, Kimbe Bay)
Red nephtheid coral. This specimen was on a reef that featured several quite spectacular trees of what famed underwater photographer, David Doubilet, aptly calls 'psychedelic broccoli.' (Kirsty Jayne's, Kimbe Bay)
A nephtheid soft coral on the side of one of Kimbe Bay's incredibly picturesque reefs — not all that far from shore, this particular chain of reefs, all named after various females, are among the area's most popular and photographed but I've so far had little opportunity to spend much time at any of them. (Susan's Reef, Kimbe Bay)
This brightly colored soft coral (possibly Siphonogorgia sp.) was a landmark just below the seaward edge and smack in the middle of a pass in the barrier reef. This soft coral was particularly useful as a locator on one day when murky water flowing out of the lagoon cut visibility in the area drastically. (Milinat Pass, Madang)
Large sea fan on the vertical wall that rims an oceanic platform reef. Kimbe Bay is home to some impressively-sized sea fans, including some that are much wider across than even the longest-limbed diver could stretch. Sea fans, like corals and many marine invertebrates, are colonial organisms that feed on plankton. (Otto's Reef, Kimbe Bay)
A pure-white sea fan that I found rather deep on the steep drop-off near a point in the barrier reef at which the current whistles by at great velocity. This fan was sheltered, by its depth, from the considerable wave action and current above and nearby and was absolutely huge and extremely delicate. With my fins on I probably stretched close to 2.5 meters and I was still tiny in comparison to this fan, that was a lot finer and more veil-like than most other big sea fans that I've seen. (Barracuda Point, Madang)
A red gorgonian fan at night on the wing of a sunken American bomber. The eight tentacles of each colonial polyp give these soft corals the general name 'octocoral.' A shrimp is visible at lower center — it's pretty typical to find all sorts of animals living on sea fans and soft corals, though sometimes I've only noticed them after I've developed the film and had a close look. (B-25 wreck, Madang)
A soft-coral seafan, a brilliantly-colored component of a sheltered coral garden around a lagoonal island. (Sinub Island, Madang)
Soft-coral sea fan with polyps retracted. (Kirsty Jayne's, Kimbe Bay)
Unidentified sea fan (identifying some of these, even to family level, is a challenge!) with some unidentified fish hanging around — the fish may be gobies or larval forms of other kind of reef fish. (Inglis Shoal, Kimbe Bay)
Ellisella sea whips bending in a strong current on the edge of a steep wall. On this part of the New Guinean coast, the fringing reef drops off to great depth within a few meters from shore. (Hole in the Wall, Northeast coast)
More sea whips in a pass through which the current often blew so strongly that I was sent backwards over the reef once I stopped struggling against it. Getting to the seaward edge of the pass was an intensely aerobic and almost-futile effort but the variety of life in the incredibly clear water that shot the pass was well worth that effort. The gray colony that looks somewhat like a sponge is an alcyonarian soft coral, either Lobophyton or Sinularia, and the feathery object to the right is part of a crinoid. (Rasch Passage)