Sony F-717 digital Sunpak MZ4400AF flash off-camera 9.7mm (Macro) at f8 1/125 at ISO 100

Blowing you a kiss

So far, it seems like only certain times of the year can I find Northern Pipefish (Syngnathus fuscus) in the lagoon, usually the spring and early summer. Haven't yet determined why this is, but it may be because they consider the lagoon their breeding ground. I know that I've caught several males with an extended breeding pouch -- pipefish, like their close relatives the Seahorses, have the male carrying the young during incubation, after the female deposits the eggs in his pouch.

They tend to be 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) in length, which actually makes getting a full-body image rather hard, because at closeup magnifications, the depth-of-field doesn't extend even close to that far. So it requires having them perfectly flat to the camera, perpendicular to the lens, and since they're squirmy little buggers they won't hold a pose. In this particular case, I simply went for a cute look, and a good view of the tubelike mouth.