Ned and Anna’s Redhead Coral Gobies
One of the special things you can look forward to, when diving with Maluku Divers, is the rare opportunity to meet celebrities in the diving world during your stay. Being the only international resort in Ambon, Maluku Divers has welcomed more than it’s fair share of internationally renowned photographers, ichthyologists and fishbook writers, all eager to photograph, explore and write about the amazing marine life in Ambon Bay. Just see our Photo Galleries page for examples of their work.
This week, Maluku Divers had the honour of hosting Ned and Anna DeLoach at our resort, much to the delight of the lucky divers whose stay coincided with the couple. Ned DeLoach, whose reputation as a writer of several fish identification books needs no introduction, is one of the four authors of the popular Reef Fish Identification books, the 2nd edition of Tropical Pacific Fishes is already out, this is the must-have fish identification book that serious divers never leave for a dive trip without. Ned has just finished the much-anticipated Reef Creatures (Tropical Pacific) with Paul Humann, the ‘Bible’ for Muck Divers, which will soon be available at Maluku Divers. Anna’s interests extend to fish behaviour; She worked along side her husband with the production of Reef Fish Behavior: Florida Carribean Bahamas and has been involved in several video productions on marine life for REEF, including Reef Fish Identification: A Beginning Course, Sensational Seas Two, bringing the pleasure of rare sights from under the sea to divers and non-divers alike.
Together, the husband-and-wife team influenced everyone around them with their infectious passion and enthusiasm during their five-day stay at Maluku Divers. Their eyes sparkled whenever they shared the day’s underwater encounters with other divers. So it was when they shared the story behind this picture of two cute Redhead Coralgobies (Paragobiodon echinocephalus) below taken by Ned.
Ned and Anna had shown a picture of the Redhead Coralgobies to Semuel, their private dive guide during their stay, to get his help to find them as Ned wanted a better picture for identification. Living up to his reputation as ‘The Guide who Delivers’, Semuel found one tiny redhead coralgoby and pointed it out to Ned. Ned was struggling to photograph the tiny fish hampered by the surge in the shallows, ever alert, Anna had to sprawl herself on Ned’s legs to stabilize him while he was taking a shot of the redhead scurrying about inside the hard coral. Just as Ned was making some headway to take a shot, another redhead appeared suddenly and joined his friend to pose for this awesome shot:
Well, we think only a picture of Ned and Anna locked in their sprawl underwater would match this!
Ned and Anna are itching to come back to Maluku Divers, and have plans for an extended visit next season, we can’t wait to have them back, hopefully you can join them too!
