"MATING MANDARINS OF YAP"

 

Mating Mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus)

Photograph by Scott Tuason

© 2001 by Image Quest 3-D
Read our copyright notice

 

I had gone to the magical kingdom of the Manta rays in hopes of catching these amazing animals on film, hopefully even to get them in their mating underwater ballet. Unfortunately the weather hadn't cooperated and conditions were far less than favourable. Add to this the incoming tide at Mi'il channel was not in synch with our morning dives and the trip was starting to be a recipe for disaster photographically speaking. Well, as it turns out, Yap has much more than just Mantas on the offering. Great walls with fifty meter plus visibility on the outer reef, Grey reef and Blacktip sharks and shoals of reef and pelagic fish. The small critter animal life isn't as good as Southeast Asia with the exception of one of the most colourful fish in the sea, the Mandarinfish.

These psychedelic leftovers from the sixties are part of the Dragonet fish family ranging in size from three to seven centimetres. Under pressure from the aquarium fish trade, Mandarinfish are quite a rare treat to divers, plus the fact that they come out after five pm and are found in three to five meters of water in coral rubble. Not exactly a place where divers spend a lot of time. I have been to several places in Southeast Asia to find Mandarins and to date the highest concentration I have seen is in the island of Yap. How ironic, I travel to a remote island in the Pacific looking for a five meter animal and wind up spending more time with a five centimetre fish. But don't get me wrong; I did see mantas almost everyday.

The dive is an easy one, a mere five minutes from the Manta Ray Bay Hotel by boat is a small island where Mandarinfish reef is located. There is hardly any current and you don't have to go any deeper than 6 meters to see the action. At first when you get into the water it looks as though there is nothing there but Pyjama cardinalfish and shrimp. But within minutes of the dive the little mandarins appear from nowhere to start their nightly ritual of feeding and mating, reminds me of the line from the movie Scarface "is this what its all about…" Most of the smaller females are going about their business of eating while the considerably larger males start looking for a willing partner to make baby mandarins. At times there would be one male surrounded by about five females as another male would come in and try and muscle in on the action, only to be chased away. This can go on for as long as an hour until the suitable female finally has chosen her mate. From there the two break off from the group, come together side by side and start a spiralling motion up and away from the reef. As the spirals get tighter and tighter, they stop for a split second, the female releases her eggs and the male releases his sperm and both scamper back to the reef like a couple busted for necking at a drive-in movie. All that is left is a faint cloud of dust, and they may repeat this once or twice again. Another observation I made, that I witnessed for the first time, was that after the mating; the female would swim off the reef and hover in mid water for about two minutes. She didn't seem to be feeding; she just hovered there motionless, alone, doing nothing.

 

The Mandarinfish seem to do this ritual every night, but from what I have observed through the years it seems to reach a peak during the full moon. So if you're in the mood for a little voyeurism, Yap is the place for mating Mandarinfish.

Mating Mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus)

Photograph by Scott Tuason

© 2001 by Image Quest 3-D
Read our copyright notice

This short article was written by Scott Tuason

© 2001 by Image Quest 3-D
Read our copyright notice

 

If you have an article of general interest that you would like considered for the article of the month then we would love to hear from you. If you are also able to supply images then we can include those as well. You can email us at iq3d@imagequest3d.com

Click here to read other articles

Search Images
 

 
Search Articles and Info
 
© 2001 by Image Quest 3-D
Read our copyright notice
Click here to go to the Stock Photo Library