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It had to be done sometime: a photo of a nemo-fish - this one is Amphiprion ocellaris (family POMACENTRIDAE) photographed off Gaya island on 18th February 2009. All in all it proved a satisfying day including photos of 8 new fish species taking my checklist total up to 408.

Really satisfying was the Blenny Ecsenius monoculus (apparently strictly limited to Sabah and the Sulu islands of the far southern Philippines). Goby Eviota guttata was cute too along with Gazza minuta (a little Toothpony). Under a jetty drifted a silent shoal of the Cardinalfish Sphaeramia orbicularis (a black and silver version of the better known Pyjama cardinal), and loitering around its crevice in a big coral bommie in shallow water was my first Dottyback for TARP - Pseudochromis fuscus. A couple of handsome Filefishes - Pervagor janthinosoma - squared off against each other in the presence of a potential mate (otherwise normally they are very shy and retiring). Out to sea off Sapi island in a deep outer reef, I saw my first Greensnout parrotfish - Scarus spinus (it's a lovely site with many types of Parrotfishes, relieving some of my previous fears about their apparent scarcity in TARP). Lastly in a mixed shoal of Barracuda, I photographed Sphyraena flavicauda for my first time in the park (I've seen it several times before here but not got the camera to it).

That's not all though - as you might expect during such a productive day: I got a photo of the awesome bright yellow morph of the Trumpetfish Aulostomus chinensis, as well as the beautifully barred juvenile Wrasse Cheilinus fasciatus. I was also rewarded with better photos of the Fang-blenny mimic Petroscirtes breviceps (previously I had also misdiagnosed it as P. variabilis), Damsel Pomacentrus philippinus, and off Sapi again the Parrotfishes Scarus forsteni (Terminal Phase) and Scarus niger.

Brill!