Near shore deep water wildlife has always been interesting to me.  Often, the organisms that exploit the habitat live in deep water by day and migrate to shallower water under the cover of darkness to pursue prey items.  Some of the species that you see here live along deep reefs or the walls of steeply sloping terrain that lead down to abyssal depths.  Species like the Chambered Nautilus spend their days as deep as 610m (~2000 feet) and then make the migration to hunt in shallow waters at night.  I’ve been fortunate to have been able to see some of these amazing creatures live and to photograph them.  I can’t thank enough the people that have made these opportunities reality.  I’d like to thank Osamu Inamura, the Uozo Aquarium, Sunpet Inc., and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for the opportunities that I’ve had.  As with all of my images posted here, they are for your enjoyment and are not public domain, all are copyrighted.  Please do not copy, download, postonline, or reuse in any fashion the photographs that I have posted without express written permission to do so.  Any use of my images must be approved in writing.  To access ...  Read the rest of the entry...