Good morning!
This is Chika from Freeway.
We've been diving at Kitakoura almost every day, and...
we find something every day.
On Sado Island, from around now through autumn (September and October), the fish keep increasing.
So right now there are lots of small fish (juveniles).
Today we found an amimehagi (a small filefish) guarding its eggs!
The male guards them, fanning water with its fins and blowing water with its mouth, apparently to supply the eggs with fresh water rich in oxygen.
The part inside the circle that looks like a sponge is the eggs.
Photo by: our guest Y.Y
We intruded a little to get a close up of the eggs, too.
Photo by: our guest Y.Y
You can see the eggs attached, right?
Now and then, we could also see it bravely chasing off fish like kyusen and honbera (wrasses).
It boldly attacked even fish bigger than itself!
The amimehagi dad was working really hard.
I couldn't film the attacks, but please watch the video of it guarding the eggs.
The eggs apparently hatch 1 to 3 days after spawning, so we were lucky to see this!
Now I'm looking forward to meeting the baby amimehagi 🥰
Seaweed can have eggs attached, nudibranchs on it, and even seahorses hiding in it.
So I'd like to ask you not to grip seaweed tightly when taking photos and so on...
I sometimes see people holding on to seaweed to steady themselves.
But seaweed tears and comes loose.
It won't steady your body at all...
To protect marine life, I'd really appreciate your cooperation.
This got a bit long, but...
thank you for reading this far 😊
Please come and enjoy Sado in every season!
Today's dive site: Kitakoura
① Nagate
② Akaiwa
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