Description

Referring to Stone Fish as Sentinel’s is probably a bad description for them, Sentinel’s & Gargoyle’s are actually silent protectors of the weak and helpless, where as Stone Fish typically prey on the defenseless for a snack. So are they good guys, definitely not, they lie in wait till something is silly enough to swim in front of their mouth’s, then like a bullet from a gun they will snap that little delicate morsel up, never to be seen again!

The best way to see them feed sadly is YouTube. Their attack speed is ferocious and almost impossible to see with the human eye, you need to film it and slow it right down. While they are not attacking defenseless damsel fish and shrimps, they do make for fairly good photography subjects since they probably won’t move at all. The thing I always find tricky when photographing Stone Fish is getting a background that differs from the subject. They are some of the oceans best when it comes to hiding and matching their surroundings almost perfectly.

This will make it hard to get a nice contrasting shot of your Stone Fish, I’ve taken a lot where the interest in the photo is lost because the whole shot is very uniform in color and texture. So you need to change position quite a lot and try to fill your background with something other than the sand or rock, whatever differs from the actual Stone fish. To be honest, it is not always possible, they are true masters of camouflage. This particular Stone Fish, luckily for me, was hidden inside this orange Stag-horn coral, with the correct lighting and positioning I was able to make him stand out from his surroundings. Enjoy!