Longnose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus) on Black Coral (Antipatharia), Sea of Cortez, Mexico

The last time I was diving in the Sea of Cortez, I decided to try to photograph the longbill hawkfish in black coral. My friend Mike took us to dive on his namesake reef, a secret spot north of La Paz with reefs that are spectacularly lush and covered with life, a consequence of the large tidal currents that pass over the area twice a day.  The area has many large bushes of black coral (Antipatharia) upon which the small but brilliantly-colored hawkfish can be found perching.  Mike’s Reef is a difficult spot to anchor due to its near-constant currents but few have as much experience boating in that area and he soon dialed it in and dropped us on the reef close to slack tide.  The currents were still strong but I tucked into a protected area and soon found a perfect patch of black coral with several hawkfish on it. I spent the dive getting to know these cute little fish and making a few good photos at the same time.