FANCY GOBI OR DECORATED DART FISH - FIJI ISLANDS--------What you see here is the Decorated dart fish, also known as the fancy Gobi. It is in the same family as the fire Gobi, see my post Neptunes Flame Eternal. I discovered this species quite by accident on a solo morning dive one day. I had gone much deeper than I normally go but I was scouting for something unusual. I had never seen it before. Dressed like the Pope in royal purple and crimson blood red, it was stunning, the prettiest of the Gobis I have ever seen. Of course one never has the right lens down there. I was determined to get some images of this little fish no longer than two inches. I had no idea it would take me three years and three trips to Fiji to get one good roll of film. They are very elusive and quite shy. I have only ever seen one other very good shot of this fish besides mine. They will only let you approach to about 12 to 18 inches before they dart down a hole not to be seen again. They favor terrain on sloping sandy drop offs with coral rubble at depths of 140 to 170 feet. This one I found at 140 feet. To get shots that would fill the frame with this small shy fish it required the use of a 200mm macro lens with a plus two diopter. This allowed me to fill the frame and stay far enough away that I did not startle them into a burrow. I became so absorbed in shooting this fish that by the time I finished my roll of film my dive computer was screaming bloody murder for me to return to the surface. I spent every last drop of air in my tank at my decompression stops. By the time I returned to the surface there was not one breath of air left in my tank and the bottom was concave. Never the less I was elated I knew I had one great roll of film in my camera. This is a very low res scan I swiped off my website and it does not do the original justice, but it is the only scan I have of it at this time. Never the less I think you will still be able to appreciate the spectacular beauty of this fish. geoff