Night Divers Capture Rare Fish-Anemone Partnerships in Ocean Depths

Underwater photographer Rich Collins has spent years diving into the dark waters off Florida’s coast after sunset, capturing extraordinary images of marine life that rarely sees daylight. His nighttime “blackwater photography” expeditions have revealed a fascinating secret: young fish forming unexpected partnerships with baby sea anemones in the open ocean.

Since 2016, Collins and fellow divers have documented juvenile fish either riding on larval tube anemones or carrying them around like living accessories. Pomfret fish were observed “surfing” on the anemones or grasping them with their fins, while filefish preferred to grab and transport their anemone partners with their mouths. These remarkable interactions, photographed in waters off both Florida and French Polynesia, represent a previously undocumented form of ocean cooperation.

The stunning images caught the attention of marine researcher Gabriel Afonso from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who saw scientific gold in what others might view as simply beautiful photography. “People like them, but researchers look to them with different eyes — we look to them as a source of information,” Afonso explained. His team’s analysis, recently published in the Journal of Fish Biology, describes these relationships as “mutualistic interactions” where both species likely benefit from their unusual partnership.

This discovery highlights how much we still don’t know about life in the ocean’s depths, and demonstrates how citizen scientists and photographers can contribute valuable data to marine research. The finding adds another layer to our understanding of the complex relationships that help ocean ecosystems thrive.