![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A good option is a wide-angle zoom such as the Olympus 7–14mm f/2.8 Pro (14–28mm equivalent focal length), which I paired with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II. With a little patience, however, some individuals, mainly large males, can get quite close. Since the fish are not fed, it is rare for them to come within inches of your camera. It is important to remain as discreet as possible when approaching the kobudai. Visibility is usually from 15 to 50 feet, depending on conditions. Both off Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture and Yotsujima Island in Yamagata Prefecture, they are always present in more or less the same spots on the reef. The kobudai is generally found between around 65 and 80 feet deep, sometimes less. Returning the following year armed with rebreathers, the much-quieter BBC cinematographers were able to spend more time underwater with their subjects.īig, bold males will come in close if you’re patientĪ fisheye lens will really do justice to that beautiful faceįor my part, I was able to photograph this extraordinary fish on scuba thanks to the experience and advice of local guides, including Yoshifumi Aihoshi, who has in-depth knowledge of the species and knows exactly where to encounter them without much difficulty. When the Blue Planet II team went to Japan in 2016 to work with a local underwater film crew, they quickly discovered that it was rather difficult to approach this shy animal using open-circuit scuba. For example, the humphead wrasse starts life as a female before eventually becoming a male, while others, like clownfish, will pass from male to female.”įilming or photographing the kobudai is a challenge. “In many cases, sex change represents a normal biological process, a very reproductive strategy, common in many fish. Knowing that the fish was a member of the Labridae-a well-known family that exhibits sequential hermaphroditism-the series producer, John Smith, wasn’t surprised that the kobudai changed its gender. To investigate the fascinating transformation of the sheepshead wrasse, the BBC film crew headed off the west coast of Japan to Sado Island. Many of us were introduced to this curious creature by watching the documentary series Blue Planet II. More fearful than males, they live hidden in crevices and are therefore more difficult to approach.Īs bulbous appendages go, Kobudai is king Their scales are brighter in color, and they don’t have protruding facial adornments like the males-just a slight bump on the forehead. Juveniles and females, on the other hand, exhibit a somewhat more conventional appearance. Semicossyphus reticulatus is also one of the largest wrasses known, along with its cousin the humphead wrasse ( Cheilinus undulatus): The biggest specimens of kobudai can grow to well beyond three feet and weigh more than 30 pounds. With its bulging chin and disproportionate forehead, this species of Labridae inevitably attracts comparison with “Elephant Man” Joseph Merrick. The adult male exhibits a very particular physique. But regardless of its location, the kobudai is more often captured by fishermen than it is observed in its natural environment by divers. While most commonly found in the waters of Japan, it is also present in South Korea and China. Kobudai, the name given by the Japanese to the Asian sheepshead wrasse ( Semicossyphus reticulatus), likes shallow rocky habitats or wrecks, and feeds on mollusks and crustaceans. I heard about this special fish for the first time in 2009, with the release of the documentary Oceans, Jacques Perrin’s extraordinary film showcasing to sea lovers, and to the general public, various relatively unknown sea creatures. Among them, we can count, without a doubt, the kobudai. A few of these little-known species, however, evolve in affordable depths. Typically, the strangest aren’t accessible by divers because they live deep in the abyss. The oceans contain their fair share of the planet’s strange creatures. The charismatic Asian sheepshead wrasse-otherwise known as the Kobudai ![]()
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