Juvenile Lobster Riding Planktonic Tunicate

I’ll start by saying this is just a fun photo. What you are looking at is a ~1/4” juvenile spiny lobster riding on top of a ~1” planktonic tunicate. This was taken on a blackwater dive roughly 5 miles offshore of West Palm Beach, Florida.

These increasingly popular dives involve going out at night a few miles off shore. Then unlike your traditional dives where the boat is anchored to the bottom, you actually drift in the top part of the water column (usually less than 40’) in search of wild creatures that float along in the night. As the name “blackwater” suggests, you are not able to see the bottom (roughly 400’), and all you can see is blackwater in all directions.

This can be disorienting at times, especially when shooting photos. In general, you can only see where you point your light. Fortunately for this photo, I got lucky and pointed my light onto this interesting subject. I’ll say, this sector of photography is really challenging, and some of the blackwater images coming out these days are incredible. If you are ever presented with the opportunity, go for it.