Example 1b
All images copyright protected, © Doug Segar and Elaine Stamman Segar.
The other species is a goby about 1.5-2 cm long. In this enlargement of the original image you can easily see the goby's eyes but it is still extremely difficult to make out the rest of its body. This is because its body is almost completely transparent and the color and texture of the coral can be seen through most of the fish's body. Transparency is a simple and efficient means of camouflage since the goby can travel over different parts of the soft coral, which may have variations of color, and still remain unseen.
What advantage does the goby gain from the camouflage? In this case undoubtedly the major advantage is freedom from detection by potential predators. For example, there are many species of larger fish that search for and eat small invertebrates and fishes among the branches of both soft and hard corals. It is nearly impossible just from this picture, to identify which species of goby this is. However, it is likely to belong to the genera Bryaninops, which encompasses a number of species of goby that live on coral whips, trees and fans. Often these gobies eat the coral on which they live and some species live only on a particular species of coral. Also, often only a single pair of gobies lives on each coral fan, whip, or tree. This pair defends its territory from others of their species to protect the coral host from overgrazing and thus, to ensure the future food supply.