In the shadow of a bell
Congratulations to Jessica Leask on this week’s winning AG Reader Photo for this stunning capture of a camera-shy juvenile scribbled leatherjacket (Aluterus scriptus) hiding behind a red bell jellyfish on Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.
“Blooms of red bell jellyfish (Crambione mastigophora) often occur on the Ningaloo Reef after a few days of strong northerly winds,” explains Jessica.
“If you pay close attention to the jellyfish in deeper water, often you will notice numerous juvenile fish finding refuge from the big scary open ocean. The association is generally believed to be a temporary symbiosis to protect the juvenile fish from predators and possibly provide them with a food source. It took quite some time to capture this image of a juvenile scribbled leatherjacket accompanying a red bell jellyfish, as the leatherjacket would try to avoid me by darting to the other side of the jellyfish or even up inside its bell,” she says.
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