Image

Just passin’ through?

Larry Madin, director of research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and also a marine biologist and diver, snapped this image while surveying undersea life on a September 2009 expedition to the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. Around the reefs, predatory reef fish such as snappers showed aggressive behavior worthy of larger hunters. Snappers eat smaller fish, crustaceans, and planktonic animals, including salps, which are carried onto the reef by currents. The interplay emphasizes the intimate connection between reef-ringed islands and the deep ocean that surrounds them.

(Photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)