THE GUARDIAN Safaga - Egypt 2023

10 × 10 in / 26 × 26 cm / Edition of 20
16 × 16 in / 40 × 40 cm / Edition of 15
24 × 24 in / 60 × 60 cm / Edition of 10

The Steinitz shrimp goby or simply Steinitz goby is a small species of fish from the goby family. It lives in association with an alpheid shrimp on the seabed where the alpheid shrimp has dug a cave in the sand. The goby carefully guards the environment, and as soon as an enemy approaches, it warns the blind shrimp and flees with it into the cave.

Since I'm not necessarily the most inconspicuous diver due to my swimming movements with my arms, I've tried a variety of strategies over the years to get close to the two friends for a photo. One attempt was to simply lie down in the sand near the hole and wait, motionless, until the goby comes out again. However, the goby seemed to have seen me somehow, and after 15 minutes I got so cold that I had to stop the attempt. However, in this picture the goby was very friendly and cooperative. I approached slowly, then waited a bit, and continued to approach so that the goby could get used to me and not see me as a threat. So I managed to get within a distance of about 20 cm and was able to take this picture.

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