National Geographic: Jewels of the Caribbean Sea Page #2

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and his powerful jaws.

Above the wreck,

swifter predators are waiting.

The barracuda hovers around

the reef most of the day.

Smaller fish tend to ignore it.

But everything can change

in an instant if it gets hungry.

The highly maneuverable yellowtail

snapper can sometimes

avoid becoming a meal.

These waters also swarm with

ballyhoo often not as fortunate.

This is one of the most intelligent

creatures on the reef

the Caribbean reef squid.

It is a creature from another world.

Their skins are alive

with signals of great sophistication.

Not only can they warm that a predator

is near, but they can even

distinguish one predator from another.

Males competing for the affections of

a female engage in a kind of

visual combat, displaying

spectacular colors and patterns.

No damage is done,

the contest is highly ritualized.

Squid & courtship is also very visual

a synchronized and

extravagant display.

The actual mating however,

is so brief, it's almost invisible.

The male lunges at the female with

a special arm,

attaching to her a packet of sperm.

The female can take her time deciding

if she will accept the packet for

self-fertilization or later

get rid of it,

rejecting it in favor of another.

In spring many reef creatures

are breeding.

Excited schools of mating fish dance

frenetically and animate

the placid Caribbean.

After mating, the male yellowhead

jawfish is left by himself

with the fertilized eggs.

He has them in his mouth,

spitting them out from time to time

to aerate them.

For five days he'll continue

his tender vigil until

the baby jawfish finally hatch.

Hundreds of Cerole wrasse school in

long columns as they migrate

every day across the reef.

They are deadly marauders, attacking

new generations of other fish.

Parrotfish are spawning,

and the arriving Creole wrasse

rush in to gorge themselves.

They eat the eggs the moment they are

released by the female parrotfish.

Thousands of eggs vanish

in a few seconds, but inevitably

some escape and a few tiny parrotfish

survivors will inherit the reef.

The Creole wrasse stop

by a cleaning station.

A juvenile Spanish hogfish

fearlessly takes them on.

It dashes from wrasse to wrasse

checking for parasites.

Requesting to be cleaned,

the Creole wrasse stand on their head.

Then, as the hogfish moves on,

the next wrasse dashes eagerly to

the head of the line

The smoke rising from this barrel

sponge is a dense cloud of sperm.

When a sponge starts to spawn,

it triggers a chain reaction

along the reef as others of the same

species hurry to mix their spawn.

The sea is as warm

with their fertility.

High over the teeming city,

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