The Yellowhead Jawfish (Opistognathus aurifrons) belongs to the Opistognathidae family and is distinguised by the following physical characteristics. They all have large heads, big mouths and long tapering bodies, giving the fish an eel like appearance. Their huge eyes can also rotate in any direction.

Growing to 3.5 to 4 inches in length the Yellowhead Jawfish stands out because of it's golden coloured head and pale blue-gray body. Sometimes pale blue dots are seen on the blue part of the fish and occasionally there are black spots on the chin.

The Yellowhead Jawfish is a mouth brooder. The male incubates the eggs, spitting them out into its burrow just long enough for it to eat. It feeds by hovering above it's hole where it catches zooplankton in the water column. This is how divers usually observe them.

In the Caribbean, divers will usually find the Yellowhead Jawfish in shallow water. But they have been found in depths from 8 to 115 feet. Yellowhead Jawfish tend to build their tunnels in close proximity to others of it's kind. A Jawfish burrow can measure over a foot in length and is built by the fish scooping up pieces of coral and sand and depositing them outside the hole. The fish then reinforces the sides of the burrow with small pieces of rock to stop the sides caving in.

The Yellow Head Jawfish has always held a fascination for me. It is a great builder and meticulously looks after it's burrow, cleaning it out and protecting it from possible intruders. The speed with which it can dive tail first into it's burrow when alarmed has to be seen to be believed.

Getting a decent shot of one of these shy fish had illuded me for some time. But on one of my trips to Grand Cayman, I finally got lucky!  My wife and I were once again diving the Sunset House reef where I had learn't the basics of underwater photography from Cathy Church. At approx 65 feet we came across a group of Yellowhead Jawfish in a sandy-rubble area. Many of the individuals dived into their burrows as soon as we approached within 10-15 feet. This is not unusual as this appears to be the minimum comfort zone for these fish. On the edge of the group there did appear to be a few individuals that seemed less intimidated by our approach.

I indicated to my wife that I was going to attempt to get a little closer to try to grab a better shot. Intuitively my wife started to monitor the depth, time and nitrogen loading on her dive computer more closely as she knows that when I am trying to approach nervous subjects I become fixated upon the task in hand and I will be trying to limit my movements as much as possible. Therefore, I am relying on her to let me know when I am approaching the No Decompression Limit for the depth I am at.

Having first checked my surroundings so that I would not damage any marine life, I then stretched out flat on the sand trying to maintain as low a profile as possible. With my Nikonos V fitted with it's extension tube and the 1:2 framer I held out the camera as far as possible with my finger on the shutter release.

Over the next 15 to 20 minutes I gradually eased myself forward the 15 or so feet to the Jawfish hole. I tried to relax as much as possible and consciously concentrated on my breathing so as to prevent explosive exhalations and fighten the Jawfish back into it's burrow never to be seen again. Each time the Jawfish retreated into its burrow when it was disturbed by a passing fish, I took the opportunity to move forward and I would then stop all movement when it reappeared. After 20 minutes I had eventually reached the point where my framer was up against the edge of the Jawfish burrow. Still the Jawfish did not seem to be too concerned about my presence even though at this point the strobe was pointing directly into his tunnel.

Having got this far I was hopeful that I may get one shot in the bag. Imagine my surprise when having triggered the shutter release the Jawfish remained out of his burrow and seemed not to have a care in the world.

Over the next 10 minutes I was able to fire off a further 18 shots easing myself up to a position where my head was adjacent to the strobe and I was looking down into his tunnel.  I was awaken from my photography fixation by my wife indicating that my time was up and that we should be ascending to shallower water.

This was a dive I will always remember along with the other dives that I have enjoyed when marine creatures appear to trust me enough to allow me into their comfort zone.

Next on my list of shy creatures to be photograped was the Garden Eel. But that is a whole new story!

The images below were all taken with the Nikonos V camera fitted with 35mm Nikkor lens and extension tube with 1:2 framer. The strobe used was the Nikonos SB105 on the standard Nikonos arm and baseplate.

Film used was Fuji Velvia 50ASA with the camera film speed selector set to 40ASA.

Camera and strobe settings were as follows:

• Lens aperture f22
• Len focus distance set to minimum
• Shutter speed 1/60th
• Strobe set to TTL
• Strobe to subject distance set to 6 inches
• Film speed 40ASA

This is the first and only shot I thought I would be lucky enough to get of the Yellow Head Jawfish! -BK33

As the Yellow Head Jawfish came out further I fired again! - BK30

Although the Yellow Head Jawfish emerged fully from his burrow, I knew that I would be chopping his head off (metaphorically speaking) if I took any shots with him further out from his burrow than this. - BK34