49.7

This Pacific Black Dragonfish is a specimen courtesy of Moss Landing Marine Labs, and part of one of my projects photographing deep-sea organisms found in Monterey Bay. Home to one of the world largest submarine canyons, Monterey Bay is a unique area to study deep ocean environments. I was privileged with special access to organisms like this from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and Moss Landing Marine Labs to photograph this and other strange alien like animals.

All the images for the project were photographed in a pet store bought aquarium that I filled with water. I also used 1 to 3 Alien Bee studio strobes in various configurations along white and black backdrops depending on what I thought looked better with a particular organism.

To see more weird animals visit my Photoshelter gallery at:
http://bradleyphotographic.photoshelter.com/gallery/Sea-Creatures/G0000G3pjF7YGta0/