Looking for Love

Tony Wu's Image

Tony was on a mission – he wanted to capture an image that portrayed the ‘unique expression and burning desire of a male in love’. His subject was the Asian sheepshead wrasse, a fish found near Sado Island. After years of planning, and amid torrential rain, he finally found an earnest suitor for his portrait. ‘This,’ he says, ‘is the face of a fish looking for love’.

If there are no dominant males in the school of Asian sheepshead wrasse, larger, older female wrasse will change sex. The transformed fish will use its bulbous head, which turns red in the breeding season, to gain control over other males, attracting a harem of females in the process. It will then mate with these females dozens of times a day.


Behind the lens

Tony Wu

Tony Wu

USA/Japan

Tony devotes most of his time to researching and documenting rarely seen marine animals and environments, spending more days at sea that he does on land. After spending years photographing tropical reefs, whales and large aggregations of spawning fish, he is currently exploring the varied and diverse marine environments of Japan, which encompass everything from tropical to Arctic environments, as well as many unique habitats in between.

Image details

  • Nikon D800
  • Sigma 15mm f2.8 lens
  • 1/200 sec at f11  •   ISO 200  •   Nauticam housing  •   Pro-One dome port  •   Two Nikon SB-910 flashes + custom Zillion housings
  • Sado Island, Japan
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