Tony first found doublesash butterflyfish at Long Beach in Simon’s Town. They look as though they belong in tropical water, and indeed are related to the butterflyfish one sees further north in Sodwana and Mozambique. They are brightly coloured and so exciting to see!
They mostly eat tubeworm tentacles, and (our observations bear this out) adults are often seen in pairs. These two live under one of the wrecks at Long Beach. I photographed them on a night dive. Tony has seen juveniles further south at Long Beach in front of the Admiral’s Beach – one of them the size of a R2 coin.
This short video clip was filmed by Tony on a very surgy day. You can see the wreck moving up and down vigorously. Watch out for the barehead gobies and for the klipfish who comes to assert his ownership of the territory. The butterflyfish turns on his side occasionally to get out from underneath the boat!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VodH3Enevpw&w=540]
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