Fringeheads are, without doubt, the stars of the fish world under the piers. But they won't win any beauty contests. The prettiest of the little benthic fishes in that complex ecosystem is, IMHO, the sculpin. One day I was looking for subjects in a mass of red bryozoan near the bottom of a piling, when I looked up and saw this little face looking down at me. He remained long enough to endure several strobe flashes. We have used this image many times, including on the covers of our two Morro Bay books. This is a snubnose sculpin (Orthonopias triacis), one of about a half-dozen sculpin species we have found in Morro Bay. In this image you can actually see his lower row of little teeth. They have such beautiful eyes!
                                                                                                             Ken Bondy

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