| Side-by-Side Top-Bottom |
| Actual Image
Amazing Light Fantasy (74)
loot
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5633 W: 594 N: 3201]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (8695) | Koran Angelfish - Pomacanthus semicirculatus
This photo was taken at the aquarium in the Pretoria Zoo and it is the 2nd photo of this species on TrekNature. I quickly realised that zoo photography is not as easy as one tends to anticipate. In this case the glass (reflection & marks) was a handicap. Add to that the density of the water, the shiny surface of the fish, other fish that continuously come in between, all ads to a difficult shoot. Fortunately we have digital which means we can experiment and throw away what is not quite right. The workshop is especially for Janice – something I encountered on the way back home.
Cool facts about the Pretoria Zoo
- The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa was established in 1899.
- It is rated as one of the top zoos in the world.
- It is the largest zoo in South Africa and covers an area of about 80 ha.
- The total length of the walkways in the Zoo is about 6 km.
- The aquarium has the biggest inland seawater tank in South Africa.
- It has the third largest collection of exotic trees in South Africa.
- The Zoo also operates a cableway that offers a seven-minute ride to the mountain-top. Source
Description
As a juvenile the Koran is easily confused with a plethora of other blue, black and white banded young angelfish species. Their other common name, semicircle angel, only applies to specimens of about 2.5-7.5cm in total length. Older, larger individuals transform their irregular rear semicircles to sweeping lines. At 10-18cm they show what appears as Arabic script (hence the name Koran) in blue against black between blue lines on the tail fin. They have four or five wider-distinctive white body band-lines that sweep back dorsally and ventrally. Other species of large angel’s young have more striping that is more vertical (or more circular in the case of the imperator). Adult coloration patterns are attained in a few years at a size of 18cm plus. The white stripes and blue fade to an overall pattern of dark spots on a yellowish-green background.
The color change from a juvenile to an adult in the Semicirculatus or Koran Angelfish is truly amazing!
Distribution
Queensland, Western Australia, New South Wales, and New Guinea. Also common in the Indian Ocean from South Africa, the Red Sea, Sri Lanka eastward to Indonesia and the Western Pacific from New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa, northward to Japan.
Habitat
They are found at depths less than 25m. They forage and hide around coral and rocky reefs, not in open, upper waters or over sandy bottoms.
Food
Korans feed on algae and associated fauna primarily as juveniles; adults eat copious amounts of sponges, corals, and algae with the remaining bulk made up mostly of worms of all sorts, crustaceans and mollusks.
Behaviour
Adults are generally solitary. They are not aggressive. Source.
Post Processing was done with Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. |
|
|
| Altered Image #1
loot
(8695)
Kia Ora - Welcome
Edited by:loot
(8695) |
Some time back I read in one of Janice's postings about Kia Ora a Maori welcoming phrase which she often use as it is her favourite greating. So, great was my surprise, this weekend when returning from Pretoria, I found this signboard next to the road.
The photo was taken approximately half way between Vrede and Memel, ± half way home to Empangeni. It seems to be a cattle farm where they keep "Drakensberger" type live stock and this farmer obviously knows something about this Maori greeting as well.
I just had to share it with Janice and also with the rest of our TN friends, in order to say you are always most welcome.
Regards
Loot |
|
|
