{"id":543013,"date":"2026-04-21T15:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543013\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:03:11","slug":"this-diver-was-exploring-the-great-barrier-reef-when-he-noticed-something-strange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543013\/","title":{"rendered":"This diver was exploring the Great Barrier Reef, when he noticed something strange\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the hubbub of a lively\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/insects-invertebrates\/facts-about-coral-reefs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">coral reef<\/a>, all sorts of colours dance before your eyes: the iconic orange <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/clown-fish-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">clownfish<\/a>, adorable yellow\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/yellow-boxfish-banded-pipefish\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">boxfish<\/a>\u00a0and the glinting silver of a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/with-razor-sharp-and-a-36mph-top-speed-this-is-one-intimidating-fearsome-ocean-predator-that-has-been-known-to-attack-humans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">barracuda<\/a>\u00a0looming in the distance. But what about a fish transforming to a totally different colour right before your eyes?<\/p>\n<p>This is exactly what one diver captured recently when a surgeonfish he was videoing changed from white to black in a few moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During a dive on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/environment\/can-the-great-barrier-reef-be-saved\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Great Barrier Reef,<\/a>\u00a0Jamie Wilson, a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gbrmpa.gov.au\/learn\/master-reef-guides\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Master Reef Guide<\/a>\u00a0who explores the Northern Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea onboard the\u00a0Spirit of Freedom\u00a0liveaboard, noticed something strange.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was intrigued by a stream of hundreds of pale surgeonfish high up in the water column, with half of them making a significant detour down to an isolated coral bommie for some reason,\u201d he says. \u201cGoing in for a closer look it became apparent they were stopping off for a quick spot of cleaning with a few species of cleaner wrasse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when it happened. Right before his eyes, one of the fish dimmed from white to black, as if it had absorbed a pool of dark ink.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>See the incredible moment the surgeonfish changes colour. Credit: Jamie Wilson, Master Reef Guide<\/p>\n<p>Scientists think these fish change colour at cleaning stations to communicate with the cleaner fish \u2013 if they\u2019re\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.georgiaaquarium.org\/animal\/doctorfish\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pale<\/a>, they\u2019re ready for a clean.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFish are thought to change colour for a variety of reasons \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/camouflage-animals-cryptic-coloration\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">camouflage<\/a>, communication, mating practice, stress \u2013 in this case it&#8217;s most likely to signal to the cleaner wrasse that it&#8217;s not a threat and ready for a clean,\u201d says Wilson. Plus, there\u2019s \u201ca potential added benefit of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/parasites-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">parasites<\/a> being easier to locate for the cleaner fish\u201d against a white body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut they are fish after all,\u201d he adds, \u201cso who can say for sure!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Surgeonfish at a cleaning station. Credit: Jamie Wilson, Master Reef Guide<\/p>\n<p>Image and video credit: Credit: Jamie Wilson, Master Reef Guide<\/p>\n<p>More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the hubbub of a lively\u00a0coral reef, all sorts of colours dance before your eyes: the iconic orange&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-543013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}