Welcome to Day 21 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme
is:
'Wildlife Encounters'
Amended version of a 2015 blog post titled Touching the Unicorn
The first time someone mentioned unicornfish I was
intrigued. Unicornfish?
Surely the stuff of legends and fairytales!
Of course the reason for this name is more prosaic. Unicornfish have a protrusion between their eyes, some more obvious than others.
Surely the stuff of legends and fairytales!
Of course the reason for this name is more prosaic. Unicornfish have a protrusion between their eyes, some more obvious than others.
So, I ignored unicornfish in favour of the flamboyant and
flirtatious strumpets of the fish world.
Yet, the unicornfish had something up their metaphoric fishy
sleeves that would knock the others’ behaviour into a cocked hat… their curiosity
of divers and our bubbles.
Pause for any length of time around unicornfish and they’ll
hover above you in your stream of bubbles. There is something enormously
appealing about any wild creature that is willing to interact.
Now, whenever I spotted unicornfish on a dive, I would wait
to see whether they would approach and hang out in my bubbles.
On the last two occasions that I went diving in The Maldives
I enjoyed close encounters with unicornfish.
The first experience was with a unicornfish who stayed put
when I reflexively reached out towards it, allowing my fingers to brush against
its surprisingly velvety skin.
The second experience occurred just last month. A
unicornfish faced me head on. We looked at each other. I reached out and to my
astonishment it approached and touched the tip of my finger with its soft mouth
in what felt like a little kiss.
See you tomorrow – I’m heading south west. Can you guess
where and what the next animal will be?
