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  • Pair of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship. The male is in the foreground, with the female’s mammary slits and hemispheric lobe visible in the background.
    humpback-whale-courtship-200508-V1N0...tif
  • A male and female humpback whale pair, with the female above showing her abdomen and the male below.
    humpback-whale-male-female-courtship...tif
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) courtship pair, female twirling in the foreground, male in the background.
    humpback-whale-male-and-female-court...tif
  • This is a pair of Korean seahorses (Hippocampus haema) engaged in unusual post-mating courtship activity. Earlier in the morning, the pair had completed hours of courtship, culminating with the female (background) depositing eggs into the brooding pouch of the male (foreground). Once this takes place, the pair usually return to independent activity, most often foraging for food. In this instance, the pair stayed together. They maintained body contact, often with their prehensile tails intertwined. The male broods the eggs for three to ten weeks. After hatching the juveniles, the male engages in courtship with the female and mates again throughout the spring and summer breeding season. Pair bonds are reasonably consistent, though there seems to be some mixing that takes place. Described in 2017, this species is found in the waters of Korea, as well as along the southern and western coasts of Japan.
    hippocampus-haema-korean-seahorse-co...tif
  • This is a pair of Korean seahorses (Hippocampus haema) engaged in unusual post-mating courtship activity. Earlier in the morning, the pair had completed hours of courtship, culminating with the female (right) depositing eggs into the brooding pouch of the male (left). Once this takes place, the pair usually return to independent activity, most often foraging for food. In this instance, the pair stayed together. They maintained body contact, often with their prehensile tails intertwined as pictured here. The male broods the eggs for three to ten weeks, depending upon the time of year. After hatching the juveniles, the male engages in courtship with the female and mates again throughout the spring and summer breeding season. Pair bonds are reasonably consistent, though there seems to be some mixing that takes place. Described in 2017, this species is found in the waters of Korea, as well as along the southern and western coasts of Japan.
    hippocampus-haema-korean-seahorse-co...tif
  • This is a palr of Korean seahorses (Hippocampus haema) engaged in unusual post-mating courtship activity. Whenever the two seahorses separated and were not in direct physical contact, they maintained frequent eye contact, as depicted here with the male in the background (belly full of eggs) looking toward the female. Earlier in the morning, the pair had completed hours of courtship, culminating with the female depositing eggs into the brooding pouch of the male. Once this takes place, the pair usually return to independent activity, most often foraging for food. In this instance, the pair stayed together. The male broods the eggs for three to ten weeks, depending upon the time of year. After hatching the juveniles, the male engages in courtship with the female and mates again throughout the spring and summer breeding season. Pair bonds are reasonably consistent, though there seems to be some mixing that takes place. Described in 2017, this species is found in the waters of Korea, as well as along the southern and western coasts of Japan.
    hippocampus-haema-korean-seahorse-co...tif
  • This is a palr of Korean seahorses (Hippocampus haema) engaged in unusual post-mating courtship activity. Whenever the two seahorses separated and were not in direct physical contact, they maintained frequent eye contact, as depicted here. Earlier in the morning, the pair had completed hours of courtship, culminating with the female (right) depositing eggs into the brooding pouch of the male (left). Once this takes place, the pair usually return to independent activity, most often foraging for food. In this instance, the pair stayed together. They maintained body contact, often with their prehensile tails intertwined as pictured here. The male broods the eggs for three to ten weeks, depending upon the time of year. After hatching the juveniles, the male engages in courtship with the female and mates again throughout the spring and summer breeding season. Pair bonds are reasonably consistent, though there seems to be some mixing that takes place. Described in 2017, this species is found in the waters of Korea, as well as along the southern and western coasts of Japan.
    hippocampus-haema-korean-seahorse-co...tif
  • This is a palr of Korean seahorses (Hippocampus haema) preparing to spawn. About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, the seahorses swam up from the reef, where the lighter-colored female (left) deposited eggs into the abdominal pouch of the male (right). Once spawning takes place, seahorses usually  usually return to independent activity, most often foraging for food. In this instance, the pair stayed together post-spawning and continued courtship-like behavior. They maintained body contact, often with their prehensile tails intertwined. The male broods the eggs for three to ten weeks, depending upon the time of year. After hatching the juveniles, the male engages in courtship with the female and mates again throughout the spring and summer breeding season. Pair bonds are reasonably consistent, though there seems to be some mixing that takes place. Described in 2017, this species is found in the waters of Korea, as well as along the southern and western coasts of Japan.
    hippocampus-haema-korean-seahorse-co...tif
  • A pair of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship, with the female in the foreground exhaling bubbles.
    humpback-whale-courtship-blowing-bub...tif
  • Pair of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship. The female is in the foreground. She is at the surface, re-entering the water after performing a spyhop. Note how graceful and delicate the movement of her pectoral fin is.
    humpback-whale-courtship-megaptera-n...tif
  • During courtship, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sometimes swim together in a graceful manner reminiscent of a choreographed performance, and take an interest in boats and people. The two whales pictured here are a good example. The closer whale is the male, while the darker whale in the background performing a spyhop is the female. I came across this pair outside the Hunga island area in Vava'u, Tonga.
    humpback-whales-engaged-in-courtship...tif
  • A pair of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship, with the male hovering above the female. As is often the case with courting humpbacks, this pair exhibited a high degree of curiosity and friendliness.
    humpback-whales-engaged-in-courtship...tif
  • This is a pair of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship. The whale in the foreground is the female. The darker one below is the male. The whales in this encounter were inquisitive and proactively sought out attention.
    humpback-whale-courtship-megaptera-n...tif
  • This is a male Korean seahorse (Hippocampus haema) on the left, with two females competing for his attention. The dark stripe down the central ventral surface of the seahorses is indicative of courtship. Both females have a clutch of eggs that they are ready to deposit with a male, who will then brood them for a period of three to ten weeks. Though pair bonds of these fish seem to be reasonably consistent throughout the breeding season, instances of competition like this (two females for a male, as well as two males for a female) do take place. Here one female engaged the male in the elaborate courtship ritual, while the other female stayed close while attempting to get the male’s attention. After some time, the male broke away from one female and went to the other. This process repeated multiple times, and likely continued for many hours beyond the time I was able to observe. Described in 2017, this species is found in the waters of Korea, as well as along the southern and western coasts of Japan.
    hippocampus-haema-korean-seahorse-co...tif
  • Male and female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship. The female is the closer of the pair. As often seems to be the case during courtship, these humpback whales were extremely inquisitive, with the female being particularly interested in boats and people. Photographed in Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga.
    humpback-whales-engaged-in-courtship...tif
  • Southern hemisphere humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship, with the male hovering above the female. This pair hovered nearly motionless for an extended period of time, watching people above who were floating on the ocean surface looking down at the whales.
    courtship-southern-hemisphere-humpba...tif
  • This is a pair of southern hemisphere humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship. The individual above is the female. The male below is blowing a trail of bubbles, a gesture of dominance toward other males that were in the area showing interest in the female.
    humpback-whale-courtship-201808-3541.tif
  • This is a pair of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship, with one of the whales creating a dramatic swirling trail of bubbles with its fluke. Photographed in Vava'u, Kingdom of Tonga.
    humpback-whales-engaged-in-courtship...tif
  • Female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship (male visible in the rear), slapping the water and creating an impressive bubble stream. These whales were extremely friendly. They engaged for several hours with people in the water.
    humpback-whales-engaged-in-courtship...tif
  • This is a pair of Korean seahorses (Hippocampus haema) engaged in spawning. The lighter-colored female on the left is depositing eggs into the brooding pouch of the male (right, looking toward the camera). The male’s pouch is swollen and distended to make room for the eggs, which he fertilizes once they are deposited. The male broods the eggs for three to ten weeks. After hatching the juveniles, the male engages in courtship with the female and mates again throughout the spring and summer breeding season. Pair bonds are reasonably consistent, though there seems to be some mixing that takes place. Described in 2017, this species is found in the waters of Korea, as well as along the southern and western coasts of Japan.
    hippocampus-haema-korean-seahorse-sp...tif
  • Male and female humpback whale diving. The male has his penis extended. I observed this pair hanging out for extended periods of time in between dives. The female had a habit of hanging in a head-down position, with the ventral surface of her fluke held parallel to the surface of the water, at or just above the water line, while the male stayed nearby. It is possible that the two whales were engaged in courtship behavior.
    male-humpback-whale-penis-visible-ma...tif
  • Female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) doing a spyhop, with motor boat and person in the background. This whale was the female of a pair engaged in courtship. The whales were extremely inquisitive and friendly, proactively approaching and engaging people in the water. The person in the background is Captain Ongo, who was one of the people who started the whale watching industry in Vava'u, Tonga.
    humpback-whale-spyhop-with-boat-and-...tif
  • This is a pair of red-spotted blennies (Blenniella chrysospilos) engaged in spawning. The white individual in the foreground is female. She has deposited eggs in the male's burrow. The male in the background was waiting in a nearby burrow and is now rushing back to fertilize the eggs. His dark color is indicative of courtship, which is no longer necessary once spawning commences. But there was another female nearby that he was trying to attract, even as he was spawning with this female.
    blenniella-chrysospilos-red-spotted-...tif
  • Pictured here is a pair of red-spotted blennies (Blenniella chrysospilos). The dark male was actually fertilizing eggs in the burrow beneath him. There was already a female in the burrow. While that female was depositing eggs, the male maintained this dark courtship coloration and displayed for the female seen here. The male was successful in getting the attention of this female, as evidenced by her visit to his burrow, but he was unable to accommodate her at the time documented here. It is possible that this female returned later, once the other female had finished depositing eggs.
    blenniella-chrysospilos-red-spotted-...tif
  • Close-up view of the pectoral fin of a female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) that was one of the two whales in a courting pair. She was very friendly and approached closely on a number of occasions. Note what appear to be parasites attached to some of the barnacles on the pectoral fin.
    close-up-view-pectoral-fin-humpback-...tif
  • This is the fluke of a female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) that had a penchant for resting head-down in the water with her fluke at the surface, as pictured here. She was with a male humpback whale. The two whales seemed to be paired up. At the end of the encounter, the two dived together, the male with his penis extended. I was able to photograph the pair as they dived in this manner.
    humpback-whale-female-resting-upside...tif
  • Red Light District: A pair of mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) mating at late dusk, photographed to appear as if illuminated against a red lantern suggestive of red light districts. Photographed in the Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
    mating-mandarinfish-at-night-synchir...tif
  • Pictured here is a pair of red-spotted blennies (Blenniella chrysospilos) that have just finished spawning. After attracting the female (foreground) to his burrow, the male moves to another hole while the female deposits eggs. He visits multiple times to fertilize while she does this. This is the spit-second just before the female departs and the male takes over to brood the eggs. The male's dark hue is breeding coloration.
    blenniella-chrysospilos-red-spotted-...tif
  • This is a rear view of a male humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae australis) engaged in a dominance display by blowing a stream of air bubbles. Visible in the top left background is a female humpback whale. This female was associated with the male blowing bubbles. The pair were approached by several other males, which precipitated the bubble blowing seen here. A portion of one of the other whales is visible in the bottom right corner. Displays like this are a common behavior among male humpback whales accompanying females during the breeding season.
    humpback-whale-male-bubbles-dominanc...tif
  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) engaged in courtship. The male is in the foreground, female in the background. These whales were extremely friendly and engaged for several hours with people in the water. Male/ female pairs engaged in courtship often swim in graceful motions like this.
    graceful-humpback-whale-courtship-me...tif
  • This is a pair of Pteromys volans orii flying squirrels that have just emerged from their nest early in the morning during the winter reproductive season. The individual on the left is female, right male. After preening together, the pair ascended into the canopy to forage. They mated 10 days after this photo was taken.
    japanese-flying-squirrel-pteromys-vo...tif
  • This is a pair of Pteromys volans orii flying squirrels that have just emerged from their nest early in the morning during the winter reproductive season. The individual on the left is female, right male. After preening together, the pair ascended into the canopy to forage. They mated 10 days after this photo was taken.
    japanese-flying-squirrel-pteromys-vo...tif
  • This is a pair of Pteromys volans orii flying squirrels that have just emerged from their nest early in the morning during the winter reproductive season. The individual facing the camera is male. After preening together, the pair ascended into the canopy to forage. They mated 10 days after this photo was taken.
    japanese-flying-squirrel-pteromys-vo...tif
  • This is a pair of Pteromys volans orii flying squirrels that have just emerged from their nest early in the morning during the winter reproductive season. The individual on the left is female, right male. After preening together, the pair ascended into the canopy to forage. They mated 10 days after this photo was taken.
    japanese-flying-squirrel-pteromys-vo...tif
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