Photo of the Day 135

Coral Reef, Fiji Islands, 2005

Photograph by Tim Laman

Without a strobe light to animate its riot of colors, this Fijian reef in 45 feet (14 meters) of water remains as a fish would see it. Red light, with its longer wavelengths, dissipates at about 30 feet (10 meters), leaving smoky blues and muted yellows to dominate.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: Why Are Coral Reefs So Colorful?" May 2005, National Geographic magazine)