Photo of the Day 412

Crested Iguana, Yaduataba Island, Fiji Islands, 2003

Photograph by Tim Laman

A rare Fijian crested iguana surveys his surroundings from a tree on Yaduataba Island, one of the 333 islands making up Fiji. Discovered by outsiders in 1979, the crested iguana’s numbers are rapidly dwindling due to the brisk spread of introduced species, such as feral cats and black rats.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Hotspots: Preserving Pieces of a Fragile Biosphere," March 2003, National Geographic magazine)

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)

Photo of the Day 92

Fiji Islands, 2004

Photograph by Tim Laman

In the waters of the Fiji Islands, an emperor shrimp and a commensal crab nearly vanish in the calico pattern of a large leopard sea cucumber. The sea cucumber provides food for the crustaceans in the form of mucus on its skin and defends itself by ejecting its toxic stomach when danger threatens.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Fiji's Rainbow Reefs," November 2004, National Geographic magazine)