Dances With Seahorses

Richard Smith is an eager young marine biologist and underwater photographer who lives in Brisbane, Down Under. He is writing his PhD thesis about pygmy seahorses, and from what I gather, he may actually even finish it.

I've only met him once, by chance in the Lembeh Strait last year, and I only had the opportunity to speak with him for half an hour or so.

He seemed pleasant enough, and he's even planning a trip to dive in Japan with my friends in Izu.

It struck me as somewhat odd, however, that the dates he picked for his visit to Japan coincide with dates that I specifically told him I can't possibly join him.

I mean...we share common interests, and we had a terrific talk in Lembeh, so why...I wondered...could he possibly be avoiding me?

After thinking long and hard about this conundrum, the proverbial light bulb went off in my head.

This short video clip of Richard explaining the mating rituals of pygmy seahorses to me when we met in Lembeh probably has something to do with it:

(In case it's not obvious, the point of this post is that if you meet (or already know) Richard, you absolutely must ask him to do the pygmy seahorse mating dance. Even better if you video it and post to the www.)