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Anna DeLoach
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NO HOLDS BARRED |
When
exploring the fertile waters of Baja California the
constant possibility that whale sharks, mantas and sea
lions could be cruising just overhead makes it difficult
to focus your attention on small marine animals. But when
Anna DeLoach narrowed her search image down to a few
inches while investigating a shallow, algae-carpeted
seafloor on the outskirts of a lagoon, she struck gold.
She discovered colonies of two-inch blennies
(Orange-throat Pikeblennies and Gulf Signal Blennies) so
dense that amorous males resorted to mouth-to-mouth combat
to acquire preferred shelter holes near females. The
testosterone-driven turf wars, which could last for
minutes at a time, left the participants panting and
depleted, but miraculously unscarred.
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After taking
an early retirement from her software engineering career,
Anna headed to the island of Bimini in the Bahamas to
operate a small SCUBA charter service. But, like so many
others, she quickly discovered that running a dive
business was a sure way to limit quality time underwater.
Ten years ago she purchased a video camera and joined
forces with husband Ned to study and document marine life
species around the world. Although she worked diligently
recording marine species for identification books and DVD
projects, her passion is animal behavior. Her
comprehensive video footage proved indispensable for
analyzing behaviors detailed in Reef Fish Behavior
published in 2000. Anna is currently collecting underwater
images for a series of educational DVDs that examines the
relationships of marine animals and their environment.
Anna and Ned reside in Jacksonville, Florida.
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