Everyone always seems to ask about what big things we see when we go SCUBA diving, sharks, manta rays, turtles, big fish, etc. but I find that quite often the most interesting things are the little things, like the small fish above. It has a striking look -- why we ended up filming it -- and it turns out that after consultation with our divemaster Andy (a marine biologist) to be a Juvenile Emperor Angelfish.
Turns out the young (i.e. juvenile) version of the Emperor Angelfish looks almost nothing like the full grown version. Also turns out it is extremely rare to see the juvenile version of the emperor angelfish out swimming around at all! So this was a double-plus-good lucky moment during one of our recent dives off Nusa Pineda (near Nusa Lembongan) just east of Bali on the Indonesian archipelago.
In fact, this is what the full grown Emperor Angelfish looks like! It's a wonder they even recognize their young ones!