Twilight Zone Fish Trio

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches 

A California Academy of Sciences exhibit first introduced me to the twilight zone reef — a world between roughly 100 and 500 feet deep, where sunlight fades to deep blue. The fish on display were otherworldly: soft pastels and warm corals glowing against dark, indigo water.

What struck me most was learning that at these depths, red light barely penetrates the water at all. The warm reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of these fish — colors so vivid at the surface — most likely appear gray to any predator lurking in the dark below. I love that such beautiful worlds exist, hidden, far beneath the ocean.

This painting features three species from mesophotic reef systems of the Indo-Pacific:

Pseudanthias flavoguttatus — red-saddled anthias

Pseudanthias fasciatus — redstripe basslet

Bodianus bimaculatus — twospot hogfish

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