Tatler - Sexy Fish
July 2012

There is a very special spot off remote north-west Bali where petite schools of delightful mandarin fish, about the size of a Nemo, congregate at sunset to do a glorious flirty courtship dance. The lady plays it coy, hiding between the coral branches. A bunch of guys angle for her attention, performing a jerky, tango-like jig, raising their dorsal fins and wiggling their tails. As darkness falls, she makes her choice and moves towards her amour. Cheek-to-cheek they rise up triumphantly like tiny helium balloons, locked in an embrace of pectoral fins. At the top of their ascent there is a puff ,as they release their stuff, before they bashfully swim off in different directions. This cute one-night stand can be seen on the house reef off Menjangan Beach, which has recently opened a string of lovely villas on the fringes of Bali Barat National Park.