Chris Gug
@gugunderwater
Pro underwater photographer and filmmaker. Ocean art gallery📍Lauderdale by the Sea, FL
My Uncle Steve had no idea he was going to be my next underwater supermodel when he decided to come visit us in Bali! Over the past ~3 weeks we’ve dove & snorkeled, climbed volcanoes, hiked through rice terraces, visited temples, and motorbike toured all over this island and next!
Which side of the jellyfish is this little driftfish on? Is it in front, or are we seeing it through the jelly’s body? Pretty tough to tell,eh? Shot on scuba, offshore from Tulamben, Bali, while drifting with the plankton, over the deep abyss, at night. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #scubadiving
Cool new behavior caught on video! This is a special type of octopus known as a #papernautilus (aka #argonaut) and her shell is a little less than 5cm. Watch as she extends and retracts her fleshy mantle - at the end, she rapidly retracts it all! #blackwater #blackwaterdiving
As I was watching this coral grouper having parasites and dead scales removed at a cleaning station, it reminded me that I haven’t had a dental check-up since leaving the USA almost a year ago. maybe I’ll just head down to the reef and let the shrimps do their thing.
Great article just out on my obsession with shooting harlequin swimming crabs living in tube anemones - read it here: www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-p...
I don’t know why he was so surprised to see me 😮- I’m down here all the time! A bebeh pufferfish, roughly the size of a pinky nail, just swimming through the open ocean at night, far offshore from Tulamben, Bali, our over the deep abyss. #pufferfish #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #zoolandermagnum
I often find larval & juvenile jacks (trevally) clinging to other floating objects like a life raft. Here, it’s riding a leaf like a surfboard, but I also find them inside salps, jellyfish, pyrosomes, and all too often, plastic.
Super-rare cutlassfish in its juvenile stage!!! In May, I had 5 encounters with cutlassfish, 4 of which were nothing but a brief sighting ~20’ away, but this time, i was bombed by squid ink at the same time, which may be what slowed him down. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography
A collage of subjects from one Aliens night in Okinawa last year. Since I’m returning soon, I’m looking back through my shots to prep & inspiration, and these were the B-listers that haven’t been seen from my first night last time. #larvalfish #deepseacreatures #blackwater #blackwaterdiving
Two very different-looking ghost pipefish. Sometimes it can be very difficult to determine the exact species, as there’s a lot of visual overlap between halimeda, robust, and velvet. #ghostpipefish #tulamben #tulambenbali #muckdiving #scubadiving
Introducing my newest release in the SeaScapes Collection of fine art prints - “Sparkles”! Available from 16x24”, up to 300” wide. Order online in standard sizes. For custom sizes, call/email or stop into Rcamm Art Gallery in Lauderdale by the Sea, FL to work with my design team.
Another collection of “Tasteful Nudi’s” Nudibranchs are a type of sea slug - most of the 3000+ species share a few key traits - they riotously colored, slow, small, and have only one defense - chemical. All shot in Oct2025 in Bali. I can only post 4 here - see the same on IG or FB for all 15
Like all cardinalfish, the male is a “mouthbrooder”. There’s tons of cardinalfish species around Tulamben, and they’re usually overlooked as “ordinary” reef dwellers - bypassed in search of more exotic species, but I love them and their crazy parenting behaviors. This one is Ostorhinchus aureus.
Whether I stop to shoot a seahorse has 40% to do with how pretty its color is, 40% to do with its location (is it easy to shoot, is there a distracting background, is it at 120’ deep so I’ll only have a short 3 minutes, etc), and 20% its personality and level of chill after the first few moments.
I’ll gladly sit at any #cleaningstation for the entire dive, if both the customers and the workers are present. This #moray #eel lives in a hole that’s full of cleaner shrimp, so he’s pretty much being cleaned all day long. #symbioticrelationship #scubadiving #underwater #tulamben
Against All Odds From the Seascapes Collection 96 x 36” Available in custom sizing from 16x24” up to 250” wide. Order online in standard sizes, or stop in to Rcamm Art Gallery in Lauderdale by the Sea to view the art and speak with an art consultant in person.
What looks like a bebeh #octopus is actually a full-grown male paper #nautilus, riding atop of a mauve stinger #jellyfish. Shot using #scuba, while drifting in the open #ocean, far from shore, over the deep abyss, at night. #papernautilus #cephalopod #symbiosis #blackwater #blackwaterdiving
A larval #octopus hitches a ride on a #pyrosome. While the octopus is pelagic in this early life-stage, it will occasionally grab on to drifting objects and animals. Shot using scuba, while drifting far offshore over deep water, at night, off Tulamben, Bali. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving
Eels, in an early life stage called leptocephalus, drift with the plankton, eating tiny invertebrates and fish. Shot using scuba, at night, while drifting with the plankton, out over the deep abyss. #eel #leptocephalus #larvalfish #blackwater #blackwaterdiving
#Squid squirt #ink for all sorts of reasons. Here, an unexpected slam into me in the pitch blackness no doubt freaks them out, and they’re usually dazed for a few moments; the perfect opportunity for me to shoot! This is 3 different squids. #squidink #cephalopod #blackwater #blackwaterdiving
One of the largest and prettiest #scaleworm I’ve ever found. There’s a term, “meroplankton” which describes organisms who will spend only part of their lives, or earlier life stages drifting by with the plankton. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #polychaete #deepseacreatures
This tiny larval Indian Halibut (Psettodes erumei) popped up late last night while hunting for Aliens off the coast of Tulamben, Bali. A little smaller than a pea. #larvalfish #blackwaterdiving #flatfish #blackwater #gug
This is the first ever video footage of the larval stage of an extremely rare Groenveld’s Stingfish (Minous groeneveldi). Shot on scuba, over very deep water, far offshore, while drifting with the plankton, at night. #groenveldsstingfish #blackwaterdiving #larvalfish #tulamben #stonefish
Cutest bebeh #octopus attack EVER!!! After shooting him for a bit, this pelagic paralaval octopus decided to reach out and hitch a ride on my lens! Shot on scuba, out over the deep abyss, while drifting with the open-ocean plankton, at night. #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #cephalopod
Arguably the most beautiful #shrimp on the planet, this is an exceptionally large mated pair of #harlequinshrimp. Often found carrying a starfish, but this pair must’ve been between meals. I’ve seen them bury their starfish, like making a cage for livestock, so maybe it was just out of sight.
Are these not the coolest eyeballs in the animal kingdom?!? This is a mother peacock mantis shrimp, holding her clutch of red eggs. #stomatopod #mantisshrimp #muckdiving #underwater #scubadiving
Pretty sure this is what the inside of my chest looks like at this point. Another 1.5 days left of diving at @murexresorts 👍 #lungs
Interesting to see this young #flatfish, likely a #sole, swimming through the nighttime blackness yesterday. Shot on #scuba, while drifting over the deep abyss, ~a mile offshore, off Bangka, Indonesia. #solefish #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #murexbangka #gug
I’ve come to Bangka, Indonesia at @murexresorts specifically to shoot in my favorite style - sweeping coral reef scenes, bursting with life. Sadly, these complex scenes are much better viewed 5m wide, than on a tiny phone screen - here each of the thousand+ fish is reduced to a pixel or two☹️