Reunion

I call this photograph “Reunion” because it reminds me of the moment the door opens at a big family gathering and relatives begin arriving from everywhere. Everyone is mixing and mingling, the kids are running around, and you’re meeting cousins or family members you may not have seen in years. That’s how this Nassau grouper spawning aggregation felt to me. Thousands of groupers had survived another year and returned to the same place with one shared purpose: to reproduce and help increase the population. I like to imagine that some of them may even recognize familiar fish they have gathered with during previous spawning seasons. One of my favorite details is the Yellowfin Grouper appearing in the bottom right corner. It reminds me of that family friend who comes to every reunion and is completely accepted, even though they aren’t technically related by blood. Out of all the images I captured during several days of diving within the aggregation, this one best shows what it truly felt like to be there. Fish were arriving from every direction, filling the reef from the bottom to the open water above, like an entire underwater family coming together again.