Scuba divers meet the most affectionate fish in the Galapagos Islands

Scuba divers travel from all over the world to explore the deep waters around the remote islands in the Galapagos. These adventurers have embarked on a long boat voyage to the waters around Darwin and Wolf Island. It is here that they hope to see one of the largest creatures in the world; the whale shark. Whale sharks are the largest fish in any ocean and they are second in size only to a few species of whales.
But, while waiting patiently for a whale shark to cruise past them on the ocean currents, these divers will see hammerheads, turtles, rays and many species of fish.

But an unexpected bonus on this dive was a large, and very affectionate fish that came over to see the divers close up. This leather bass began following the diver with the camera. It rubbed itself on his legs and fins like a lost puppy and then came up to his face, seemingly wanting to be petted. It spent a few moments with him and then went to the diver behind him for the same thing.

The leather bass peered curiously into the diver's eyes and then playfully grabbed at some of her bubbles. After being petted yet again, it went along to the third diver for a similar display of affection. This sort of behaviour is very unusual for a fish and the diver's were filled with surprise and wonder. Most scuba divers welcome an interaction like this with a wild animal as it does not happen often.

This leather bass was obviously curious and trusting and it seemed to be eager for an interaction itself. But leather bass are a unique fish and they are intelligent enough to understand the benefit of using larger animals to aid them in ambushing prey. They will often swim alongside a larger fish or even an eel in order to use it as cover, and to prey on the smaller fish that are distracted and disturbed by them. This fish didn't seem interested in hunting though and the close face to face contact was an interesting and wonderful experience for these underwater nature enthusiasts.