You know - when you get something stuck in your teeth, it is so easy to just grab a toothpick and take care of that. But what about when you're 40ft underwater? And what about if you're an eel, and you have no arms?

Well, there's a solution for that too...

Just make a visit to your friendly neighborhood cleaning station. This particular one is operated by a Pederson's Cleaner Shrimp (Periclimenes pedersoni).

This Spotted Moray Eel (Gymnothorax moringa) apparently needed to have something removed from those large fangs, and didn't mind posing for me while doing so.

Mouseover the image for a cropped version showing the Pederson's Shrimp at work.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/120th sec at f/16. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. Ikelite Housing and Port with Ikelite 161 Strobe in TTL Mode. Raw conversion in Photoshop CS5.

I have plenty more shots of eels and shrimp separately, but capturing this kind of reef behavior is always a special treat.

- Bill