Tag Archives: Golden Hamlet

“OPHELIA READY FOR HAMLET”: BAHAMAS REEF FISH (27)

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Indigo Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @G B Scuba

“OPHELIA READY FOR HAMLET”: BAHAMAS REEF FISH (27)

It’s a couple of years since I originally posted about the various species of HAMLET that inhabit the reefs of the Bahamas. I feel you are (geddit?) ready to see some more of these colourful little fish. Last time out, I worked over the Shakespearean possibilities quite thoroughly so I’ll spare you a repeat (apart from the inevitable title pun). If you really want to revisit the famous Hamlet Cigar ad or hear the theme music (Bach’s Air on a G String, shamelessly ‘borrowed’ by Procol Harum for ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale), you’ll find them HERE. Or just move straight on to 5 related but very different looking Hamlets cruising the Bahamas coral reefs.

INDIGO HAMLETIndigo Hamlet ©Melinda Riger@ G B Scuba

BARRED HAMLETBarred Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ GB Scuba Barred Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama Scuba

BLACK HAMLETBlack Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ GB Scuba

SHY HAMLETShy Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ GB Scuba

BUTTER HAMLETButter Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama Scuba

Credits: all photos Melinda Riger of Grand Bahama Scuba

HAMLETS (NOT GLOOMY DANES): BAHAMAS REEF FISH (14)

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SHY HAMLET (Wiki) JPG

BAHAMAS REEF FISH (14): HAMLETS (NOT GLOOMY DANES)

“Oh, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and…” Ah! Sorry. I’m soliloquising again. Must be Thursday. And the merest mention of Hamlet is enough to set anyone off. But I speak not of noble yet gloomy Danes of Elsinore and of discernibly introspective aspect. These ones are pretty reef fish of the Caribbean seas, mainly in the Bahamas and along the Florida coast. There are a number of different types of hamlet, of which the 4 featured below in Melinda’s amazing underwater images were were encountered in one dive.

SHY (OR GOLDEN) HAMLETShy Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama ScubaShy Hamlet ©Melinda Riger GB Scuba

Hamlets have outstandingly interesting reproductive skills, being ‘synchronous hermaphrodites’. They have the unusual benefit of having both male and female sexual organs as adults, permitting imaginative combinations of pairings (though not including self-fertilization). When they find a mate, “the pair takes turns between which one acts as the male and which acts as the female through multiple matings, usually over the course of several nights”. I don’t dare check whether there are websites that cater for this sort of energetic coupling. The wonder is that Hamlets preferentially mate with individuals of their same colour pattern, and that they are not more wanton with their attentions and sexual flexibility.

INDIGO HAMLETIndigo Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama Scuba.jpg

BARRED HAMLETBarred Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama Scuba.jpg

BUTTER HAMLETButter Hamlet ©Melinda Riger @ Grand Bahama ScubaButter Hamlet ©Melinda Riger GB Scuba

OPTIONAL CULTURAL, HISTORICAL & MUSICAL DIVERSION INSPIRED BY HAMLET

The other notable Hamlet is, of course, the mild cigar equated in the famed commercials with happiness, accompanied by an excerpt from a jazzy version of Bach’s ‘Air on the G String’. Here is one of the best – and possibly the only advert to my knowledge to feature not one, but two excellent Sir Walter Raleigh jokes.

Bach’s well-known descending chord sequence of was of course shamelessly ripped off by ingeniously adapted by Procol Harum for ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, their first single in 1967. Relive the Summer of Love right here and now. Is this the music that might even put those versatile hamlets in the mood…

Any fret-tweakers might like to see the sheet music of the Air for guitar – you could even play it on air guitar – which is relatively easy, being in C major.Air on a G String - J S Bach - Guitar Tab JPGCredits: All fish pics Melinda Riger of Grand Bahama Scuba, except wiki-header; open-source online material; my mp3, dammit – I can’t get the wretched tune out of my mind…