The story of a photo spread

Last fall, our goosefish wowed us once again with a stunning egg veil. So educator Jo Blasi grabbed her camera and snapped a few beautiful images. Those pictures made it up on the blog right away—we couldn't keep all that beauty for ourselves! National Geographic magazine saw those photos and expressed an interest in getting their own photographs of the egg veil while it was in the exhibit.

The egg veil oozes about the exhibit | Photo: Webb Chappell

Enter: talented local photographer Webb Chappell. Here's his account of the photo shoot as it appeared on his Tumblr page:

last minute call from National Geographic in late September to shoot the fleeting egg veil of a monkfish at the New England Aquarium… tripod strapped to my bike, I road to the harbor along the Charles… beautiful day, nice to pay a visit to the place that brought me to Boston back when (once upon a time Webb was a diver in the Giant Ocean Tank)  

Fast forward to today and you'll find our lovely goosefish (a.k.a. monkfish) gracing the pages of the April issue of National Geographic!  We're thrilled to be able to share the beauty of this natural phenomenon with the readers of National Geographic.

Meta: Webb Chappell photo of his National Geographic photo

For more about the goosefish and her egg veil, check out these posts:

• Aquarist Bill Murphy had his video camera to catch the goosefish laying the egg veil last May!
• This post explains that the egg veils are usually the same size, even if several are laid in one year.
• This video captures the grace and etherial beauty of the egg veil in the exhibit.
• See a close-up picture of the goosefish.
• Find a picture of the egg veil from above.

And here are a couple posts about the goosefish and other residents of the Northern Waters Gallery:

• Watch video of the goosefish herself snatching up a snack—in super slow motion!
• Our current octopus has some eggs of her own that's she's keeping watch over. Learn about octopus egg laying in this post.
• Did you know that an octopus enjoys playtime?
• Look beyond the dinner plate. Get to know New England's favorite crustacean—the lobster!
• Meet some of the lesser-known sharks and rays at the Aquarium.

Webb Chappell also helped photograph the Giant Ocean Tank's return to splendor after last year's renovations. Look for some of those pictures here and here.