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Fish Tail, French Polynesia, 1997

Photo: Electric blue patterns decorate a fish tail

Even from its tail end, a Napoleon wrasse fish swimming through the waters of French Polynesia's Tuamotu Archipelago is instantly recognizable by the electric blue patterns coating its fins and scales. But these fish are distinctive from any end. Headfirst, they're known for their spiky teeth and plump, swollen lips that absorb the prickles of the bristly reef creatures on which they feed.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Black Pearls of French Polynesia," June 1997, National Geographic magazine)

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Photograph by David Doubilet