This is an intriguing illustration by a PhD student named Brian Choo. I noticed it first in John Long's book The Rise of Fishes, Second Edition, which was just released this month by The Johns Hopkins Press. The book is richly illustrated (hooray!) with varying degrees of success. I believe that many of the illustrations are done by the author himself. These vary considerably in consistency and attention to detail (I'm talking stray marks and fuzzy edges), but I'm in no mood to fault him because he clearly put a lot of work into it and produced a lively book on every page. The scientist who pays such attention to the visual aspect of his work is a friend of mine.
In addition to Long's work, there are several signed pieces by Brian Choo, who appears to be a Ph.D. student at the Australian National University's Research School of Earth Sciences. His work varies in consistency as well, but on the whole his pieces look more finished than Long's. I hope he pursues art alongside his science career because his images have promise. I would be curious to know whether he drew this fish digitally on top of an altered photograph of a sandy bottom with a rocky ledge behind. That is what it looks like to me, which means that he probably could have pushed the illustration a little more to disguise this fact better. But the fish is well rendered. Quite lovely, I think. I hope we see more of his work in the future!
image source: Brian Choo in "The oldest mother" by Long et. al, ANU - Research School of Earth Sciences - ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences