So You Think You Can Fly
How agonising. Does it feel familiar? You re on holidays and you ve just been told a rare species of marine life is roaming an isolated dive spot. And guess what? You never had an encounter before. It s on your bucket list. And have another guess. Today s your final day of an exciting diving trip and you want to top it off. And you re flying tomorrow... The thought it makes you sick by figure of speech. Diving and flying are not a happy combination unless you take your precautionary and effectiv...
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Emperorfish
Emperorfish Family The medium-sized emperor from the Lethrinidae dynasty is your typical middle-of-the road Red Sea fish. Their robust bodies are equipped with oversized scales and a high-set ocular system. Some species can rapidly change their colour. There are eleven species of the Lethrinidae dynasty in the Red Sea. The medium-sized Red Sea emperorfish has prominent lips as if it has been permanently swimming against forceful currents... The emperor is not territorial and is a friend of a fri...
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Anemonefish/Clownfish
Anemonefish/Clownfish Family Like the sergeantfish the puller aka as chromis and the damselfish the anemonefish species is a member of the family of the Pomacentridae. This family is well-represented in the subtropical waters of the Red Sea and boasts ten species that are endemic to the Red Sea. The intriguing anemonefish or clownfish or Nemo for cinema enthusiasts and Walt Disney addicts is your Red Sea poster reef fish and deserves special praise. The adorable Red Sea anemonefish lives in harm...
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The Sweeping Glassfish
Sweepers/Glassfish Family It s extremely unlikely not to cross path with the glassfish and the sweepers from the Pempheridae family in the Red Sea. They are what you call household names. The sweeper has a compressed body tapering and relatively large eyes. It enables them to detect miniscule planktonic invertebrates and smaller fish during the night. Their frequent visits to crevices and reef caves are like an open invitation for their predators. During the day they socialize in large congregat...
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The Snapper Fish And Its Fearsome Teeth
Snapper Family The snapper from the Lutjanidae family has a robust and scaled body. Their firm dentition sharp and very effective is feared by crustaceans fish and zooplankton. The snapper label alludes to their dental phenomenon. During the day the Lutjanidaes operate in pretty large numbers hovering over coral reefs or exploring estuaries and off-shore coastal waters. The numbers dissolve during the night announcing a feeding mission focused on benthic invertebrates. All family members are car...
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The Ballooning Porcupinefish
Porcupinefish Family The porcupinefish or burrfish belongs to the family of the Diodontidae. They are part of an order called Tetraodontiformes. The porcupinefish is related to the boxfish and the pufferfish. By the way the Greek word Tetraodontiformes alludes to the dentition comprising four teeth. The teeth of the pufferfish the boxfish and the porcupinefish are fused forming a lethal scalpel enabling them to crush the shells of molluscs and crustaceans. In contrast to the members of the Tetra...
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From Zero to Hero
You see people preparing very relaxed for a dive with the easiest of routine as if they brush their teeth. You on the other hand are struggling with your gear and you feel nervous. You feel like you have already consumed oxygen from your cylinder and you haven t touched the water yet. You may be a nervous diver and you could do with more confidence to really enjoy your dive. Now what could be helpful to join the ranks of relaxed and stress free divers? Planning your dive Let s kick in an open do...
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Parrotfish
Parrotfish Family The parrotfish belongs to the Scaridae family. They do resemble wrasses but for their fused dentition resulting in beak-like plates the parrots on land are renowned for. It enables them to scrape and rasp and break and crush filamentous algae herbivorous as they are from dead coral rock. Some parrotfish also gorge on particles from the surface of coarse sand and feast upon living corals seagrass and leafy algae. Odd sounds produced with their teeth are characteristic in the und...
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Dolphins In The Red Sea Are Your Best Friends!
Dolphins in the Red Sea are acrobatic and funny to watch! When you re lucky you can even hear them communicate with each other underwater. You can hear the dolphins in the Red Sea vocally communicating with each other. They do this by producing a high-pitched clicking sounds and whistles. The Red Sea has something unique in store for you. You have a truly unique chance to observe spinner dolphins and swim and dance with these graceful and intelligent friends in their natural habitat. Snorkeling ...
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Red Sea Fish Families Introduction
Introduction... Part I.. The Red Sea Al Bahr Achmar as it is called in local lingo is an aquatic corridor as part of the Arabian Sea which in turn is a branch of the Indian Ocean. It runs between the Suez Canal in the north to the Gate of Lamantations or Gate of Tears (Bab-el-Mandeb) in the south before entering the Gulf of Aden. The Red Sea slowly came to existence as an appendix coinciding with the separation of the Arabian and African tectonic plates starting about 40 000 000 years ago. By th...
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