Sodwana Bay, Antons Reef.

After many years of diving all over the world, I still regard Rocktail Bay and Sodwana Bay as one of the best dive spots in the world.

I took some macro shots  at Antons Reef in Sodwana Bay, which is part of the Isimangaliso National Park. A world heritage site.

I was taking my new wet macro video lens out on a test dive. So, all the footage was not that great, but, next time will be better.

Glossodoris hikuerensis is a relatively large nudibranch and can reach at least 100 mm in length. Has a pale-brown body which is covered by speckled white dots.

DSC05377

Glossodoris hikuerensis nudibranch

Neopetrolisthes maculatus is a species of porcelain crab. It is a small, colourful crustacean with a porcelain-like shell. This porcelain crab is usually found within the stinging tentacles of a number of sea anemone species.

DSC05382

Anemone Porcelain Crab. (Neopetrolisthes maculatus)

Thor amboinensis, commonly known as the squat shrimp or sexy shrimp. It lives symbiotically on corals, sea anemones a small shrimp growing to a length of about 13 millimeters. It’s extremely small and difficult to photograph.

DSC05398

Squat shrimp / Sexy shrimp. (Thor amboinensis)

Porcupinefish (Diodon nicthemerus) commonly called blowfish (and, sometimes,balloonfish and globefish). They are sometimes collectively called pufferfish. Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin. Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish and the dish prepared from it.Some consider the liver the tastiest part but it is also the most poisonous, and serving this organ in restaurants was banned in Japan in 1984. Fugu has become one of the most celebrated and notorious dishes in Japanese cuisine.Fugu contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in its organs, especially the liver, the ovaries, and the eyes whereas skin is usually non-poisonous.

DSC05406

Porcupine fish. (Diodon nicthemerus)

Nudibranch Chromodoris magnifica can reach a maximum size of 5 cm length. It is so named because of this nudibranch’s striking, vibrant orange and blue colours.

DSC05411

Chromadoris magnifica nudibranch

Bryaninops yongei, the wire-coral goby or whip coral goby has a semi-transparent head and body The fish is approximately 3 to 3.5 centimeters long usually live in pairs in association with the wire coralspecies Cirrhipathes anguina (Antipathidae) at depths of between 3 to 45 metres (9.8 to 147.6 ft). These pairs are usually male-female pairs. They move extremely fast and because of their transparency, they are extremely difficult to photograph.

DSC05422

Wire goby or whip-coral goby (Bryaninops yongei)

Spirobranchus giganteus, commonly known as Christmas tree worms. The multicolored spirals are highly derived structures for feeding and respiration.

DSC05438

Christmas tree worms. (Spirobranchus giganteus)

Scorpaena scrofa, common name the red scorpionfish, Bigscale scorpionfish, or large-scaled scorpion fish can achieve a maximum weight of approximately 3 kilograms. It can grow to a maximum length of 50 centimeters, but is commonly around 30 cm.

DSC05448

Red Scorpion fish. (Scorpaena scrofa)

It has 12 dorsal spines, 9 dorsal soft rays, 3 anal spines, and 5 soft rays. It is predatory, feeding on other fish, as well as crustaceans and mollusks.

Scorpionfish are coveted by most Europeans as a precious, even essential, ingredient to traditional bouillabaisse. It is for this dish that they are generally most sought. Their poisonous spines can be removed by cutting them off with kitchen shears, although whole cooking effectively denatures their venom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share

Sodwana Bay

We have just arrived back from a few days of great diving at Sodwana.

Sodwana Bay forms part of the iSimangaliso wetland park, which is a world heritage site. The diving here is great. It is probably one of the best scuba diving areas in the world. There is an abundance of large schools of fish, soft and hard coral. The potato bass are extremely friendly, inquisitive and tame.

This time we were surrounded by many humpback whales on every dive. They were everywhere in the water. Water temperature was between 22.5 and 23 degrees C. The water should start heating up now that it is the end of winter.

I managed to spend some time with a very friendly octopus on one of the dives and managed to get some great video footage. DSC02016

DSC01987

DSC01820

Esmé also managed to get some great still shots of just about everything.

Share
Visit Us On TwitterVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On Youtube