It is always quite a surprise when encountering a Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans) when snorkelling on a sand flat or seagrass bed (their preferred habitat). They are often fairly hard to spot, usually pale and seemingly motionless as …
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You can be forgiven if you mistakenly think the White Encrusting Zoanthid (Palythoa caribbaeorum) is a type of coral, as it looks remarkably similar to large polyp species such as Great Star Coral (Montastraea cavernosa). As …
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Aside from a Reef Shark and maybe a Goliath Grouper, Tarpon are probably the biggest fish you are likely to see on a Caribbean Reef while diving. Saying that, I am reminded of visiting Fort Lauderdale a number of years …
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Oddly enough, sea cucumbers are close relatives of the sea urchins, belonging to same Phylum (Echinoderms), all members of which share some interesting features, including a hard internal skeleton composed of calcareous plates called ossicles, and five way …
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The Spinyhead Blenny (Acanthemblemaria spinosa) is so tiny and cryptic that most underwater visitors probably don’t see it spying on them as they swim past. They spend most of their time hiding in small worm holes bored into …
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One of the most ornate Caribbean gastropods, the Flamingo Tongue (Cyphoma gibbosum) is also one of the most vicious. It creeps around the reef environment, and consumes corals, favouring sea fans and sea rods. Slithering up its structure, …
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One of the most colourful Caribbean coral reef fish species, and always a pleasure to see when diving, the Queen Angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris) is unfortunately not as common as it once was in Anguilla, being a relatively easy target …
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The Hawksbill Turtle. as with all sea turtle species, is a truely amazing creature: It hatches from an egg deposited by its mother sixty days earlier on a beach someplace; instintively knows to head down to the water and swim …
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In an attempt to add some Christmas cheer to todays blog post, the featured image is of a Christmas Tree Worm (Spirobranchus giganteus) peering out from its burrow in a rock close to Pelican Point, Crocus Bay Anguilla. …
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