So Many Fish!

We were out diving this week to collect sponge samples to send to The Netherlands for identification. It is possible by land to arrive near the Traffic Jam dive site. We borrowed a 2-meter long fishing canoe to travel only a few hundred meters around the point. Sea conditions are quite bad this time of year. Although we went in early in the morning before the winds started, the sea already had a heavy chop.

But below the surface, wow! This site is known for its sheer abundance of fish and it certainly lived up to its reputation. Schools of fish swirled around me. A large school of mature Bluefin Trevally (Caranx melampygus) flashed silver below. In the 30-meter visibility, I had just spotted a single juvenile Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) in the distance when a school of Yellow-and-blueback fusiliers (Caesio teres) enveloped me. Countless Redtooth triggers (Odonus niger) plunged down the wall.

Schooling pyramid butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys polylepis) fluttered like banners in the current. A Blue-spotted puffer (Arothron caeruleopunctactus) nearly one-meter long waited cautiously on a sand ledge for me to pass. During the dive I found two Giant moray eels (Gymnothorax janvanicus) and a species of commensal anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) that I had never before seen, clearly a female from the number of parallel spots on her abdomen. I can?t wait for dive season to begin in November.

When are you coming here to dive?