Tropical Fish

My hotel has a fish reference book available to guests: Reef Fishes of the World by Ewald Lieske and Robert Myers. This book is handy because I can flip through it after snorkelling excursions and see which fish I encountered while snorkelling. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact fish because there are so many colourful species that are similar; it’s tropical fish heaven here and as we swam out further the water got colder and the fish got brighter.

So far, here are the two fish I have been able to identify:

• Foxface Rabbitfish. Lagoon fish found from the Philippines to Taiwan.
• Parrotfish. Quite common and usually travel in Harems in protected coral slopes of 1m – 60m. The males of the parrotfish are the ones that are so colourful.

Today’s snorkelling adventure was at the Adam and Eve Beach. It’s a small trail walk through the woods and isn’t quite as picturesque as the Turtle Beach, but it is still nice. We swam around until we saw two massive fish come into the lagoon. All the other fish swam away as if scared. An entire school of little fish skimmed across the surface which was kind of freaky to see, like they were trying to get away by getting out of the water.

At this point two snorkelers came into the lagoon and the two big fish went right for them. We initially thought they were sharks but in the end they were two very large clown fishes. They had humps on their back and you could hear them munching on the coral underwater as they worked their way through the lagoon in search of food.

At sunset I sat on Turtle Beach; there are sharks and manta rays in this lagoon and they come close to the shore between 4 and 5 o’clock to feed on the smaller fish. This is when we should be avoiding the water.

Turtle Beach is really nice; it’s so peaceful. I can hear crickets in the background and the gentle sound of the waves in the foreground. The sun sets nicely and there always seems to be a soft breeze. Every once in a while a gigantic lizard will come crashing through the trees or a hermit crab will scurry by and disrupt the peace. The lizards come to the beach in search of turtle eggs; especially when there is a full moon, when turtles come ashore.