Obviously the photo above is not from my trip through the Seychelles – it is actually a clip from the theatrical animated movie “Finding Nemo.” In the movie, Nemo, a young clownfish and his ocean friends come upon the “drop-off.” It is the edge of a coral reef off of Australia, where the safe, shallow ocean floor suddenly becomes a chasm, plunging into the dark deep and dangerous open ocean. I have to say I had a similar stunned reaction while snorkeling around the Astove Atoll.
Some background:
- Astove Atoll is part of the Seychelles’ Aldabra Group,
- The Western side of the atoll is a steep, vertical wall, with a drop-off from 3 feet to over 1640 feet.
- This vertical wall has colorful coral, caves and overhangs, attracting a wide selection of marine life such as turtles, schools of colorful fish, barracuda, sharks and rays
This area is considered one of the best diving sites in the world, but even as a lowly snorkeler I was able to enjoy its overwhelming marine abundance. However, I honestly have to admit, like Nemo and his friends, I found the deepness of the dropoff quite intimidating, so I approached it slowly, trying to keep to the very edge of the wall and not swim out totally over the abyss. The currents made this desire a bit difficult to manage. I knew in my head that even if I ventured totally over and into the deeper ocean I wouldn’t suddenly sink to the bottom, but emotionally it was a bit frightening. Nevertheless I pushed through my comfort zone.
Seeing schools of tiny fish swimming up to me did help to divert my anxiety:
Then a larger fish starting weaving its way up and it was a marvel:
Fittingly this is called a unicorn/fish:
- The adult unicornfish can grow up to 39 inches in length
- The long protuberance on the skull is found on adults only – the juveniles have a small bump that lengthens as the fish matures
- Both males and females have this horn – the male horn is usually more prominent
- Horn is used for defense, and as a lure to attract mates
- The unicornfish play a critical role in the health of the coral, as it eats the brown algae/plankton that can smother coral reefs if left to grow
Sadly he swam away quickly before I could get another shot. These may have been why:
We had been apprised of the fact that the wall attracts many shark species during our pre-snorkel briefing, including hammerheads, grey reefs, white tips, lemon and tiger sharks – think these may have been grey reefs. There were swimming away from the edge (and me) but my heart was pounding.
N.B. We are always accompanied by our experienced guides to ensure our safety.
My last major sighting of the day was an “old friend” – I had made the species’ acquaintance in the Galapagos and instantly fell in love with its unique graceful beauty:
This is a spotted eagle ray. Their heads look very much like an eagle or duck with a long snout, and the slow up and down movement of their pectoral fins strongly resembles wings in flight. Like other rays they also have long tails that often contain venomous spikes. They are the second largest ray species (mantas are larger) reaching up to 11 feet in width and up 507 lbs in weight.
Sone other eagle ray tidbits:
- Each ray has a unique, fingerprint-like pattern of spots.
- Unlike stingrays, they are active swimmers and spend little time on the ocean floor
- They give birth to live, fully formed young
- Eagle rays have flat plate like teeth that they use to crush mollusks and crustaceans and they dig with their snouts in the sand
This is his cousin that I met in the Galapagos:
I am so very humbled to have been able to see these amazing creatures up close in their natural habitat.
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