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Underwater city on low tide

Underwater City off Mafia Island, Tanzania

Seaunseen
18
6627
PHOTOGRAPHY BY HANNAH JANE AND ALAN SUTTON While on a helicopter flight off the usual flight path to Mafia Island off the coast of Tanzania, the tide was low and I spotted an unusually shaped formation in t...
slemmestad-wreck
3.7Awesome

Slemmestad Shipwreck

Alan Sutton
2
426
On the 27th of March 1951 the Slemmestad, laden with 3,500 tons of general cargo, including bitumen, brandy, kerosene, lube oil, matches and bagged cement, whilst on a voyage from...
Free-Diving Walden Pond

Free-Diving at Walden Pond

Renee Blundon
1
960
Nothing is more fantastic than free-diving in the waters of my own beautiful homeland. Floating face down on the surface of Walden Pond, in the world I forcibly left behind, instructor, Nick Fazah, from Eas...

The Experience of Night Diving

Renee Blundon
68
Diving at night is a surreal, lunar-like experience. I'm surrounded in complete darkness at the bottom of the Indian ocean, with only a beam of light to expose what's hiding and lingering nearby. Fish life, cre...

Lionfish Make Love to the Camera

Renee Blundon
120
Lionfish are unquestionably one of the most photogenic fish in the sea, with an eccentric, gaudy profile, elaborate, vibrant stripes and a cantankerous, unhurried demeanor; they glide along reefs like an underw...
Spot Tail Dartfish, Ptereleotris heteroptera, is also known as the Blacktail Dartfish, Indigo Dartfish and Blacktail Goby.

Spot Tail Dartfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
The Spot Tail Dartfish, Ptereleotris heteroptera, is also known as the Blacktail Dartfish, Indigo Dartfish and Blacktail Goby. They are fairly shy fish and are not easy fish to photograph well. As their nam...
Whitemargin moray or the white-edged moray, Gymnothorax albimarginatus

Whitemargin Moray Eel-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
2
The Whitemargin moray (Gymnothorax albimarginatus) is also known as the White-edged moray. They are not common in Tanzanian waters and one occasionally sees them out at night hunting for prey usually on the...
Indian mimic goatfish (Mulloidychtys ayliffe)

Indian Mimic Goatfish- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
5
The Indian mimic goatfish (Mulloidychtys ayliffe) is also known as the Blue striped goatfish. They are not common in Tanzanian coastal waters  and are only occasionally seen. This probably as a result of ex...
Enigmatic moray eel (Gymnothorax enigmaticus) is also known as the Banded Moray Eel

Enigmatic Moray Eel-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
8
The Enigmatic moray eel (Gymnothorax enigmaticus) is also known as the Banded Moray Eel. They are not common in Tanzanian waters and one occasionally sees them out at night hunting for prey on the shallow o...
Ridged swimming crab (Charybdis natator) is also known as the wrinkled swimming crab or rock crab

Ridged Swimming Crab – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
3
The Ridged swimming crab (Charybdis natator) is also known as the wrinkled swimming crab or rock crab. Because of the ridges on their back they are relatively easy to identify. There are two subspecies, the...
Male Three-ribbon wrasse,(Stethojulis strigiventer) is also known as the Silverstreak wrasse, Silverbelly wrasse, Lined rainbowfish and Silver-streaked rainbowfish

Three-Ribbon Wrasse- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
12
The Three-ribbon wrasse (Stethojulis strigiventer) is also known as the Silverstreak wrasse, Silverbelly wrasse, Lined rainbowfish and Silver-streaked rainbowfish. They are fairly common inhabitants of t...
The Convex crab (Carpilius convexus)

Convex Reef Crab- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
22
The Convex reef crab (Carpilius convexus) is also known as the Round-back Coral Crab. They are fairly common at night in the waters off Dar es Salaam but are seldom seen out during the day. Large specimens ...
Kenyan chromis (Chromis nigroanalis)

Kenyan Chromis – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
11
The Kenyan chromis (Chromis nigroanalis) was described by Allen in 1998. They are not common on the Tanzanian coast but in certain areas there are fair numbers of them. APPEARANCE The body has an oval dis...
Terminal Phase male Steephead parrotfish (Chlorurus strongylocephalus) also known as the Roundhead Parrotfish

Steephead Parrotfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
28
The Steephead parrotfish (Chlorurus strongylocephalus) is also known as the Roundhead Parrotfish. Parrotfish obtain their name from their teeth which are fused into a beak. This species is part of a complex...
Cuttlefish using its arms as lures

Cuttlefish using its arms as lures

Alan Sutton
18
While on a shore dive across a sandy area on Mafia Island  diving with David from Mafia Island Diving, I spotted some movement on the sea floor on the edge of the visibility.  The visibility was low, around...
Many-banded Pipefish (Dunckerocampus multiannulatus)

Many-banded Pipefish – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
12
The Many-banded Pipefish (Dunckerocampus multiannulatus) is not commonly seen in Tanzanian waters, probably because they are mainly resident in small caves which are deep and they are fairly shy. They were ...
Fully mature Initial Phase Ember Parrotfish (Scarus rubroviolaceus)  is also known as the Redlip Parrotfish and Bicolor Parrotfish

Ember Parrotfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
17
The Ember Parrotfish (Scarus rubroviolaceus)  is also known as the Redlip Parrotfish and Bicolor Parrotfish. Parrotfish obtain their name from their teeth which are fused into a beak. Within the various ...
Blue-barred Parrotfish (Scarus ghobban) is also known as the Blue trim Parrotfish, Globe-headed Parrotfish, Green blotched Parrotfish and Bluechin parrotfish

Blue-barred Parrotfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
17
The Blue-barred Parrotfish (Scarus ghobban) is also known as the Blue trim Parrotfish, Globe-headed Parrotfish, Green blotched Parrotfish and Bluechin parrotfish. Parrotfish obtain their name from their tee...
Dusky Rabbitfish (Siganus luridus)is also known as the Squaretail Rabbitfish and the Dusky Spinefoot

Dusky Rabbitfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
16
The Dusky Rabbitfish (Siganus luridus)is also known as the Squaretail Rabbitfish and the Dusky Spinefoot . They were originally described by Rüppell in 1829.  The Siganus genus has had somewhat of a history...
Honeycomb Rabbitfish (Siganus stellatus) is also known as the Brown-spotted spinefoot

Honeycomb Rabbitfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
11
The Honeycomb Rabbitfish (Siganus stellatus) is also known as the Brown-spotted spinefoot. They were originally described by Peter Forsskål in 1775.  The genus has had somewhat of a history but the classifi...
Midas blenny (Ecsenius midas) is also known as the Golden Blenny, the Lyretail blenny and the Persian blenny

Midas Blenny – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
48
The Midas blenny (Ecsenius midas) is also known as the Golden Blenny, the Lyretail blenny and the Persian blenny. They are combtooth blennies that feed on plankton and are often seen swimming above the reef...
Initial phase Bluespotted wrasse (Anampses caeruleopunctatus)

Bluespotted Wrasse- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
13
The Bluespotted wrasse (Anampses caeruleopunctatus) is also known as the Bluespotted Tamarin, the Diamond Wrasse and the Bluefreckled Wrasse. The juveniles are known as leaf wrasse in many areas from their ...
Banded snake eel (Myrichthys colubrinus) is also known as the Ringed snake eel or Harlequin snake eel .

Banded Snake Eel – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
24
The Banded snake eel (Myrichthys colubrinus) is also known as the Ringed snake eel or Harlequin snake eel . They are not common in Tanzania and we have only seen one specimen in several years of diving. AP...
Tyler's toby (Canthigaster tyleri)

Tyler’s toby – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
14
The Tyler's toby (Canthigaster tyleri) is rarely seen in Tanzanian waters perhaps because it is found deeper than the other toby's. Fish in the Tetraodontidae family have the smallest genome of any verte...
Emperor shrimp (Periclimenes imperator)

Emperor Shrimp-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
73
The Emperor shrimp (Periclimenes imperator) is one of the more vividly colored shrimp around.  They form what are termed commensal relationships with various species of nudibranch and sea cucumbers (holothu...