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Underwater city on low tide

Underwater City off Mafia Island, Tanzania

Seaunseen
18
5936
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
419
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
910
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
66
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
114
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...
Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar) is also known as the Twinspot Snapper, the Two-spot Red snapper and the Bohar Snapper

Red Snapper- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
1
The Red Snapper  (Lutjanus bohar) is also known as the Twinspot Snapper, the Two-spot Red snapper, the Red Bass and the Bohar Snapper. They are common inhabitants of rubble areas and reef tops in Tanzania b...
Snubnose Grouper (Epinephelus macrospilos) is also known as the Large-spotted Rockcod, Bigspot Rockcod and Longfin Grouper

Snubnose Grouper – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
6
The Snubnose Grouper (Epinephelus macrospilos) is also known as the Large-spotted Rockcod, Bigspot Rockcod and Longfin Grouper.. They are one of the eight species of reticulated groupers that live on coral ...
Honeycomb grouper Epinephelus merra

Honeycomb Grouper – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
6
The Honeycomb grouper Epinephelus merra is also known as the Dwarf-spotted Grouper, the Honeycomb Rock Cod and the Wire-netted Rock Cod. They are one of the eight species of reticulated groupers that live o...
Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)

Regal Blue Tang-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
16
The Regal Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) is also known as the  Blue Tang, the Palette Surgeonfish, the Hepatus Tang  and of course more famously as Dory from the Pixar movies "Finding Nemo" and "Finding ...
Bobtail squid also known as Pigmy Squid

Bobtail Squid- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
28
Bobtail squid are also known as Dumpling Squid. They are exceptionally cute looking little cephalopods and are fascinating to watch.  They are in the order Sepiolida and are closely related to cuttlefish al...
Olive Purse Crab, Leucosia pubescens

Olive Purse Crab- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
6
The Olive Purse Crab, Leucosia pubescens does not seem to be common in Tanzanian waters and indeed does not seem to be recorded here. Hopefully the identification is correct. They are decapod crustaceans...
Sundial shell (Architectonica perspectiva)

Sundial Shell-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
24
The Sundial shell (Architectonica perspectiva) is  also known as the Perspective Sundial shell and the Clear Sundial shell.  They are marine snails in the super family Architectonicoidea and were first desc...
Dragon Moray Eel, Enchelycore pardalis is also known as the Dragon Moray Eel

Dragon Moray Eel-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
66
The Dragon Moray Eel, Enchelycore pardalis is also known as the Dragon Eel and the Leopard Moray Eel.  The reference to Leopard comes from their scientific name, with paradalis meaning leopard. They are ver...
Gelatinous cardinalfish (Pseudamia gelatinosa)

Gelatinous cardinalfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
11
The Gelatinous cardinalfish (Pseudamia gelatinosa) is rare in Tanzanian waters and is remarkably cryptic, hiding at the first sign of light. In several years of diving we have seen very few specimens and have m...
Blue-spotted Toby (Canthigaster cyanospilota)

Blue-spotted Toby – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
20
The Blue-spotted Toby (Canthigaster cyanospilota) is also known as the Blue-spotted Pufferfish.  They were previously known as Canthigaster Coronata but in a study done by Randall, J. E.; Williams, J. T.; Rocha...
Bubble Tip Anemone (entacmaea quadricolor)

Bubble-tip Anemone – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
67
The Bubble-tip anemone (entacmaea quadricolor) is also known as the BTA in the aquarium trade. They are one of the more attractive looking anemones although their colors can vary from drab to brightly color...
Swimming Anemone (Boloceroides mcmurrichi)

Swimming Anemone – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
22
The Swimming Anemone, Boloceroides mcmurrichi is fairly common in the shallows in Tanzanian waters. As can be seen in the images they obtain their name from their ability to swim.  The anemones swimming in ...
Barred Cardinalfish Fowleria marmorata

Barred Cardinalfish-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
9
The Barred Cardinalfish (Fowleria marmorata) is not common in Tanzanian waters and in several years of diving we have seen very few specimens. APPEARANCE The body shape is similar to other Cardinalfish, w...
Squat Shrimp (Thor amboinensis) is also known as the Sexy Shrimp

The Squat Shrimp-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
36
The Squat Shrimp (Thor amboinensis) is also known as the Sexy Shrimp. They are small colorful shrimp that form a comensual relationship with various species of anemone. They have a habit of holding their ab...
Pemba chromis (Chromis pembae)

Pemba Chromis – Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
8
The Pemba chromis (Chromis pembae) is not a common fish on the Tanzanian coast and we have only seen them in three areas. They were only described by Allen in 2010, perhaps because they are generally found ...
Unicorn Shrimp in the genus Plesionika

Unicorn Shrimp- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
2
79
The Unicorn Shrimp (Genus Plesionika) are also known as the Narwhal Shrimp.  They obtain their name from the proportionally very long rostrum spine  extending out quite far from the carapace. The rostrum ha...
silver pearlfish, Encheliophis homei

Silver Pearlfish- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
47
The Silver Pearlfish (Encheliophis homei) is a very unusual fish with an out the ordinary lifestyle. They are not commonly seen, perhaps for several reasons. The specimens below were photographed on night d...
The Bigeye Snapper, Lutjanus lutjanus is also kmown as the Bigeye Seaperch, the Golden Striped Snapper, the Red Sea Lined Snapper,and the Yellow Snapper

Bigeye Snapper- Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
32
The The Bigeye Snapper, Lutjanus lutjanus is also kmown as the Bigeye Seaperch, the Golden Striped Snapper, the Red Sea Lined Snapper,and the Yellow Snapper. They are not that common on the Tanzanian mainland c...
Sand Mason Worm ( In the Genus Lanice)

Sand Mason Worms-Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
41
Sand Mason Worms ( In the Genus Lanice)  are not common inhabitants on the reefs in Tanzania, but if one keeps ones eyes open when diving, one can often pick them out in soft sand between corals and rocks. They...
Sleek unicornfish (Naso hexacanthus) is also known as the Blacktongue unicornfish

Sleek Unicornfish -Facts and Photographs

Alan Sutton
10
The Sleek unicornfish (Naso hexacanthus) is also known as the Blacktongue unicornfish. In terms of numbers they are probably the most numerous Unicornfish in Tanzanian waters. Fishes within the Acanthuri...