Comet ( Fish) – Facts and Photographs
The Comet (Calloplesiops altivelis) is also known as the Marine Betta because of their similarity to the Siamese Fighter. They are stunning looking fishes that are rarely seen in the open during the day in ...
Red Snapper- Facts and Photographs
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 – Facts and Photographs
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 – Facts and Photographs
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...
Regal Blue Tang-Facts and Photographs
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 ...
Dragon Moray Eel-Facts and Photographs
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-Facts and Photographs
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 – Facts and Photographs
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...
Barred Cardinalfish-Facts and Photographs
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...
Pemba Chromis – Facts and Photographs
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 ...
Silver Pearlfish- Facts and Photographs
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...
Bigeye Snapper- Facts and Photographs
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...
Sleek Unicornfish -Facts and Photographs
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...
Cigar Wrasse- Facts and Photographs
The Cigar wrasse (Cheilio inermis) is also known as the Sharp-nosed Rainbowfish, Pêche madame, Julia Larguirucha and Kamasubera. They are not a common wrasse on Tanzanian reefs but neither are they uncommon...
Rainbow Runner – Facts and Photographs
The Rainbow Runner (Elagatis bipinnulata), also known as the Prodigal Son, Spanish jack and Hawaiian salmon. It is a member of the horse mackrel or jack family. They are fairly common on the Tanzanian coast...
Unusual Moray Eel
While diving on Octopus Reef off Dar es Salaam, Tanzania I noticed a strange looking Moray Eel with its head protruding from a hole. It seemed unlike any other Moray Eel that I had seen before.
A clo...
Palefin Unicornfish -Facts and Photographs
The Palefin Unicornfish (Naso brevirostris) is also known as the Shortnose Unicornfish, and the Spotted Unicornfish. They are the most common Unicornfish in Tanzania.
Fishes within the Acanthuridae fami...
Yelloweye Sweeper-Facts and Photographs
The Yelloweye Sweeper (Pempheris flavicycla) has two subspecies. One is Pempheris flavicycla flavicycla which is found across the Indian Ocean from East Africa to Sri Lanka but not in the Red Sea. The oth...
Yellowback Tubelip Wrasse- Facts and Photographs
The Yellowback Tubelip wrasse (Labropsis xanthonota) is also known as the Wedge-tailed wrasse, Blacklobe wrasse and V-tail wrasse. They are fairly rare on Tanzanian Reefs and tend to favor shallower areas o...
Shadowfin Soldierfish – Facts and Photographs
The Shadowfin Soldierfish (Myripristis adusta) is also known as the Blackfin Soldierfish, Blue Squirrelfish, Bronze Soldierfish and One-spot Squirrelfish.
Soldierfish are in the family Holocentridae and ...
Granite Moray Eel – Facts and Photographs
The Granite Moray Eel (Uropterygius sp.) appears to be an undescribed Moray Eel found on the Tanzanian mainland coast which is probably in the Uropterygius genus. To date no one has been able to identify ...
Eyebar Goby – Facts and Photographs
The Eyebar Goby (Gnatholepis cauerensis) is also known as the Shoulderspot Goby, the Bridled Goby and the Cauer Eye-bar Goby. There is some disagreement as to the validity of this species and how they shoul...
Lunar Fusilier- Facts and Photographs
The Lunar Fusilier (Caesio lunaris) is also known as the Blue Fusilier and the Moon Fusilier. They are not as common as the other Fusiliers on the East African coast and we have not seen them swimming with ...
Indian Ocean Blue-Spotted Stingray-Facts and Photographs
The Indian Ocean Blue-spotted Stingray ( Neotrygon indica sp. nov) is also known as the Indian Ocean Bluespotted Maskray. They are common inhabitants of the reefs on the Tanzanian coast but are extremely sk...
Gorgeous Shrimp Goby – Facts and Photographs
The Gorgeous Shrimp Goby (Amblyeleotris wheeleri) is also known as the Gorgeous Prawn-goby, the Barred Shrimp goby, the Burgundy Shrimp goby and Wheeler's Shrimp-goby. They are fairly common on the Tanzania...
Graceful Lizardfish- Facts and Photographs
The Graceful Lizardfish (Saurida gracilis) also called the Blotchy Lizardfish. Close up they are easily distinguished from other Lizardfish by the shape of the mouth and the protruding teeth as seen in the ...
Sand Lizardfish- Facts and Photographs
The Sand lizardfish (Synodus dermatogenys) is also known as the Clearfin Lizzardfish and the Banded Lizzardfish. They are often confused with the Variegated Lizardfish (Synodus variegatus) but are notably d...