Fish at Rangiroa "14:57.96S 147:38.38W"
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Wed 4 Jul 2012 06:17
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We have moved about 150nm northwest to another
atoll - Rangiroa, allegedly the second biggest atoll in the world. It certainly
is big - about 40 x 20nm. We're diving again; Ali and I are now graded as
Advanced Divers by PADI (the Professional Association of Dive Instructors, the
world's largest diving qualification agency), and are also trained to use EANx -
Enriched Air Nitrox. This is a gas with more oxygen than normal air which
enables us to stay at depth for longer with reduced risk of decompression
sickness (which is a good thing!).
And i've been trying to take pictures. Here are a
few of the best fish photos that I've managed so far:
These are Paddletail Snappers Lutjanus
gibbus about 30-40cm. They are present here in large shoals numbering
hundreds.
 This is a Threadfin Butterflyfish, Chaetodon
auriga.These colourful butterfly fish (there are loads of different species
each different in marking - sometimes only very slightly so. They are perhaps
characteristic reef fish, constantly moving around as splodges of bright
colour.
 This shoal below is mainly of Scissortail
Sergeant-Majors Abudefduf sexfasciatus. I have no idea how it got such
a strange generic name - the ID book I'm using is in French so my vocabulary is
struggling, but you can clearly see why in English they're
scissortails.
 These little black and white jobs are young
Whitetail Damselfish Dascyllus aruanus. They are small (3cm max) and
timid. They frequent this particular species of spiky coral, hiding amongst the
spines when frightened (these are hard corals, so are effectively
stone).
 The pretty little fish on the left below is a Black
Saddled Toby Canthigaster valentini. To me they look unbelievably
comic
 This shoal below is of Blue Green Chromis
Chromis viridis. They are about 5-7cm, and school amongst the corals in
large numbers in shallow water.
 I think the shoal of black fish below are a type of
damselfish but I can't work them out; I've put them in because I think the photo
gives a good idea of the scenery. remember again that the coral 'bush' in the
centre is actually made of limestone.
 And lastly, a Forceps Fish Forcipiger
flavissimus. These grow to about 20-25cm, and use their long beak to
reach down into crevices in spiky coral to grab food. You can just see its
little jaws at the end of its beak in the photo.
 There are thousands and thousands and thousands of
fish here of literally hundreds of species, most of them too deep for me to
photograph.
Anyway, we've had enough here, so tomorrow we're
off to Tashiti 200nm away. Should take us 36 hours if we get the
wind.
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