Sodwana 2024
Giant Frogfish, Antennarius commerson
Terrific "causing terror, terrifying; terrible; frightful; stirring,awe-inspiring; sublime. "
If we go back to our linguistic roots, before americanisation and globalisation of the language (and I am very fond of linguistic roots as you all know!) there is a perfect word to describe this absolutely indescribable creature. So ugly that it is beautiful.
This is the largest of the frogfish growing up to 40 cm and this was one of the big ones. It clung to the side of the reef on 7 mile like a warty protrusion with its globulous extensible body and the colours of a flaming sunset.
That's Sodwana for you, full of superlatives and this year was no different. We found the weird and wonderful, the unknown and the familiar and they all delighted us. Let us take you on a whistle stop journey around Sodwana 2024!
My octopus teacher
My pissed off octopus teacher throwing sand at the lens. Still in education mode of course. Teach those cameramen a lesson!
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Hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata -
Clown triggerfish, Ballistoides conspicullum -
Shoaling yellow snappers -
Coral bommie -
2 bar anemonefish, Amphiprion allardi -
Common octopus, Octopus vulgaris -
Hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata -
Blue ribbon eels, Rhinomuraena quaesita -
Potato bass,Epinephelus tukula (plus homo sapiens!) -
Goldies around a plate coral. -
Shoaling lemonfish, Plectorhinchus chubbi. -
Green tree at 9 mile
Salps, Comb Jellies and Jellyfish
Despite looking a bit like jellyfish salps are a member of the tunicate family, also known as sea squirts, and are more closely related to vertebrates than jellyfish. They have a tough notochord in the centre which protects the central nerve cord and can be seen in the centre of the salps in this photo. They are barrel shaped marine animals that move through the water by contracting bands of muscle which ring the body or test. They feed on plankton and move by jet propulsion, drawing water into the test and out the rear. They grow so fast they can reach maturity in 48 hours and are the fastest growing multicellular animal on earth. As they move through the water column eating and excreting they spread nutrients.
Their life cycle is complex with both sexual and asexual phases of reproduction. The salp chains we see (this is a short chain in the picture of 3 individuals) are in the sexual phase of reproduction where they remain together eating and growing in size. Each will reproduce and produce an attached oozooid which will eventually be released as a solitary organism which then reproduces asexually. Some of the salp chains can reach many meters in length.
Salps are a major source of food for turtles and fish.
This is a new one for me, a tiny tunicate larva, like a bright yellow sperm, no more than a centimeter long.
Ctenophores or comb jellies are semitransparent gelatinous animals which are often ovoid or flattened. They move through the water by beating tiny hairs or cilia which run along the length of the animal. They resemble jelly fish but they do not sting. Many have 2 elongated threads or sticky tentacles which they use to capture food. Small fish and shrimp may shelter within them. A small shrimp can be seen in the top of this picture but whether he is food or a hitchhiker I am not sure!. They are, like salps, an important food stuff for fish and turtles.
Then of course there are true jellies, many sizes and shapes and often appearing as blooms in the surface of the water. While we were in Sodwana one day a huge bloom of these beautiful white jellies occurred. They covered the surface of the sea. They did not seem to have much of a sting and the little fish sheltered in their tentacles. For the next few days their chewed remains drifted across the reefs being polished off by a range of reef fish.
When the Easterly wind blows in Sodwana a less welcome jelly traveller arrives. We came up from one dive to a carpet of bluebottles. No time to take photos, scrambling to get out of there quick. Stingers draped over the cameras and equipment as we pass it to the boat. We had a few casualties but the pain is soon forgotten! By the way, FYI, peeing on the stings is not helpful!
Dancing with Dolphins
Dolphins have a super power. No one who swims with them is unaffected by the surge of raw emotion they generate. Somehow they connect on a primitive level which fills us with joy, peace and hope. If you could bottle it then you would be a billionaire but perhaps that's the point. Its not about monetary value, it's about soul and spirit.
The bottlenose dolphins of Sodwana bay are often up for a quick frolic, tolerating the snorkellers for a few precious minutes, playing and laughing at our clumsy efforts to follow them through the water, running rings around you and then they are gone.
Not your usual crabs
There are aways crabs aplenty in Sodwana but sometimes the weird and wonderful puts in an appearance, or at least the less common. Have a look at the cast of 2024.
Harlequin crab, Lissocarcinus orbicularis
This is not the first time we have found this guy in Sodwana but there was only one other time when he was resident for a while on 8 mile. Both times I found him in a tube anemone. This little guy was on Hotspot so it was deep and time was short. He is hard to see as he retreats inside the tube of the anemone if disturbed. He is also described as living with sea cucumbers and other anemones. He is monogamous so maybe he had a whole family hiding in there somewhere.
Sea spider, Nymphonidae sp
Sea spiders are arthropods but not true spiders or crabs. They breathe through diffusion and the gut extends into their legs. Circulation is driven by gut peristalsis.
We found this little chap on a red soft coral, and later another one on a small barrel sponge.
Porcelain crab, Neopetrolisthes maculates
This was a David Attenborough moment. I saw the porcelain crab in a small bubble tentacle, anemone, Entamaea quadricolor, on 9 mile. The crab was behaving strangely waving his claws at me and moving round and round the periphery of the anemone as if to chase me away. I followed him and shot him anyway but only after did I see the tiny crab on his head.
Usually porcelain crabs occur in pairs on an anemone and I think this is probably a large female and a tiny immature male. Males are generally smaller. I think the female was behaving strangely because she was protecting him. At first I thought it was a baby but crab babies are released from the anemone when they hatch and then develop in the open water before finding a host anemone and settling down. So it looks unlikely this is a baby, more a baby daddy.
Long legged spider crab, Macropodia rostrata
This almost invisible crab is a common long legged spider crab. It is a form of decorator crab and will cover itself in algae and weed which it uses for camouflage and emergency food.
Behaviour
Clearly this potato bass had bitten off more than he could chew. He had tried to swallow a black-blotched or shortspine porcupinefish, Diodon liturosus, and the fish inflated in his mouth becoming wedged inside. We saw him looking really distressed in the crevice at Snappers College on 6 mile. The bass swam into the crevice pretty sharpish so I only got off a couple of shots. He must swim like this until the puffer deflates. This can take hours to days so both of them are going to be pretty uncomfortable. If he does not deflate then the bass starves to death and if he does deflate he may get swallowed. Not a great choice.
Porcupine fish differ from the Puffer fish or Blaasops because they have spines. Both families are able to inflate their bodies with water or air when threatened and have strong beaks and feed on gastropods, urchins and crustaceans. The spines on the porcupinefish lie flat at rest but when they inflate they stand up like a prickly coat. They are not popular prey fish because of their defence mechanisms. It must be like trying to swallow a hedgehog. In the photo it looks like the spines have embedded in the mouth of the potato bass.
Porcupine fish are mainly active at night and hide in caves in the day. You often find them deep in the overhangs, large eyes gleaming.
Bluefin kingfish, Caranx melampygus, hunting on Bikini. There is always a fascinating interplay on the reef when the hunters fly in. Silent and deadly you see the fish retreat and hide a split second before the gang swoop. These king fish came in a big group and were hitting the reef fish around this coral bommie.
Fishy Business
Here are some of the stranger fish we found this visit. Many are described in the category of 'odd shaped bottom feeders" in fish ID books. Difficult to describe, categorise or explain, and all the more alluring for that.
We found a lot of frog fish this year. They were once found reliably on Hopscotch in the barrel sponges but disappeared for some years. Well 2024 they were back. Mainly the giant frogfish posing stoically as the cameras flashed. They don't swim well but will "walk" along the bottom if disturbed. This will however only get them so far. It seems likely they spend their lives mostly in a smallish area but then how come sometimes they just disappear? That may be more to do with our spotting skills than a mass migration but I guess they can occasionally catch a current. We lost the one on Hopscotch a couple of times but he always reappeared somewhere close by in another barrel sponge. It is not clear how long they live but up to 20 years has been postulated so if we don't lose him again he will be around to give good service for a while.
On 7 mile we found another even more beautiful specimen on the wall at the cave. He was only there a day and, despite determined searches, never seen again.
The Peacock flounder, Bothus mancus, is a fairly common resident, gliding along the sand like a hovercraft. The leopard flounder below, Bothus pantherinus, is a rarer sight, perhaps because, as you can see, the camo is pretty immaculate.
It's not just the frogfish that like to rest in a barrel sponge. It is a very sought after piece of reef real estate!
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Tasselled scorpionfish, Scorpaenopsis oxycephala -
Three-spot angelfish, Apolemichthys immaculatus -
Juvenile lyretailed hogfish, Bodianus anthioides -
Freckled hawkfish, Paracirrhites fosteri
Seamoth, Eurypegasus draconis.
Seamoths are difficult to spot but this year there were several pairs pretty much consistently on Bikini south. I assume it was breeding season. The male follows the female around and has a black curved snout. They are bottom dwelling and superbly camouflaged. Their bodies are encased in bony plates to protect against predation and they shed their armour every 5 days leaving a perfect cast. I looked and looked for this to no avail. It is probably swept away quickly and disintegrates.
Weedy scorpionfish, Rhinopias frondosa
2 weedy scorpionfish were on Mellow Yellow the full month we were there. Once you got used to their habits they were quite easy to find. They are always a delight with their bold colours and weird appearance. Mostly we found them nestled up against the redish weed you see in the left of the picture, on the lips of crevices or in shallow depressions.
Redsea flathead, Thysanophrys springeri
This was one of the finds of the trip. Our fearless eagle eyed leader Greg de Valle put his hand on the sand on Bikini south and this little fish swam from under him. He appears to be a juvenile Redsea flathead. As far as we can see never before described in South Africa, although we commonly see the Crocodile flathead.
First described in 2013 they have been described from the Red Sea, Djibouti, Eritrea and Tanzania. They seem to be mostly nocturnal and found on mixed rubble but this one was quite at home in sand. Indeed his disappearing act into the sand was pretty seamless and faster than an eye blink.
After showing this to ID guru Dennis King there is another possible differential ID here, the Longsnout flathead. Well the jury is out for now so watch this space.
Robust ghost pipefish, Solenostomus cyanopterus
Ghost pipe fish are popular subjects for my macro lens but unpredictable in their appearances. It seems when the seas are big and the tumbleweed of seagrasses drift across the reef they can suddenly appear en masse. One of our favourite dive guides Jamie Ayliffe counted 17 on one dive, and we saw up to 8 on Bikini and Stringer on some dives. Despite this abundance they disappear as quickly as they appear so make the most of them when you can.
Roughsnout ghost pipefish, Solenostomus paegnius
At first we thought this was the Ornate ghost pipefish but he does not look right so I have come up with this option. Our fish guru Dennis King thinks it possible it may be a juvenile male robust but this has not been described as yet.
Ghost pipefish are usually in pairs drifting together. We thought we had found a mixed race couple but who knows. Watch this space for updates.
This little pipe fish is still unidentified. It is rather unusual and we have not seen it in Sodwana before. It has a distinctive pattern of black diamonds down the back and rather a short nose so any help with the ID would be much appreciated.
Trumpetfish, Aulostomus chinensis
Trumpetfish are a bit of an obsession of mine. Getting that perfect head on shot with the eye and nose sort of in focus is hard. On 7 and 9 mile this time I found juveniles in a finger soft coral. They are impossible to shoot as they always drift away or hang head down. Still they are so aligned with their environment its a pleasure to watch and learn the gentle art of evasion.
Titon triggerfish, Balistoides viridescens
This fish always inspires a wary response from divers. When nesting the female becomes very aggressive and will chase you for a long way looking to cause serious damage with the impressive teeth. What can you expect from something that chews rocks for fun! Fortunately these guys were minus the raging hormones and cruised on by.
Black pyramid butterflyfish, Hemitaurichthys zoster
This was another first for me but apparently they can occur in big shoals.
Whipcoral goby, Bryaninops yongei
No underwater photo trip is complete without the whipcoral goby. Still trying to perfect the angle.
Another unnamed beauty. Identifying adults is hard enough but the juveniles….eish.
Shrimp cocktail
Hump back cleaner shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis busy cleaning a small yellow boxfish, Ostracion cubicum.
Starfish shrimp, Periclaminus soror on a bright red starfish.
Harlequin shrimps, Hymenoptera picta
These beautiful little shrimps are often found in pairs in Sodwana. These were at the cleaning station on Bikini but oddly when we started there were 2 big ones and then one day there were 2 tiny ones. Oh well, we loved them all. They are always in crevices protected by blacked cheeked morays so beware where you put your fingers. Voracious eaters of sea stars (they like the red ones) they soon clean the surrounding reef of their favourite prey.
Nudibranchs
There are always a plethora of nudis at Sodwana. Here are just a few from this year.
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Halgerda jennyae -
Tritoniopsis elegans -
Tritoniopsis elegans (juv) -
Flabellina sp -
Tenellia sibogae -
Phyllidia ocellata -
Bornella anguilla -
Pteraeolidia sp, Blue dragon aeolid -
Goniobranchus tinctorius
I found an interesting nudi behaviour on this trip. Several times I found nudis walking over the sand and they had a thin strand of mucous attaching them to the reef. I assume this is a defence mechanism to stop them being swept away. Some of the sand journeys were pretty far so the mucous strand was also long. This Blue dragon aeolid above was one. As the strand is see-through it is difficult to capture but this shows the end of the strand coming from its tail. Below is Hypselodorus nigrostriata. The mucous strand is covered in sand particles after it got waved around in the turbulence from my fins. Neat hey!
Sharks and Rays
Sodwana always has a large variety of rays and sharks and this year did not disappoint. The ragged toothed sharks were gestating again on Quarter mile reef but we were not allowed access. It did not matter as many of the big mamas had moved along to other reefs for a bit of peace and quiet. At 9 mile we found a few circling in a cave.
The ragged tooth or sand tiger shark are old friends of ours. Despite their fierce appearance they are a relatively placid animal. They inhabit the continental shelf of subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. They even lived in the Med but were last seen there in 2003 and are now considered extinct in the area.
Anyway, regardless of how the Europeans view these sharks, they are much loved on South Africa's east coast. They play out their life cycle around us.
They migrate approximately 1000km during the year, giving birth in the colder waters of the cape in autumn and then coming up the east coast to mate on Aliwal shoal in winter before turning north to gestate in Sodwana in the summer. Gestation takes up to 12 months and fertile females breed only once every 2-3 years. The slow breeding cycle is one of the reasons they are currently considered to be vulnerable.
The pregnant females are huge. Each shark has 2 uterine horns and will fertilise up to 50 embryos in each horn. As soon as the first embryo reaches about 10 cm it will cannibalise all the other embryos on that side so that only 2 live pups will be born when they reach about 1 m in length. They settle on a reef area to gestate and seem to just chill, swimming lazy circles around their chosen spot. Their teeth turn green with algae because they tend not to actively hunt or feed during this time.
Short-tail stingray, Bathytoshia brevicaudata
We think this is the Short-tail stingray. We have seen them at Sodwana for years without recognising them. They are in fact deep water rays , living at depths of 180m or more, but they seem to congregate on Sodwana reefs when pregnant. They can be recognised by the double hump and short stumpy tail.
Round ribbon tail ray, Taeniura meyeni
Blue spotted stingray, Neotrygon kuhlii
Lettuce
Honeycomb moray, Gymnothorax favagineus emerging from the coral leaves.
So finally another pet project of mine and that's Lettuce reef. I love this reef on the outside of 5 mile but we get to dive it infrequently. It is deep and different but many people don't like it for just those reasons so we need a boat willing to take the short dive time and the long deep blue safety stop and not everyone is in agreement. Maybe someday I will persuade the masses but for now we take it when we can. This year just one dive on Lettuce was achieved. But hey that's life.
Why do I love Lettuce? I think it is the amazing geometry of this unusual lettuce coral, so unlike any other reef in Sodwana and so awe-inspiring as you descend through the gloom and look on its architectural splendour. There is also the chance of some big fish and shark action in the area, on the way up or down. But mainly its because I just know there are photos to had of fish emerging from the beautiful background, especially because there are unusual fish here, seen almost nowhere else in Sodwana. So here are my efforts for this year. Still a work in progress.
Lettuce coral, Agaricia sp, is a distinctive hard coral which grows in tiers of plate like leaves. It is fairly widely distributed and prefers sheltered slopes and deeper depths. I assume this is to avoid being broken in rough conditions. In rougher waters it tends to grow in a ball like configuration for protection but in calmer waters it spreads its leaves more openly. This gives a broader area for feeding. Most of the energy comes from farmed symbiotic algae. They can bud asexually and they also reproduce sexually with the release of gametes at full moon, the mystical coral spawning. This allows the coral to colonise at an accelerated rate and gives it resilience, but despite this it remains vulnerable to trauma and bleaching. It is easy to see how fragile the leaves appear so diver damage is a real concern. You need to be on your game with buoyancy control if you are going to dive here.
Sodwana is the southernmost end of range for this coral so we are really privileged to have the chance to explore its unique ecosystem.
Twotone tang (juvenile), Zebrasoma scopas
This is an uncommon sighting. He is secretive and likes to hide.
Maypole butterflyfish, Chaetodon meyeri
A common little fish but just look how he pops against the background.
I hope you enjoyed the offerings of 2024, we certainly had a ball finding and recording them. Much of this would not have been possible without the incredible friendship, help and service from Greg de Valle and his team at our favourite dive centre, Scuba Centre.
When I use the royal " we" in this rambling narrative, this largely refers to the brightest and best of friends and dive guides finding and showing us the oceans bounty.
So for all those with 20/20 vision we thank you, Greg, Lucky, Jamie, Tyla, Bronwyn, Tonya and the fabulous fellowship we found in old and new friends on the boat. We salute you.
And last but not least thank you to the committed citizen scientists we are proud to call friends, Dennis King for his amazing fish ID app, and Jenny Stromvoll for her sterling work on nudi ID. Without them this would have taken decades to write. You guys rock.
“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”
Amy Poehler“
Here's a last little puzzle. Dudley says it is some sort of worm home, I say its a sand encrusted man made thingy. Any offers? Conflict resolution would be appreciated before there is blood on the walls down here in sleepy Mtunzini!