SCUBA News~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello everyone. Our offer is still live - get 5% off liveaboard diving when booked with divebooker.com. Use our exclusive code (just for subscribers) SCUBATRAVEL5 and book before the end of November for diving in 2025 or 2026.
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Letters"Great article (refering to last month's newsletter). Diving in the Sea of Cortez truly feels like exploring a giant aquarium. That said, I was surprised you didn't mention Loreto. The Bahia de Loreto National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompasses five stunning islands: Isla Coronados, Isla del Carmen, Isla Danzante, Isla Montserrat, and Isla de Santa Catalina. Their dramatic rock formations create some of the best dive sites in Mexico, with a wide variety of locations suitable for divers of all experience levels." Thanks Bill, we'll add Loreto to the site. Liveaboard Diving Offers: Dive for Less - and even bigger discounts with our exclusive codeWhere to dive next? To make the decision easier we have some splendid deals for liveaboard diving, plus a 5% discount code exclusively for our subscribers. Just use code SCUBATRAVEL5 when booking.
The elusive Longnose hawkfish is creature of the monthThis very distinctive fish is white with checked red lines. It has a much longer snout than other hawkfish, which look more like mini groupers. They are not common, in 40 years of diving this month I saw my first one this month.
The longnose hawkfish favour depths between 30 and 100 m, although you do occasionally see one shallower. Pairs of them make their homes on sea fans, where they blend in, and black corals on the outer slopes of the reef. All born femaleAll hawkfish are born female. Some then change to male later in life.
MonogamousUnlike most other hawkfish, the longnose hawkfish appears to be monogamous. A study by Donaldson and Colin in Papua New Guinea found that males and females occupied separate corals. Males either visited females at their corals or met them at an adjacent coral just prior to courtship at dusk. Courtship culminated in a rapid ascent into the water column and the release of floating eggs.
Why are they named after a bird?Hawkfish are so called owing to their habit of perching on coral held up by their pectoral fins. With a burst of speed, they then rush out to ambush even smaller fish and crustaceans.
UncommonYou don't often sea these lovely fish. Although they are geographically widespread, occurring throughout Indo-Pacific, they are uncommon or rare in most areas. However, due to their habit of staying mostly on one coral or sea fan, once you know where they are you can see them again and again. It is the only species in its genus. Class: Actinopterygii > Order: Perciformes > Family: Cirrhitidae > Genus: Oxycirrhites > Species: Oxycirrhites typus References Coral Reef Guide Red Sea , Ewald Lieske and Robert Myers (2012) The Red Sea in Egypt, Part I - Fishes. Farid S. Atiya (1991) Donaldson, T.J. Facultative monogamy in obligate coral-dwelling hawkfishes (Cirrh tidae). Environ Biol Fish 26, 295-302 (1989). Diving news from around the World
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