Blue or Indigo "Crown-of-Thorns?"

[smokey braden]

drbill,
if you do get a chance to dive the maldives,this is the atoll we dove.
http://www.sultansoftheseas.it/en/infoPSuvadiva.php
see if you can dive this area.
this southern atoll does not have the development that the northren atolls have
i've noticed that two more liveaboard fleets will be represented in the maldives.
the aggressor fleet and the peter hughes fleet.
regards,

 

[drbill]

Thanks for the suggestion, Smokey Braden. I'll have to see what LOB my dive buddy is arranging the trip on and find out if it visits that region.

 

[thomjinx]

This one is from the Phuket area. Focus is way off, but it shows the shape of the thing.

 

[drbill]

The more I reflect on it (still haven't waded through my trip diary... it was a three month backpacking trip, so lots of text), the more I think I saw both of the blue COT's in Thailand. I do remember talking to an Australian biologist about it in Cairns, but he had never heard of blue COT's.

 

[Taxgeek]

Hi Bill.
I saw a bunch of those in Burma (Mergui) in 2004, so yeah, right near Thailand. Gorgeous.
Susan

 

[Wisnu]

I saw few during my trip to Bali 2 weeks ago; at Menjangan Island and Amed - typically at shallow water.

 

[Crowley]

You get them in waters all around Thailand - they do get plagues of them every few years in the Red Sea and the dive centres carry out Reef Cleanups to round up the COTs and dispose of them, hence the reference to them being chopped into little pieces.


Cheers, C.