Marine Life

Was just wondering- Where is the best place to find the most marine life. Big or small just want to know where you think the best place is and why you think it is.

Mikiko once bubbled...
Was just wondering- Where is the best place to find the most marine life. Big or small just want to know where you think the best place is and why you think it is.

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If you're talking about number of species, the area around Indonesia/Philippines and the islands in between boast the most diversity. (I think there's an ongoing dispute between PNG and Palau as to who has honors as the "center of marine biodiversity")
If you're talking about biomass, there are many localized concentrations around the world where the life's so thick the visibility is restricted by fish. For example, in the late summer in the Gulf of Mexico around any structure - but there may be only a few species making up the massive schools. If you include the species not swimming around in the water column, then any of the world's larger reef structures win. The Red Sea leaps to mind.
If you mean where's it easiest to have a relaxing dive with more than enough fish and critters to keep you interested many Caribbean destinations come to mind.
Every dive is a great dive.
Rick

in general terms, asia pacific has much more marine life than the caribbean. however, the american continent has the galapagos islands, which are a spectacle both above and below the water. there, during the months of june, july and august is not uncommon to see schooling hammerheads on the hundreds, dozens of golden mantas, and so many fish enjoying the swift drifts and the plentiful nutrients these carry it is hard not to get spoiled with the quantity and variety of such natural spectacle. cocos islands, off costa rica's pacific coast is supposed to have quite an abundancy of sea life as well, but like galapagos the opportunity to see the most is seasonal.

below are a few articles that point to the areas of the philippines, indonesia and papua new guinea as some of the most biodiverse in the world. also, check into the lambi straits in north sulawesi, indonesia.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1989916.stm

Wednesday, 15 May, 2002, 21:40 GMT 22:40 UK
Indonesian reefs excite scientists

Coral researchers have described the location of what they think is the most valuable cluster of reefs in the world.
It is in a remote archipelago off Indonesia, close to the coast of Papua Province, in the Malacca Sea.


This goby is a newly discovered species

The scientists have just submitted a report which estimates that more than 1,100 species of fish inhabit the area, along with 600 species of mollusc and 450 different species of coral.

The diversity of sealife among the Raja Ampat islands is described by the study's lead researcher, Dr Gerald Allen, as staggering.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2002/boston_2002/1820035.stm

Thursday, 14 February, 2002, 20:39 GMT
Ten richest coral areas pinpointed

The 10 hotspots, according to the degree of threat they face, are the Philippines; gulf of Guinea; Sunda islands (Indonesia); southern Mascarene islands (near Madagascar); eastern South Africa; northern Indian ocean; southern Japan, Taiwan and southern China; Cape Verde islands; western Caribbean; and the Red sea and gulf of Aden.

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http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D1856-ED7D-1CCE-B4A8809EC588EEDF

"The researchers note that the Philippines and the Gulf of Guinea are the top two hotspots."

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http://www.biodiversityscience.org/xp/CABS/research/rap/marine_rap/indorap.xml

Raja Ampat Islands - World Center for Marine Biodiversity?

The gazetted wildlife reserve (cagar alam) covers much of this area, but there remains a critical need for biological surveys. Delegates at the January 1997 Conservation Priority-Setting Workshop on Biak unanimously agreed that the Raja Ampats are a high-priority area for future RAP surveys, both terrestrial and marine. The area was also identified as the number one survey priority in Southeast Asia at CI's Marine RAP Workshop in Townsville, Australia in May 1998. Due to its location near the heart of the "Coral Triangle" (the world's richest area for coral reefs encompassing N. Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea) the area is potentially the world's richest in terms of its amazing diversity of marine habitats and vast marine biodiversity.

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For density, dive in a public aquarium. Better yet, inside a fish farm.

archman:

For density, dive in a public aquarium. Better yet, inside a fish farm.

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Conversation overheard at a public aquarium.

Kid: Daddy, why are those people getting in the water with the sharks?
Dad: Well, in a little aquarium, you feed the goldfish with tiny little flaky food. In a big aquarium like this, you have to feed the bigger fish with big food.

riddler:

Conversation overheard at a public aquarium.

Kid: Daddy, why are those people getting in the water with the sharks?
Dad: Well, in a little aquarium, you feed the goldfish with tiny little flaky food. In a big aquarium like this, you have to feed the bigger fish with big food.

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We're going to the Galapagos over Christmas, and I'm learning to avoid showing my wife, a nervous new diver, all those lovely videos of the huge schools of Hammerheads. She's worried because sharks seem to like her. One her very first tropical dive, off Cuba's Isla de la Juventud, a couiple of years ago,--or rather, it wasn't a dive because she decided to just snorkel and watch the rest of us below--she had a sizable whale shark come up almost beside her (as we watched enviously from far below!).

She's worried the hammeheads will be as friendlY!

erichK:

We're going to the Galapagos over Christmas, and I'm learning to avoid showing my wife, a nervous new diver, all those lovely videos of the huge schools of Hammerheads. She's worried because sharks seem to like her. One her very first tropical dive, off Cuba's Isla de la Juventud, a couiple of years ago,--or rather, it wasn't a dive because she decided to just snorkel and watch the rest of us below--she had a sizable whale shark come up almost beside her (as we watched enviously from far below!).

She's worried the hammeheads will be as friendlY!

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So, she wasn't even diving, has "been to Mecca" and she is complaining? Argh.. some people...

Z...

There are TONS of neat animals to be seen while snorkelling slowly in our nice FREEZING New England waters. When I go I almost always see AT LEAST four species of crabs and four or five species of fish as well as a lot of other inverts and macroalgae. Not zooming around is the key to seeing cool stuff. Also being patient enough to sit in 3' of water helps. I think in regard to biomass we actually have WAY more stuff than the tropics.

Zeeman:

So, she wasn't even diving, has "been to Mecca" and she is complaining? Argh.. some people...

Z...

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Oh she did do the following dozen or so dives. And last december she did all the dives she could in Dominica's gorgeous Souffriere Bay (Nature Island Dive are Fantastic people), though the following week she did skip a couple of days, after sea- sickness and generally unpleasant conditions around her first couple of dives in Saba...but did do the final day there (some of the Sea Saba people are quite so fanbtastic). She finds coldwater diving a lot more difficult (as do I) and does tend to cancel those, as often as not. In BC she did go down to the Columbia wreck a couple of years ago, but cancelled a dive to the Saskatchewan.

I agree there's probably more life to see, in places like the Browning Wall (which my daughter and I dove), and Egmont BC (which we all did, very briefly), with their strong currents and nutrient-rich waters. Reportedly, the same is true for Antarctica and under the arctic ice. However, some of us a getting a little older and a little less comfortable, hog tied in rubber drysuit seals and loaded with a hundred pounds of weights, tanks, exposure protection, lights, cameras and misc. gear. Winters are pretty tough and go on forever, in in Sasquatchewan...so, with my wife and I both well into our 50's (and 16 year old daughter getting lazier), we're also looking for a vacation.

The Galapagos, with temps in the high 60's and 70's in Dec (wetsuit water!) will, we hope, prove a reasonable compromise!