Bowmouth
Contributor
A little story about the Bowmouth Guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma)
Most of us divers have a list of most wantedcreatures we would like to see some day - some where, when diving. For many its a whaleshark, for some its schooling hammerheads, for others its a rhinopias and there are even some who have a specific nudibranch on top of their list.
For me, its the bowmouth guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma). That very odd looking shark-ray with a rounded head like a stingray and the body of a shark.
And no, I do not mean the shovelnose ray (giant guitarfish) with the pointy nose. Ive seen shovelnose rays before; at Richelieu Rock, at Losin and even at Koh Racha Yai. The creature Ive never-ever seen is the most elusive of all the guitarfishes we have in our waters; the weird and wonderful bowmouth guitarfish!
During the last odd 20 years diving here in SEA Ive never even glimpsed one! Not even a tiny bit of bowmouth tail or fin in the distance. Nothing, nil, zilch!
Some divers I have worked and dived with have been more fortunate than me. Some of them have seen the bowmouth guitarfish at least once in their career in the Similan Islands at Fantasea Reef. Others have been even more fortunate and glimpsed the bowmouth more than once during dives in Thai and Myanmar waters. Lucky them, and very unlucky me! Id nearly given up all hope on seeing one with only very sporadic reports of others claiming having seen a bowmouth somewhere in Thai or Burmese waters. I wouldnt even dream about bowmouths anymore, let alone believe that one day somewhere by some miracle I would see and dive with my top of the listcreature.
Until my last dive trip that is!
Last week (December 29th, 2009) when leading a group of divers at Western Rocky in the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar the unexpected happened. When decending close to the island and pointing out a pair of eggshell shrimps to my divers, I casually looked out into the blue water over the sandy bottom and saw a greyish large shape slowly moving at the edge of visibility. I carefully swam a bit closer and the grey shape changed into a fish that seemed to come right out of a fantasy movie like Narnia or Lord of the Rings; it was the Bowmouth Guitarfish!!!
By this time I was rapping my tank with my stainless pointer, had grabbed the arm of the nearest diver close to me and was frantically finning towards the animal dragging the diver with me.
A bowmouth guitarfish, a real big, weird, beautiful, gorgeous bowmouth guitarfish right there in front of my nose. WOW .my FIRST bowmouth guitarfish
Not believing that anything better than this could happen that dive I actually saw yet another shape slowly moving over the sand with a big cobia and transforming into a second bowmouth guitarfish! Not one but TWO bowmouth guitarfishes on one single dive!
I nearly lost it, started to hyperventilate and took my Apeks regulator to the very edges of its performance while sucking in Nitrox like a rhino in heat.
And then there was this awesome feeling of becoming one with both creatures while I hovered next to a short wall and the bowmouths just kept cruising up and down the sandy bottom sometimes making really close passes.
Now this was heaven, really-really heaven! I had waited 6143 dives for this moment and here it was! What a FANTASTIC dive, what a GREAT feeling and what a COOL creatures .
Believe it or not but it got even stranger and better than this. Towards the end of the dive when all other divers had exhausted their bottom-time and air/Nitrox-supply I was still hanging somewhere there in the blue looking at the two bowmouths. I didnt want to go up, and didnt want it to end. So I just hang there and watched them cruising, looking at me, coming close and moving away again.
And then it happened. Yet another, bowmouth guitarfish showed up and I saw THREE (3) bowmouths together. Just for me, all alone in the blue with 3 bowmouths under me.
I laughed silly through my regulator, waved the bowmouths goodbye and started my ascent.
Back on the boat everybody was thrilled with having seen the bowmouths but only I had seen the three together. Most divers had seen two together and at least every diver on the boat had seen one. But not 3 .
That same day and the following day we dived with them again (they never disappeared) and I was fortunate enough to see all three of the bowmouth guitarfishes together once more (with some other divers this time) before we cruised to our next dive destination.
Bowmouth
Most of us divers have a list of most wantedcreatures we would like to see some day - some where, when diving. For many its a whaleshark, for some its schooling hammerheads, for others its a rhinopias and there are even some who have a specific nudibranch on top of their list.
For me, its the bowmouth guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma). That very odd looking shark-ray with a rounded head like a stingray and the body of a shark.
And no, I do not mean the shovelnose ray (giant guitarfish) with the pointy nose. Ive seen shovelnose rays before; at Richelieu Rock, at Losin and even at Koh Racha Yai. The creature Ive never-ever seen is the most elusive of all the guitarfishes we have in our waters; the weird and wonderful bowmouth guitarfish!
During the last odd 20 years diving here in SEA Ive never even glimpsed one! Not even a tiny bit of bowmouth tail or fin in the distance. Nothing, nil, zilch!
Some divers I have worked and dived with have been more fortunate than me. Some of them have seen the bowmouth guitarfish at least once in their career in the Similan Islands at Fantasea Reef. Others have been even more fortunate and glimpsed the bowmouth more than once during dives in Thai and Myanmar waters. Lucky them, and very unlucky me! Id nearly given up all hope on seeing one with only very sporadic reports of others claiming having seen a bowmouth somewhere in Thai or Burmese waters. I wouldnt even dream about bowmouths anymore, let alone believe that one day somewhere by some miracle I would see and dive with my top of the listcreature.
Until my last dive trip that is!
Last week (December 29th, 2009) when leading a group of divers at Western Rocky in the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar the unexpected happened. When decending close to the island and pointing out a pair of eggshell shrimps to my divers, I casually looked out into the blue water over the sandy bottom and saw a greyish large shape slowly moving at the edge of visibility. I carefully swam a bit closer and the grey shape changed into a fish that seemed to come right out of a fantasy movie like Narnia or Lord of the Rings; it was the Bowmouth Guitarfish!!!
By this time I was rapping my tank with my stainless pointer, had grabbed the arm of the nearest diver close to me and was frantically finning towards the animal dragging the diver with me.
A bowmouth guitarfish, a real big, weird, beautiful, gorgeous bowmouth guitarfish right there in front of my nose. WOW .my FIRST bowmouth guitarfish
Not believing that anything better than this could happen that dive I actually saw yet another shape slowly moving over the sand with a big cobia and transforming into a second bowmouth guitarfish! Not one but TWO bowmouth guitarfishes on one single dive!
I nearly lost it, started to hyperventilate and took my Apeks regulator to the very edges of its performance while sucking in Nitrox like a rhino in heat.
And then there was this awesome feeling of becoming one with both creatures while I hovered next to a short wall and the bowmouths just kept cruising up and down the sandy bottom sometimes making really close passes.
Now this was heaven, really-really heaven! I had waited 6143 dives for this moment and here it was! What a FANTASTIC dive, what a GREAT feeling and what a COOL creatures .
Believe it or not but it got even stranger and better than this. Towards the end of the dive when all other divers had exhausted their bottom-time and air/Nitrox-supply I was still hanging somewhere there in the blue looking at the two bowmouths. I didnt want to go up, and didnt want it to end. So I just hang there and watched them cruising, looking at me, coming close and moving away again.
And then it happened. Yet another, bowmouth guitarfish showed up and I saw THREE (3) bowmouths together. Just for me, all alone in the blue with 3 bowmouths under me.
I laughed silly through my regulator, waved the bowmouths goodbye and started my ascent.
Back on the boat everybody was thrilled with having seen the bowmouths but only I had seen the three together. Most divers had seen two together and at least every diver on the boat had seen one. But not 3 .
That same day and the following day we dived with them again (they never disappeared) and I was fortunate enough to see all three of the bowmouth guitarfishes together once more (with some other divers this time) before we cruised to our next dive destination.
Bowmouth
How very splendid! :glad:
Cath up with you another time. 
