[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbgMzToeSoo[/embedyt] A hilarious video of Tom tryna fish for the first time in the the sea… Needless to say fishing from the rocks/shore sounds much easier then it truly is! Super funny video made to brighten up your day, loads of bloopers, strange and funny mistakes made. PS. We still have not caught a fish!
Pterois is a genus of venomous marine fish, commonly known as lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. Also called zebrafish, firefish, turkeyfish, tastyfish or butterfly-cod, it is characterized by conspicuous warning coloration with red, white, creamy, or black bands, showy pectoral fins, and venomous spiky fin rays. Pterois radiata, Pterois volitans, and Pterois miles are the most commonly studied species in the genus. Pterois species are popular aquarium fish. P. volitans and P. miles are recent and significant invasive species in the west Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Mediterranean Sea. We found one of the coolest, but unfortunately most destructive fish in the ocean… The Lion Fish. We will get into what the difference is poison vs venom in a later article, but for now all you need to know about this fish is that it is Venomous, not poisonous… No matter if it is poisonous or venomous try stay clear of the creature when you encounter it. I wish these gorgeous Fish were not so destructive in the environment, otherwise I would add them to my favorite marine animal list… Luckily in Sodwana Bay their natural predators live there too so they can keep them sort of at Bay! While on our way back to shore we still enjoy keeping a look out in all rock pools for fish in case we find something cool or dangerous… On this occasion we were super lucky to find a lion fish. I knew lion fish eat live on coral reefs, but never thought that they would live in such shallow waters or be so near to shore, or could be found in South African waters for that matter, most cool things happen overseas not South Africa… Although I am starting to realize South Africa is a much cooler place than I thought especially when you leave the big cities!!! Somehow I imagined Lion Fish being much bigger, maybe we just found a juvenile one or they really are just so small… If that’s the case it is scary to think that such a small fish could make such a big negative influence in the ocean! Photo’s always seem to make these little fish look so much bigger than they truly are! A few fun facts about this animal and why you should be careful when swimming with them: Lion Fish – hence the name – are carnivores… They prey on small fish, practically any fish that will fit in their mouths, but they are not mindless fish that just eat what ever comes into their paths… They are predatory intelligent fish, observation might suggest that they blow out jets of water to disorient their prey and to make them face them – common knowledge these fish have picked up on – head first equals less energy usage. There are 16 different species of Lion Fish LionFish predators can have been confirmed are: themselves, Larger LionFish will eat their smaller counterparts with no hesitation, make sense with a huge appetite like theirs… Other fish like these also enjoy snacking on Lion Fish which helps keep their population to the right size: sharks, cornetfish, grouper, large eels, frogfish and other scorpionfish This is a sad fact, unfortunately in the Atlantic oceans where most fish feel uncomfortable living in, the Lion Fish Thrives! Why is this a bad thing? Well their natural predators hate the cold… Without any natural predators to keep their population at bay, and them being a natural predator of other fish their circle of life has hole in it and unwanted holes are never a good thing. The invasive Lionfish of the Atlantic ocean has a devastating impact on coral cleaning and eating fish, without the coral cleaner fish the coral might not be able to survive because there is to much debris for the coral to breath… Wow here’s an interesting fact – Lion Fish Stomachs can expand up to 30 times its normal size… Imagine how many fish go into that! Now I understand why lion Fish are so invasive, they reproduce all year round, a mature female can lay up to 2 million eggs a year, that’s insane, imagine we could reproduce like that, there would be no space left on the planet to move! I guess it nearly impossible to see a baby LionFish when born they are only 2.5 cm long and an grow up to -38 cm long as adults! That is quite small for a fish that has such a huge impact on the oceanic environment. I doubt even a Megalodon Shark (Largest shark known to have existed) could make such a big impact… They can live up to 15 years in the wild, imagine what impact each one of them can have on the environment in 15 years! When a lion fish’s spines puncture flesh they have two(2) venom glands in their backbone that rush out poison through the spines… Depending on how many spines stung you, you shouldn’t be much in the danger zone, of course it also depends on your body tolerance for pain. It mild cases, you will have extreme pain and sweating… In extreme cases you could experience – respiratory distress or even paralysis… Scientists encourage fishing for LionFish… Below is campaign that encourages people to even eat LionFish, as long as you know what to eat they are not poisonous, just be careful for their spines! If you like fishing next time try catch one of these spiny fish and give it a try! “Lionfish as Food” campaign In 2010, NOAA began a campaign to encourage the consumption of the fish. The “Lionfish as Food” campaign encourages human hunting of the fish as the only form of control known to date. Encouraging the consumption of lionfish could not only help to maintain a reasonable population density, but also provide an alternative fishing source to overfished populations, such as grouper and snapper. NOAA also encourages people to report lionfish sightings, to help track lionfish population dispersal. To promote the campaign, the Roman Catholic Church in Colombia agreed to have their clergy’s sermons suggest to their parishioners (84% of the population) to eat the fish species on Fridays, Lent and Easter, which proved highly successful to decrease the invasive fish problem. When properly…
Everybody who has ever snorkeled or dived and tried to take a video or pic of a butterfly fish knows how hard that can be. Its rare enough to actually find a butterfly fish, especially in rocky reef areas, where they usually live. We have only spotted the raccoon butterfly fish a hand full of times and even more rarely been able to capture it on camera. But this time instead of finding the more common raccoon butterfly fish, we spotted a new kind of Butterfly – The Thread-fin Butterfly fish. They might be a bit more of a common variety but this is the first one we have ever seen in Sodwana Bay’s Waters. They usually swim in pairs and like any other butterfly are very elusive and wary of everything. Research suggests that they usually swim in pairs and are monogamous (Stick to one partner), although they will choose a new partner in crime if one should die. Sounds like most humans… This one unfortunately did not have a partner, which would suggest it is either still to young or hasn’t chosen a life partner yet. Thread-fin’s can grow up to 23 cm(9in) long and lives in water depths of 1 – 35m (3-115ft) deep. Fun fact they also darken their colors and night. No-one knows why.
Have you heard of our new Q & A page? This is a fun New page where tourists, locals and the Sodwana Bay informatiom team can all interact together. Where you can ask any question about Sodwana Bay. Such as where to eat, sleep, best tourist attractions etc. But that’s not all you can ask, ever wonder about the biodiversity of fish and coral under the water. Take a picture add it to the comments below and if you know the answer to the question you can add your comment of the answer. Remember no question is to stupid to ask. Please do not judge questions that are asked on this site. There are always things that might seem obvious to others but to some they have not seen or heard of these objects or creatures yet.
Deep Sea Fishing – Sodwana Bay. Sodwana Bay is well known for its marlin and sailfish as well as many other game fish such as giant kingfish, barracuda and dorado. Sodwana Bay has one of the best Fishing hot spots in the world in my opinion – part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage Site – Deep beautiful Blue waters makes this the ideal place for any fisherman, with a variety of big game fish like Giant kingfish, barracuda and Dorado and Bill fish such as: Blue Martin, Striped Marlin, Sail Fish and many more all make their way through the Sodwana Bay coast line. Most Fishermen make their way to Sodwana Bay through out the months of November to May each year. Although you can fish any time of the year. There are also a variety of Fishermen Sports and Competitions through out the year.
