Mar 03 2020
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Beware the Sandy sea life – Be cautious when walking in underwater Sand @ Sodwana Bay ~ South Africa

By Sodwana Bay

Sodwana Bay – Sea Life We all love swimming in the ocean when going to any beach. It’s a fundamental part of having vacation by the beach. As tourists, we never really take a step back and realise we are about to swim in the worlds largest marine aquarium… We all respect dams, lakes and rivers, knowing there is things that could ultimately kill us, such as Crocodiles, alligators, hippos even piranhas… We often just stay clear from these water spaces as much as possible and if need be enter the waters with extreme caution and eyes opened at all time. But yet when we go swim in the worlds largest Sea Aquarium – especially been close to the edge (Rock pools) we tend to forget we are in a wild underwater nature reserve… You will never climb out your car in a nature reserve, especially not knowing what might be lurking in the bushes, but for some reason we have made excuses for ourselves about why we can swim in water that we have know idea what might be underneath us at all times. Trust me we are no exception to this delusion, that swimming in a wild space like this is still safe, to list a few close call killer animals we have encountered so far under the water: The lion fish: Ok we haven’t actually swam with one yet, if we wanted to we would have to be it’s size cause all the ones we found swim in tiny holes. These fish are reported to be highly poisonous and dangerous… Will write a post in the future about their venom and impact on our sea life.   The sea Urchin: in rough seas the waves could bash you into these spiny creatures and their spines do break off, all though they are not poisonous, their spines are extremely brittle, if you miss a few pieces they can become septic and if not treated poison your blood stream and lead to death. See article to learn more: Thorns of the Sea – Sea Urchins    The Moray Eel: We encountered a honeycomb moray, one of the more prettier eel species, they can be friendly, but rather don’t take any chances… Usually these sea snakes will try hide out in holes and under coral ledges, So not easily seen, if they feel threatened they might try bite you, that is bad for both you and the Eel, because the moray eel has a lock jaw that only releases after what ever is in its mouth is consumed or it is dead, meaning if it bites you, the only way you get this poor creature off you is buy killing it. So please be careful of this sea serpents for their sake and yours.   The Blue spotted ribbon Tail ray: A gorgeously bright colorful ray. We found one of these beauties in Sodwana Bay’s rock pools once. They seem to be very scarce as I have looked everywhere to find one of these again with no luck… They are reported to be one the more poisonous and dangerous rays in the ocean. Although they will rather try flee than attack when threatened, their 2 barbs on their tails can still be deadly if the ray feels there’s no other way of escape. They are beautiful to look at, but if you ever have the privilege of finding one don’t make it feel uncomfortable, remember you are in it’s world now not other way round respect that it allows you to admire its home… Also always be aware when walking on sea sand in the water all rays tend to try bury themselves under the sand as a way to hunt and hide from predators. See Article to learn more: The Spotty Ghost – Blue-spotted Ribbontail Ray    Puffer fish: We have encountered a few different puffer fish while swimming in the rock pools of Sodwana Bay. These fish are most probably the most venomous fish in the sea, small, super cute – whether they blow up or just normal… their venom is more than 1000 times more venomous than cyanide. So stay clear of these cutey pies they are super dangerous… Avoid any contact with them, there are no known antidotes for their poison and you could be dead in 24 hours…   The Electric marbled ray: This was our very first ray we have ever encountered in Sodwana Bay Rock pools. We were so excited finding this awesome ray in January 2019, especially finding one in such shallow waters. Of course we did not know it was electric and dangerous, but like most creatures of Sodwana it was not aggressive and rather swam away once it realized it was spotted. If you find one of these proceed with caution allow it to swim away and get out its way, they can pack a punch without you even touching them… See article and checkout our YouTube video of our encounter with a Marbled Electric Ray: An Exotic find- Marbled Electric Ray (Article) and Marbled Electric Ray (YouTube Video). So these are a few creatures that are highly dangerous that are definitely swimming around in Sodwana bay rock pools. Always be careful when swimming in any unknown water especially the open ocean nature reserve… Never extend your hand out to an unknown fish or other sea animal, you never know if they are poisonous, keep your eye out for any potential predator and if encountered by an aggressive animal or fish, try get away as quick as possible, but be calm about it… Try keep your snorkel gear on and rather swim with your head underwater so you can see what is going on around you underwater as much as possible, most fish will try avoid you, but there’s always that unfortunate accident waiting to happen… Hope you guys found this article interesting and enjoy the extra content. Please go checkout our  Patreon Page Below… We wanna start giving…

Feb 21 2020
Off

The Spotty Ghost – Blue-spotted Ribbontail Ray @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Blue-spotted Ribbontail Ray The bluespotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura lymma) is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae. Found from the intertidal zone to a depth of 30 m (100 ft), this species is common throughout the tropical Indian and western Pacific Oceans in nearshore, coral reef-associated habitats. It is a fairly small ray, not exceeding 35 cm (14 in) in width, with a mostly smooth, oval pectoral fin disc, large protruding eyes, and a relatively short and thick tail with a deep fin fold underneath. It can be easily identified by its striking color pattern of many electric blue spots on a yellowish background, with a pair of blue stripes on the tail. Imagine our surprise to find one of these cool rays in the rock pools… Ok so, to long time divers and snorkelers this is most probably a common sighting. But you can think of us as part time tourists, full time locals. We are like new born’s or toddlers to all the wonderful things Sodwana Bay has to offer. Curious about everything shocked about all the dangers that actually lurk in the rock pools and appreciative that nature respects you as long as you respect it. This one happened a while ago, Tom and I went to swim in the rock pools during low tide. It wasn’t super low so some pools could be really deep. Tom spotted a ray under one of the rock ledges submerged under water. He only saw a glimpse of it and used the GoPro’s selfie stick to get a closer shot of it. Unfortunately the GoPro malfunctioned and instead of taking a video of it, it took a series of photo’s, almost like a time lapse. So unfortunately, unless we find another one there will be no video for it. We were super surprised to find the gorgeous ray when reviewing our footage. Tom actually thought he captured a moray eel on film. Imagine his surprise to find that it wasn’t a moray eel but rather a Blue-spotted ribbontail ray. While filming he was only able to see the tail which at first looked like a stick till he took a closer look, but only saw his full photo prey when we got home… Some interesting facts about the Blue-spotted ribbontail ray and what it looks like: They are super gorgeous and cute, their faces are so cute by my standards!!!! Like most sea animals, these rays have a few different common names, here are a few common ones – Blue-spotted ribbontail ray, blue-spotted stingray, blue-spotted ray, blue-spotted fantail ray, blue-spotted lagoon ray, lagoon ray, reef ray, ribbon-tailed stingray (Eng.); bloukol-lintstertrog (Afr.). Like most creatures they too are brightly coloured to warn of how venomous they are, the have one large and one medium sized – highly venomous spines on their tales. Although they are very shy and will rather swim away to avoid conflict than stick around and fight… It’s bright yellow eyes enhance its vision and allows them to see behind them without turning their heads. Sort of like a chameleon, chickens can also see 360 degrees… Blue-spotted ribbontail rays have been recorded from southern Africa and the Red Sea to the Solomon Islands. It is found primarily in the Western Indo-Pacific. T. lymma has also been recorded in Australia in shallow tropical marine waters from Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia to Bundaberg, Queensland. Like a typical Ray, they love to play hide and seek under the sea sand, waiting for their prey to swim by and get snatched by the prettiest ray I have ever seen so far! The one we caught on camera must’ve been moving position or unveiled by the tide that it was so in the open, or maybe just not hungry? Another common habitat for them is reefs in low waters. They have also been sighted in shipwrecks. If I was a marine animal that’s where I would live, in a shipwreck, abundant food easy place to hide, perfect habitat. Some people try to keep these poor creatures as aquarium pets, please don’t they are poorly suited for aquarium life, I don’t think any aquarium will be enough for them except the open oceans. Unlike sharks which have teeth, all rays have powerful plate like jaws that crush their prey to death and I would assume sometimes they might even swallow their prey whole? During high tide, they migrate in groups into shallow sandy areas of tidal flats to feed on sand worms, shrimps, hermit crabs and small fishes. At low tide, they recede back into the ocean, usually alone to hide in the coral crevices of the reef Their main natural predators are often the hammerhead shark and the Orca/killer Whale that preys on their young. All factual References: Sanbi.org Wikipedia