Scuba diving in Fiji is one of the
biggest tourist attractions, and we have some of the best diving in the entire
world! One of the top dive destinations in the world is right in my backyard!
It’s called the Rainbow Reef or Somosomo Straight.
The
amazing colors of the corals and fish are exactly the reason why this area is
called “The Rainbow Reef”. It’s full of so many colors and different species of
fish and corals. The reason why this area as so much life is because of where
the Rainbow Reef is located, between Taveuni and Vanua Levu. One either side of
the straight, you have about 30 miles of Open ocean, where the narrowest part
of the straight is about 7 miles wide which creates an hour glass shape. When
the tides change, there is an incredible amount of volume of water funneling
its way through the Somosomo Straight, which feeds all the coral and many fish
of the Rainbow Reef.
Fiji
alone has over 2300 species fish and over 400 species of corals! This is
because we are part of the Western Pacific. It is believed by scientists that
this area of the world is where all oceanic life began and originated from.
Indonesia, the Philippines, and parts of Micronesia and Australia are part of
this group. They think that during the last ice age, this area of the world
stayed warm, and that is why it holds the highest marine assortment in the
world. Just to compare the difference in marine life here, Hawaii only has 400
species of fish and only about 20-30 species of coral. The Caribbean only has
10% the amount of species that we have here in Fiji. The reason for this is
because this area of the world is referred to as the center of dispersal, aka
the farther out you get from the center, the less species of fish and coral
will be found.
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| Soft Coral of the Rainbow Reef |
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| Table Top Hard Coral |
Fiji
is considered the soft coral capital of the world. We have “Tree Corals”
because when they open they look like bouquets of flowers. We also have lots of
hard corals, such as “Table Top Coral” and “Big Staghorn Corals”. The biggest difference
between soft and hard corals is that hard corals are the reef builders. Their
entire life cycle contributes to the growth of the reef. When they die their
skeletons are still used to building the massive reefs. Hard coral also
photosynthesizes, or getting food from the sun. Most soft corals do not
photosynthesize, or even help contribute to building the reef.
Soft corals need to rely on the currents to bring them food, which is why the Rainbow Reef is so rich in soft corals. The currents here are extremely strong and bring an abundance of food for the soft corals. Every piece of coral is an animal. The living animal is in the form of a coral polyp, which looks like little itty-bitty sea anemones. Corals are extremely delicate animals, which is why you should never touch coral!
Soft corals need to rely on the currents to bring them food, which is why the Rainbow Reef is so rich in soft corals. The currents here are extremely strong and bring an abundance of food for the soft corals. Every piece of coral is an animal. The living animal is in the form of a coral polyp, which looks like little itty-bitty sea anemones. Corals are extremely delicate animals, which is why you should never touch coral!
Now
how about some of the cool fish we got here!
Clown Fish:
Clown
fish live with sea anemones, also called a symbiotic relationship. Both animals
rely on each other for survival. The anemone provides a home and protection for
the clown fish, where the clown fish will help feed the anemone. If the anemone
is not eating enough, divers have seen the clown fish leave the anemone and go
hunt for food for it’s host. Clown fish are coated with a special mucus
membrane that helps protect it from the tentacles of the anemone.
In
the clown fish world, the female is the queen and she is the boss, which we
call a matriarchal society. The queen is the largest of the fish in the
anemone. The rest of the clown fish are the males and are slightly smaller. Only
one of these males are sexual active and will reproduce with the queen.
However, if the queen dies, the sexually active male will change sex and will
then become the dominant female.
Puffer Fish:
Puffer
fish are the slow awkward members of the reefs. They only blow up when they
feel threatened by something, and inhale water to inflate themselves. However,
this can only be done a few times in their lives so you shouldn’t try and make
a puffer fish inflate. The largest species here in Fiji is the Mapped Puffer (3
½ feet long). Another common species is the Black Spotted Puffer (Dog Face
Puffer).
Lion Fish:
In
Fiji, we have about a dozen different species of Lion Fish. They are found
naturally and do not cause any damage to the environment. Here in Fiji, they
have naturally predators so we do not have the problem like the Caribbean does.
Giant Moray Eels, Octopus, and some reef sharks will hunt the Lion Fish. These
fish hunt at night making them nocturnal hunters and are also extremely
venomous.
Nudibranchs:
These
are fancy sea slugs. The Latin translation is “Naked Gills”. They call them
this because their gills are on the outside of its body. The majority of
nudibranchs are very colorful, which warns other animals that they are toxic
and shouldn’t be eaten.
Giant Clams:
The
giant clam is considered an endangered species here in Fiji. It’s because of
over fishing. Here in Fiji, we have all 5 species of giant clams, which
includes a species that is only found here and nowhere else in the world! Giant
clams are filter feeders. They filter out sediment that can harm the reefs, but
they also remove harmful eggs from the waters. They are considered one of the
largest predators of the Crown of Thorns Star Fish. One giant clam can filter
the amount of water in a Olympic sized swimming pool every 24 hours.
The Feather Star or Crinoid:
This
species is considered by scientists to be a living fossil because they have
been on this earth for around 450 million years, so before the dinosaurs. From
their studies, scientists have also found that they have not really changed all
that much over time. These crinoids have feet that grasp onto the reef and
their sticky arms catch plankton. When there isn’t enough plankton, they simply
let go and go find another place to have lunch.
Moray Eels:
Fiji
is home to the largest species of moray eels, the Giant Moray. It can get as
big as 8-10 feet long! However, it is virtually harmless as long as you don’t
harass or tease them. When you see a moray opening and closing it’s mouth, they
are only trying to breath better by pumping water through their gills. They
aren’t trying to eat you, so don’t worry!
Garden Eels:
Some
places on the Rainbow Reef have 100’s of these guys. The eels will burrow in
the sand and will face into the current to feed on plankton, unlike the moray
eels who hunt other fish.
Sea Snakes:
Only
one species of sea snakes exist here, the banded sea snake. They are extremely
docile and are harmless to divers. However, they are 10x more poisonous than a
cobra. They also are air-breathing reptiles, so they need to come up to breath
every so often.
Turtles:
Unfortunately
there are not huge populations of turtles here in Fiji. This is because there
is not enough algae for them to feed on. Also, many villages hunt turtles,
which have also caused the numbers to stay low. The most common types of
turtles are the sea hawksbill, and green sea turtle.
Pelagic Animals (Open Ocean): Click on links for pictures!
Bait Fish
Sharks:
In
one year, approximately 100 million sharks are killed. They are mostly hunted
for shark fin soup for Asian markets. Sharks are slow to reproduce, 9-12 months
to give birth to only a few pups at a time. The most common type of shark is
the white tip reef, which are completely harmless to divers. Gray reef sharks
(slightly bigger than white tips) are considered on of the most social sharks. We
also have Bull sharks, Hammer Head, and Tiger sharks. Sharks are not dangerous, as long as
you are not hunting them, baiting, or chumming up the water. Here is a link to some YouTube videos of the Beqa Shark Dive that I did twice. It was incredible! Videos
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| Grey Reef Shark |
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| White Tip Reef Shark |
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| Tiger Shark |
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| Bull Sharks |
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| Hammer Heads |
This is only just a glimpse of what is “under the sea”!
There are so many more species and I encourage you to look up more of them! All
this information came from my good friend Julie Kelly who is the owner of Taveuni Ocean Sports located on Taveuni and Kai Wai Ocean Sports located in
Nadi. Her dive shop is top notch and her crew is by far the best dive crew I
have ever met. She trains each of them to be the best divers, to be
the best hosts, and also to be knowledgeable about the environment they are taking you diving. If you ever find yourself in Fiji diving, you need to get up
to Taveuni and go diving with Julie and her crew! Don’t go anywhere else in
Fiji to dive except there! Here is their reviews on TripAdvisor.
As always, here are the links to my photo albums!
As always, here are the links to my photo albums!
Instagram name: tdoak08
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