Indian Glassfish or Parambassis ranga

The more I dive, the more stuff we see and learn, says Clive. I am sure you must agree with me. One of the things that have lately struck me is how limited our knowledge is and that also goes even for revered  fish ID books like those of Helmut Debelius (Indian Ocean Reef Guide, and Red Sea Reef Guide), not to mention the bible of Southern African fish by Dennis King (Reef Fishes & Corals).


Let me give some examples of what I bitching about. Take the common Indian glass fish, Parambassis ranga or chanda ranga. It fails to get a mention in any of the three books of Debelius and also not on the Dennis  King I have. Yet the fish is very prevalent in Indian ocean waters (at least in Seychelles) and not only in aquariums. In a previous blog I discussed the annual Ranga Tanga.The glaring exclusion of glassies from the above  learned books remains  a mystery to me. Neither do they get a reference in Neville Coleman's Marine Life of the Maldives. Some  examples of the fish we talking about are set out in pictures  below.

                                                       (Close up courtesy-  Sue Ferreira)

                                                                      Even the resident turtle is coming for a peak.

Another  example of undefined or incomplete information is the different names for the karang (creole name) or golden trevally/jackfish or king fish. (This fish depicted below) There certainly also appears to be some confusion regarding the name in different parts of the world! Also have  a look at sting rays and see if you agree with me. Total confusion as we seem to have different names or an incomplete collection! There are some  other examples like this which you can spot in your own good time.

                                                     Karang on the prowl!

Finally Dennis calls the fish below a starry puffer fish and Debelius a giant puffer fish! They certainly got the Latin name (arothron stallatus ) right, but clearly they did not collaborate on local names used.

The only conclusion I have come to is that we really are only beginning to unravel the ocean. Both Dennis and Debelius have spent a  life time in producing extremely useful books. Without them we would have been lost underwater! We sorely need more of these and more information.

Knowing the time and cost of only one dive and the short dive times we have as well as the fact that the "underwater actors" have their own businesses to mind and are not "waiting" on us to come and snap them, I think it is a very simple fact  that we still lack so much knowledge. Please help on your next dive and bring some knowledge back.

The hunt for (Red October) Silver Bat fish...

So we (Sue and I ) thought we just would jump in for quick dive at Isle Seche after a spate of bad weather. We had guests on board Suzy Q and while we dived they went snorkeling. We did not expect much, after all it was only Isle Seche and not a highly rated dive site. I paid scant regard again and did not take my camera, choosing to hold onto a buoy nogal!

What spectacle awaited us. The boulders were covered in glassies with big posses of Karang (Golden Trevally in Sesel Creole) stalking. Hovering above the glassies  was a very large school of bigger silver bat fish enhancing the scenery in beautiful symphony. (I had to consult my fish book as they are not too common in Seychelles). They are also called diamond fish and appear to be endemic to the Indian Ocean. It was a site to behold and I just knew we had to come back with a camera.

So there we went for two further times and each time, nada, no site of the damsels. I even consulted special agent Tamara of Angel Fish Diving (underwater). She investigated and reported that I should move my attention to Isle Seche Pinnacle  and not Isle Seche Grande. So off we went to Pinnacle! I wonder how many Pinnacles and Aquariums there are in the world....

We moved our drop-off the required 100m and dove. We found them, voila. Now what is this, why is my flash not firing? The cable seemed to be badly connected and no flash fired, au naturel, today, buddy during amateur hour.  I was able to take some photos, but remained bitterly disappointed.

So off we went again and again we struck a problem, bad wind, large waves, very strong current and Sue had free flowing regulator. When we hit the bottom she was already on 120 bar. We decided to continue as Pinnacle average was below 10m and she was light on air. After 9 minutes finning against the strong current, we are back on the boat. We go back a few days later in splendid conditions and this time I am more satisfied but I still need to go  back. See some of what I talking about below.

Agent Tamara

My Buddy did it!

My buddy did it!

Underwater photography as we know is a frustrating work in progress. One cannot progress however without being in the water with a camera in hand. Then one day the sun aligns with the moon and the actors perform at perfect exposure in aquatic bliss.The following achievement speak to this point.

My wife (and wayward buddy) Sue has just achieved a wonderful accolade. She has cracked a bronze medal (gold, silver, bronze) for the category “Macro: Not Swimming” in the prestigious 2011 Underwater Photography image competition. (Sneak   results just out on the web site   www.underwaterphotography.com).

The image depicts an unusual  unique (family?) collection  of seven geometric eels as attached below. This stunning image was taken at our favorite house reef “Johnnies Rock” off Mahe  in the Seychelles. I have written a few times on my blog, (divewithclive.com)  about this wonderful reef. She  took the shot he shot while the family resided for quite a while at a particular point that was a landmark during dives and while there were always a number of eels, the most Sue got previously was five in one shot!

So the question is asked many times,why shoot photo's and accumulate expensive Gigabytes on your computer? Clearly once you have dived a few times talking images makes the dives more pleasurable while also (with some frustration) improving your skill. From time to time you may  also enter competitions which may equally be a burden/pot shot  given the high degree of competitive biase that sometimes emerge in addition to all the luck required. You also enter many times without even a nod that it is sometimes questioned: is it all worth it, given the significant investment?

Now Sue has cracked a big one! The shot was one of more than 11 000 entries from 130 countries. Some 1200 shots were selected for final evaluation and over the last month we have seen her shot creep through the various eliminations to ultimately achieve the only medal for South Africa and (Seychelles).

Needless to say I am extremely proud of my intrepid buddy who takes no prisoners as we all know and now has once (again) also taken the winning shot. Please join me, her proud buddy and hubby, family, friends and fellow divers in congratulating her on this stupendous achievement! Go Sue!