Ponta Malongane, March '09

[Deefstes]

Hi all,

We did 5 dives at Ponta Malongane in southern Mozambique last weekend and had a blast. I'm posting a few pictures here just to give an idea.

Our only two species of Anemonefish:

Twobar Anemonefish

Nosestripe Anemonefish

Some nudis:

Glossodoris cincta (east African colour form)

Halgerda wasinensis

Phyllidiopsis krempfi

Phyllidiopsis striata (this guy was no bigger than 1cm)

Some biggies:

Potato Bass

Blacktip Grouper (OK, not that big really)

Whaleshark (and yes, now we're talking seriously BIG)


Some tinies:

I'd love to know what these are. Can anyone help?

Dusky Sweepers

Fire Goby


Some pretties:

Semicircle Angelfish

Schooling Coachman

Going down

 

[Deefstes]

Some pricklies:

Devil Firefish - this shot was actually a blooper but I ended up liking the result.

Devil Firefish - more the type of shot I was originally after

Raggy Scorpionfish

Whitetip Reef Shark - Say aaaah

Some eelies:

Salt and Pepper Moray

Yellow-edged Moray

Geometric Moray

 

[AndyT]

Great pics !!! Must give Molangane a visit sometime.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Excellent pictures Deefstes. Too bad I was not around SA to give that place a try.

 

[Theunis]

Hi Deefstes!

I only came across your dive report today.

Awesome photos.

 

[TheG]

Nice pics man ! I'm going there next weekend 6 - 10 August for my qualifying dives - hope to see all this !!

 

[Deefstes]

Thanks TheG and welcome to ScubaBoard and diving. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time at Ponta Malongane. There's no reason why you should not see these critters. It's only the Whaleshark and White-tip Reef Shark perhaps that aren't regular sights but all of the others are reasonably common.

 

[Marja]

The tiny fish look like GLASS FISH, usually in big schools.

 

[Evie G]

very good pictures!

 

[Deefstes]

The tiny fish look like GLASS FISH, usually in big schools.

Thanks for the info Marja. Could you bit more specific perhaps? I'm not familiar with "Glass Fish" but I wouldn't be surprised if it's another name for "Glassy Perchlet". I have considered Glassy's as possible candidates but the problem is there are at least 5 species that occur in southern African waters:
Commerson's Glassy (Ambassis ambassis)
Malabar Glassy (Ambassis dussumieri)
Bald Glassy (Ambassis gymnocephalus)
Slender Glassy (Ambassis natalensis)
Longspine Glassy (Ambassis productus)

I'm having a real hard time and would appreciate any help.