39“MUCK” AND “CRITTERS” are two
words not normally associated with
the popular dive destination of Koh
Tao, located in the Gulf of Thailand.
Renowned for diver training, there being
more dive certifications issued here
than anywhere else in Asia, the hope of
most visiting divers, plus the majority
of working dive professionals, is to see
a turtle or a sea snake whilst on a dive.
Those with greater ambitions have the
largest fish in the ocean, the whale shark,
at the top of their wish list of marine
life encounters.
However, away from the tried and
tested dive sites, out in the sand, there
is another world to discover that is
home to many different creatures not
encountered on the reefs. You need to
know where to go though, as not all sand
is the same. You need to find the nutrient
rich “muck” that supports a variety of
benthic marine life: sea pens, various
species of algae, solitary corals, heart
urchins and stinging hydroid colonies.
Areas that can be prone to current are
rich in fields of soft coral in the genusOPPOSITE LEFT
Golden mantis shrimp,
Lysiosquilloides mapiaOPPOSITE MIDDLE
Blue-ring octopus,
Hapalochlaena
spp, on soft coral,
Dendronephthya spp
OPPOSITE RIGHT
Caviti cardinalfish,
Apogon cavitiensis,
with eggsKOH TAOKOH TAODendronephthya. This is a completely
different environment to the established
dive sites around the island, which
are formed from granite boulders or
pinnacles, covered in hard coral growth.
If you can find an operator willing to
deviate from the standard dive schedule,
as well as a guide that knows this type
of environment, you may encounter
something a bit different. Over the last
few years of exploring, sightings have
included numerous types of mantis
shrimp, sand divers, ornate gobies,
juvenile filefish and triggerfish, dartfish,
wormfish and, living in symbiosis with
soft corals, soft coral crabs, porcelain
crabs and soft coral cowries. A few
different species of Syngnathids are
found here, including some striking
purple-coloured hedgehog seahorses
(Hippocampus spinosissimus), and more
recently in one specific area, regular
encounters with the coveted blue-ringed
octopus (Hapalochlaena spp). The more
we dive in this environment; the more
species we are finding that were not
previously known to be in the region. ADShort-tailed pipefish,
Trachyrhamphus bicoarctatusTHAILAND