Giant Guitarfish Spotted While Diving in the Surin Islands, Thailand
Yep, you read it right!
We saw a beautiful guitarfish in the Surin Islands on our last Trip 1: Best of Thailand cruise.
It was a night dive, and this unusual ray-shaped fish passed right over one dive group and then next to the second one. We are so lucky!
Guitarfish belonging to the Rhinobatis genus are becoming a rare sight, which made this encounter during our Thailand liveaboard cruise particularly special.
What Is a Guitarfish?
The name Rhinobatis gives us a clue about the unusual appearance of these animals. In Greek, rhinos refers to a nose or snout, while batus refers to a ray. Guitarfish have a fascinating combination of characteristics that make them look partly like sharks and partly like rays.
They are actually rays, belonging to the ray family, despite their distinctly shark-like appearance. Their elongated body and pointed head can make them surprisingly difficult to identify at first glance, especially when seen briefly during a night dive.
Guitarfish: Part Shark, Part Ray?
There are several features that explain why guitarfish can look so much like sharks.
Like Sharks
- They have an elongated, shark-like body shape and some species can reach around 3 metres in length.
- They swim using their shark-like dorsal fins and tail rather than constantly flapping their large pectoral fins like many other rays.
When one swims past you in the darkness on a night dive, it is easy to understand why someone might initially mistake it for a small shark!
Like Rays
- They have distinctive ray-like pectoral wings and actually belong to the ray family.
- They are ovoviviparous: the embryos develop inside eggs retained within the mother’s body until they are ready to hatch and emerge.
- Their mouth is positioned underneath the head, as is typical of rays, and they feed on animals living on or near the seabed.
- They like to bury themselves in sand or mud, using the seabed as camouflage.
This combination of shark-like and ray-like characteristics is what makes the guitarfish such a fascinating animal to encounter underwater.
A Lucky Night Dive Encounter in the Surin Islands
Our encounter happened during a night dive in the Surin Islands. The guitarfish swam over the top of one of our dive groups before passing alongside the second group, giving several divers the chance to see this unusual animal.
Encounters like this are a good reminder that night diving in Thailand can reveal a completely different side of the underwater world. Animals that are difficult to spot during the day can become active, while the darkness makes every unexpected encounter even more exciting.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a good photograph of this particular beauty, so I’m sharing a photo from the web instead. Thank you, Brian!
Want to See More Marine Life in the Andaman Sea?
The waters around the Surin Islands are home to an impressive variety of marine life, from colourful reef fish and rays to unusual creatures that are rarely encountered. A liveaboard cruise gives divers the opportunity to explore several sites over multiple days and experience both day and night diving.
Discover more unusual rays and other marine animals you may encounter while diving in Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
