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Napoleon, the emperor of warm seas

30/5/2022

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Napoleon, the emperor of warm seas
If you are passionate about colorful reefs, you probably know the Napoleon fish! Also called giant wrasse or humpback wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) it is an emblematic tropical reef fish and although on average it is 60 cm, it can reach up to 2.30 m long and weigh over 200 kg! 
Napoleon's cocked hat.
Napoleon's cocked hat.
Napoleon, what a funny name ?!
This labrum owes its name to its hump, which recalls Napoleon's cocked hat.
Its scientific name, however, Cheilinus Undulatus, means "wavy lips" in reference to the full lips of this pretty fish.
Long live the Emperor Napoleon!
The wrasse lives mainly in the Indo-Pacific region, where it lives in the waters of 48 countries between 0 and 100 meters deep. This wrasse has an exceptional life expectancy: 25-30 years, and some individuals studied have even lived for fifty years!
During its development, the giant wrasse will change sex.
The Napoleon fish is a Trans!
During its development, the giant wrasse will change sex. We then speak of successive hermaphroditism. All giant wrasses are born female and reach their sexual majority around the age of 7. Some individuals would then become males around their fifteenth year. Their appearance changes: they drop the red-orange of their scales for a more or less bright blue-green color, and their legendary bump develops and becomes more pronounced with age.
Male Napoléon fish
Male Napoléon fish
The humpback wrasse diet: defender of the coral reef...
Napoleon plays an important role in the ecosystem of coral species. Indeed, giant wrasses are one of the few animals that can feed on the purple acanthaster or Christ's crown (Acanthaster planci), an invasive starfish species whose diet consists almost exclusively of coral. It also feeds on mollusks, crustaceans and other poisonous species such as box fish or sea hares.
The humpback wrasse diet: defender of the coral reef...
However, the napoleon is in danger.
Now protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973), its population is estimated to have halved over the past 30 years. Its fishing is prohibited in many countries, but it is not always controllable, and this animal is still abundantly fished in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
In addition to their pretty colors, giant wrasses have the misfortune of being very tasty and are considered a luxury treat in Hong Kong where some businessmen are willing to pay 2000 USD to wow the gallery by eating a pair of lips!
Now protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973), its population is estimated to have halved over the past 30 years.
Please don't feed napoleons!
No more than other species for that matter ... Tourism poses a certain risk for the Napoleon wrasse population. At some tourist hot-spots, animals are baited by food thrown by boats, in other places, dive guides feed them hard-boiled eggs to amuse tourists.
The fish become dependent on these baits and no longer distrust boats or humans.
Please don't feed Napoléon fish!
If you liked this article, please share it and if you have any other info on this magnificent emperor, leave us a comment below!
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All About the Pinecone Fish

12/5/2022

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Discover this rather rare fish, the Pinecone Fish!

All about Pinecone fish

Where does his name, Monocentris Japonica, come from?

The pine conefish (Monocentris japonica), also known as the knightfish or crownfish, because of the armor-like scales that cover its body, and the port and starboard lighthouse fish, because it has a pair of bioluminescent organs that are reminiscent of the navigation lights on ships.

It should not be confused with the Cleidopus gloriamaris or Pineapple Fish. They are very similar but are not found in the same area. Cleidopus gloriamaris is bigger than the pinecone fish and lives deeper. The difference between these two aren't obvious. Your diving location is probably the best way to make the difference but I have noticed that the pinecone we have seen in Thailand and Myanmar waters is a lot brighter than its foreign counterparts.
Pinecone vs Pineapple fish
From the book 'Reef Fish Identification Tropical pacific' by authors Gerald Allen, Roger Steene, Paul Humann, Ned Deloach , page 403

Where does Pinecone fish live?

It’s found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific Oceans, at depths between 2 and 100 m and can be found on both rocky and coral reefs. The fish is nocturnal and shelters in caves and under ledges during the day.
Map indopacific

How to recognize it?

The Pinecone can measure up to 17 cm long. Its plump, round body is almost entirely covered with large, rough scales and sharp spines pointing backwards. The head is large, with mucous pits lined with rough ridges, and is armored with heavy bones. The snout is blunt and overhangs the wide mouth. The teeth are tiny and thin, present on the jaws. 

​
Pinecone fish away
Pinecone portrait
​There are two wells containing bioluminescent bacteria on the lower jaw, near the corners of the mouth, which are hidden when the mouth is closed. This photophore is green in young fish and becomes more red as they age. The first dorsal fin consists of 5 to 7 strong spines; the spines have no membrane and point alternately to the left and right. The second dorsal fin contains 12 soft rays.

What is his behavior?

Because of its small fins and rigid armor, the pineapple fish is a weak swimmer. A nocturnal species, it can be found inside caves and under rocky ledges during the day. At night, this species ventures onto the sandy flats to feed, using its light organs to illuminate small shrimp. The light can also be used to communicate with fellow individuals. The pineapple's light is produced by symbiotic colonies of the bacterium Vibrio fishery inside its photophores. However, their luminescence fades within a few hours of being released.

The pineapple fish is moderately common in deep water, but due to its reticent nature, for some time after its initial discovery it was only known from specimens washed ashore by storms. While quite a rare encounter in the Andaman Sea, pineapple fish are regularly sighted in Thailand and Myanmar for the pleasure of scuba divers and underwater photographers. 

lil pineapple
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21th April 2023, last Andaman trip of the season

3/5/2022

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Our last trip brought us back to Ranong after 4 months mooring at Tap Lamu and Phuket, so it is with great pleasure that we are getting back in the departure routine we followed for the last 10 years!

21th April 2023, last Andaman trip of the season
After meeting our guests in our office, we are happy to set sail from Ranong at 5 pm with half of the guests, while the other half is waiting/chilling on Koh Phayam, where we can pick them up around 7pm.
 
As soon as everyone got onboard, we went through our traditional Departure Ceremony, praising the good sea spirits with a food offering and scaring the bad ones with fire crackers...
So happy in Richelieu Rock!
Family gathering onboard!
A spectacular first sunset
A spectacular sunset
After a lovely diner and first night onboard the real fun started in Surin national park for our check dive the following morning.

And because everyone was super confortable on this first dive, we decided to head out to  Richelieu Rock for the next 3 exceptional dives. Most of us went for a sunset dive but a few others opted for a night dive on Richelieu Rock. Both choices were not only good choices, the dives turned out to be absolutely spectacular
Bluefin trevallies
Bluefin trevallies
Huge glassfish school
Huge glassfish school
As I did the sunset, I will write about my own experience: the massive schools of big eye and bluefin trevally bolting at the dense schools of glassfish blanketing the reef: the hunt was simply mesmerising! The enormous bait balls of juveniles where the prey of all kinds of hungry adults making them move like a flock of birds…

The usuals macro creatures were there too, Harlequin shrimps were feeding on a sea star, ornate ghost pipefish where still numerous and we even found again the more elusive robust ghost pipefish and some smiling Tigertail seahorses :)
Robust ghost pipefish
Robust ghost pipefish
Beautiful school of fish
Beautiful school of fish
This week was a half-moon week, making the current a lot less strong than the week before, allowing us to truly get where ever we wanted disregarding the tide phases. We then could go and stay in the blue ahead of the current where it splits… this is where there is most action, all the time, but not always easy to get to.
 
The night divers came back from their dive with sparkles in the eyes… Richelieu Rock is teaming with life, in every hole you look you will find shrimps or crabs or nudibranchs and witnessing the night creature coming out of their hole there is absolutely fantastic! Their highlight was a sponge crab!
After this phenomenal day we are going south to Koh Bon for the next 2 morning dives…
 
We slept at Koh Tachai as the sea was very calm and made it to Koh Bon early morning… we all decided to dive the west ridge first hoping for Mantas but no luck, instead we had the nice resident baby eagle ray showing off passing in the middle of us as I was shooting some portrait for our guests on top of the big bummy in the north of the ridge…
There was also the squad of long nose emperor fish, blue fin trevallies and snappers coming and going hunting frantically in the reef!
 
The second dive some went for the pinnacle while others went back to the north ridge and both were delighted about it, the abundance in life is really heartwarming!
 
We went to Koh Tachai for the second half of the day as planned and I was glad to see the resident lobsters but sad not to see the regular massive school of barracudas… It is only once back on the boat that 2 groups told us that the barracudas were at the north pinnacle… bummer! I didn’t see them, so no photo
Arlequin shrimps
Arlequin shrimps
Huge variety of fish on the coral reef
Huge variety of fish on the coral reef
Titan trigger fish
Titan trigger fish
I could have gone again for the sunset dive but I preferred to go later for the blackwater dive…
 
The barracudas were there again and the action picked up with great hunting actions as we were happy to hear when the divers came back from the sunset dive. We could then sail toward west for the blackwater and decided to stop and set up the line above 80m of water…
 
Even if we didn’t make it to the drop off it was pleasantly rich in marine life… jellies, squids, crab, octopus, squirrel fish, soapfish, pufferfish and my first larvae scorpionfish!
 
Following this we had are great bbq night and the crowed on board made it very special! Starting with some fish imitations and the famous box game it really kicked off when we pulled out the disco ball! Thank you to Tatiana for leading the Zumba dance!
 
The party went on deep into the night! My big surprise to see every one up on time for the next and last day diving, but it was back to Richelieu Rock again and no one was ready to miss out!
Jelly fish
Jelly fish
Baby scorpionfish
Baby scorpionfish
Baby pufferfish
Baby pufferfish
Squid
Squid
Squirrel fish
Squirrel fish
Baby octopus
Baby octopus
Indeed, the 2 dives were as expected spectacular again! Richelieu Rock is a special place, one of the 10th best dive sites in the world but from 10 years of experience in the area I can say that Richelieu Rock was on fire!
 
I had a special request on this trip from Aiara as it was her birthday, she wanted few shots of her with fish… I tried my best to make her happy ;)
Zumba dance on The Smiling Seahorse
Zumba dance on The Smiling Seahorse
Super buffet on The Smiling Seahorse
Super buffet on The Smiling Seahorse
Cocktail time
Cocktail time
Happy birthday on The Smiling Seahorse
Happy birthday Aiara!
Was time now to head back to Ranong without forgetting to let some guests out on Koh Phayam…
We greated eachothers good bye and I must say I was a bit sad… this trip was the best one I could dream of as a last trip of the season….
Thank you all and see you soon again for more boat, fish, stories, pictures…!

​
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