Trip report : Citizen science research trip in North Andaman from 23rd to 29th of November 2022

Special trip for special guests coming from Israel, Malaysia, Canada, China, Hong Kong and Thailand. Diving with us and conduct some research on the reef, to understand more about the cleaning stations and the different coral species interactions.

Settled down some cameras

Reef survey

Teira batfish

One of the main goal of this trip was to locate a cleaning station, we settled down some cameras where we found loads of cleaner wrasse, and leave them during our surface interval, hoping to capture some pelagic images when no divers are diving on the site.

Giant Moray

Beautiful Sea fan garden

Cuttlefish

Amazing day in Richelieu, dive site is always full of life and specials encounters.
Franck managed to capture on a picture the egg of the clown fish around the anemone, Ghostpipefish, seahorse and the most wanted harlequin shrimps.

Clownfish protecting the eggs on the anemone

Diving in the Similan National Park for the next 4 days, Koh Tachai, Koh Bon and the Similan islands number 7 to 9 were our research field. While the divers examine the reef, we were lucky to see some sharks and rays in the blue and some beautiful Nudibranchia on the reef.

Snappers

Psychedelic batwing slug

Sea anemones

Miamira sinuata and Netted Miamira nudibranchia

Crown of Thorns starfish

Halgerda tessellata

It has been a fascinating trip, the surface interval was busy with some presentation on the different species of coral, their threats and some ecological solution to save our reef !

Happy guests onboard The Smiling Seahorse

Dedication for the special shrimp we found and were so happy to discover for the first time in the archipelago..... the..... hairy..... shrimp ! Well done Camille !

Hairy Shrimp -Pphycocaris Simulan

Thanks to all of you for being part of the cruise, hope you enjoyed your time with us and wish to see you again soon on board of the MV Smiling Sea Horse.