Peppered Moray action

Hi everyone, Was lucky enough to come across a couple of frisky peppered morays on a recent trip to Nuweiba (Egyptian Red Sea), but just want to check what people think, are they Mr and Mrs Moray having a bit of luvin , or are they just having a bit of a spat (fight) . So far I've got 2 votes for luvin!!!

Many thanks, Jo

Rough n Tumble, biting and chasing ... Thats my kind of Luvin Nice behavioural sequence Jo

Dive safe

DeanB

Definitely courting! (or so I like to think). Very cool.

Great sequence. I am not sure either way on the vote.

Alex

Great clip, behaviors are always more interesting than a simple fish swimming by. It looked liked a courting behavior to me. If it was a spat there probably would have been some aggressive biting and shaking going on.

Steve

Thanks everyone. Looks like the luvin it is then!!!

Was definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time with this one!!!

See ya,

Jo

Hi Jo,

Thanks for sharing the vid, very interesting. Im off to Nuweiba next week, did you have a good trip? Any advice\suggestions? Do you have a photo gallery as well?

Many thanks,

Mark

Hi Jo,

 

Thanks for sharing the vid, very interesting. Im off to Nuweiba next week, did you have a good trip? Any advice\suggestions? Do you have a photo gallery as well?

 

Many thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark,

I'm jealous, Nuweiba's such a great place to go for photographers and videographers, there so much to see.

The pier is a must for atmospheric shots with wideangle and loads of macro opportunities. The legs are covered with hard coral that have loads of lionfish, dwarf lionfish, scorpionfish, baby peppered morays, christmas tree worms and loads more. Beside the jetty to the right as you look out to sea, there is quite often a large school of silversides that are constantly being circled by cornetfish. Definitely worth trying a night dive here too!!

Head right and stay at around 3 metres (being careful of the boat traffic...there's not too much, but make sure your buoyancy is good!!!), you come across a discarded lobster pot, look inside and there's sometimes a large porcupine fish and a handful of juvenille lionfish. The lionfish are pretty curious, if you take a mirror down with you and if you're a little patient you can tempt them out. Keep going right at around 3 metres and about 5 yards in to the sea-grass is an old oil drum that's covered in colourful hard corals and juvenille fish. Further still (maybe 200 yards from the pier) in the sandy area you come to Bob's reef. At first sight it looks a bit trashed, but keep looking as there's plenty of life to see. Careful of the stonefish!!!

To the left (north) there's a sea grass area worth looking out for sea cucumbers with shrimps, anemones with sea bees, cowfish, pipefish, peppered morays hunting and other ickle stuff.

Further left is the main reef, which has a main pinnacle with anemone fish, glassfish, anthias, soldierfish, yellow-mouthed morays, lionfish (goes without saying in Nuweiba!!!). On the deeper side of the pinnacle there's a little cave which on the left side has a cleaning station with white-banded cleaner shrimp and banded boxer shrimp. There are loads of smaller coral bommies dotted around this area to explore.

There are some oil drums and discarded rope at around 25 metres, that are worth checking out. You can usually find 5 or 6 peppered morays, all poking their heads out of the same hole, along with an undulate moray. Best to ask Chris and Noeleen at the dive centre how to find this area.

Sinkers is a 5 minute ride away....it's a buoy set by the Isreali army ages ago. Their chain was too short, so the buoy is around 5 metres below the surface!!!! Bit of a swim to get out there, especially if the current is running a little, but good for wide-angle. Loads of colour on the buoy itself with hard and soft corals + loads of anthias. On the way back to shore, you're taken over a lovely reef and at around 5 metres theres a small bommie, maybe 7-10 metres across, that's one of the pretties I've seen. So much life and anthias in their hundreds!!!

Other sites we tried were Pipelines, El Maserik and Magana, all worth a visit for things like sea-horses and rays (if you're lucky!!!).

I'm working through some video at the moment, but will still be a while before I post anything I'm afraid and my better half has some great photos, but I'm afraid he's not yet posted them on his website yet.

Hope you have a brilliant time out there and say hi to Chris and Noeleen from me.

Have fun,

Jo

Thanks for the detailed report Jo,

Im very excited about going..! Did you see any sea horses?? Did you manage to spot any frog fish as they are suppsively on the house reef ive read....?

Sea horses and frog fish are at the top of my list of things I want to see while im there. We were planning on doing most of our dives on the house reef so it sounds like there is plenty to keep us occupied with..!

Were you able to dive any time you wanted?

Mark

Thanks for the detailed report Jo,

 

Im very excited about going..! Did you see any sea horses?? Did you manage to spot any frog fish as they are suppsively on the house reef ive read....?

 

Sea horses and frog fish are at the top of my list of things I want to see while im there. We were planning on doing most of our dives on the house reef so it sounds like there is plenty to keep us occupied with..!

 

Were you able to dive any time you wanted?

 

Mark

Hi Mark,

No problem at all.

I didn't see any seahorses myself, but some people saw them at Magana I think. Frogfish, again no joy for me, but some people saw a couple on the way back from the Sinkers site.

We've been to Nuweiba a couple of times now, so Chris and Noeleen know our style of diving and were happy for us to wheel the cart with the gear down ourselves and stay in pretty much as long as we wanted. They'll probably want to see what you're like in the water before they loosen the reigns too much. There were 4 of us out there doing photo and video, so sometimes it's easier when you're in a small group!!!

Definitely enough to keep you occupied on the house reef, but it's worth trying a few of the other sites, as they're not that far away.

If you want to do a night dive or 2, best to let them know as early as possible, as they need to clear these with the authorities.

Have fun.

Jo

Thanks Jo,

I will suggest to the guides there that im keen to see a frog fish and sea horse and see if they can help... Its encouraging to hear that some people did manage to spot them..!

I only have 5 days left at work now so im reallying counting them down...!

Cheers,

Mark

Very cool!!!

Cheers

Karel

Very cool!!!

 

Cheers

Karel

Glad you like it Karel.

Thanks,

Jo

Great capture Jo. I would like to do some diving up there myself when I am next out to Sharm.

Stew

Great capture Jo. I would like to do some diving up there myself when I am next out to Sharm.

 

Stew

Thanks Stew.

Definitely worth the trip. We're thinking of going back again in May next year, as we enjoyed it so much.

See ya,

Jo