Scuba Diving and Liveaboards Phuket, Thailand

The lionfish is a common site in the Andaman and seen on all of the dive sites we go to, both by daytrips and liveaboards.
Nobody knows for sure how they got their name, and they are also known as turkey or dragon fish in some area’s. One thought is when they spread out their pectoral fins it sort of looks like a lion’s mane, and they are ferocious predators

They are beautiful and fascinating fish but due to their colouring, as is common in nature, most times bright and beautiful means dangerous. Its bright colours advertise its poisonous tentacles. The venom of the lionfish, delivered by up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins and is purely defensive. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal.
The scientific name for the lionfish is Pterois, and there are fifteen different species in the Pterois Genus of fish.

The largest of the lionfish species can grow to about 40cm in length, but the average is closer to 30cm, with the smallest around 6cm, and they weigh somewhere around 500 to 900g. Their lifespan in the wild can be around 15 years.

They are mainly active during the day and at night the Lionfish find crevices among rocks that they rest in, this is so they are not out of the open where they would be at risk of predators consuming them.

It relies on camouflage and fast reflexes to capture their prey which is mainly fish and shrimp.. Adult lionfish use their distinct pectoral fins to attract the prey. As soon as the prey comes within their reach, they swallow it in a single motion. Though not quite unique, this method of hunting is highly successful in regions where the lionfish is a non-native species as the native population of the area is not used to such traps. They are able to move around very quickly in the water. They are very good at using those long pectoral fins to herd fish and other prey into a confined area, trapping it making it simple for them to get their food. The lionfish’s stomach can expand to 30 times its normal size so they can really fill up, this is why it is such an invader in the Caribean.

They are solitary and they will become very aggressive if they feel that their home territory is at risk. The males tend to be more aggressive overall than the females. While adult lionfish are solitary creatures, juveniles are known to live together in groups. Over the course of time, they become highly territorial and don’t even hesitate to take on the other members of their group to capture and/or defend their territory.

The native habitat of lionfish spans the rocky crevices and reefs of the Indo-Pacific waters, but they can be found in the eastern coast of America. It is not clear how they have found their way there but it is thought that some specimens who were released by certain aquariums, and have begun to thrive in these warm waters without any natural predators. There is one documented case of lionfish escaping from an aquarium located in a house damaged by Hurricane Andrew – the fish were seen swimming nearby after the storm. The “on purpose” introductions are assumed to occur from hobbyists who dumped them into canals (not knowing any better) when the fish either got too large for their aquariums or became unwanted. Genetic evidence from recent scientific results suggests multiple introductions.

Learn more about marine life in the area with our AWARE Fish ID, Naturalist or Advanced open water courses.

Why would you choose an e-learning course when it could be more expensive than the standard course after paying the fee’s?

The reason is simple, for more convenience, you can complete all the classroom portion of the course at your own pace prior to arrival, so no classroom whilst on holiday. All you need is a high speed internet connection.

At the moment you can do this for the Open water, Advanced open water, Nitrox or enriched air specialty, Digital Photography, Rescue diver, Dive Master and Dive Theory. There is even the Scuba Tune up on line.

have also introduced the e-learning gift pass, you can customize this for special occasions, such as birthdays, holidays, weddings etc, as you are even able to provide a personal gift message to the recipient.

So if you are trying to think of a different present this may be the answer.

Rescue Diver Course

I was fortunate enough to have completed the Rescue Diver Course with ScubaCat Diving over the last 5 days with 3 other trainees – Noel, Josh and Kasper. Patrick and Sean were our brilliant instructors for the course.

Day 1 – Theory Lesson

We spent the whole of the Day 1 in the classroom learning about Emergency First Response (a pre-requisite for the actual Rescue Diver Course).

Sitting through hours of dry, boring videos is never an easy task – I was struggling to keep myself awake at times. However, the lively discussions that we had with regards to the subject as well as the mock scenarios we were given to remedy made the day so much more bearable. It also helped that our instructors shared many of their real-life experiences, making the knowledge fed to us a lot more relevant and memorable.

Day 2 – Pool Session

Day 2 was our first taste of the Rescue Diver Course. In the training pool, we learnt how to deal with, and pretend to be, a panicked, tired or unresponsive divers on the surface and in the water. Despite the training being serious and extremely draining, there was never a shortage of laughter throughout the day. Of course, Sean, being our instructor was the one who always had the last laugh, and an extremely sinister one in fact – in Patrick’s words “a bit of a mix between that of a Dracula and the Devil”. Midway through our training we even got to meet Sean’s hairy ‘son’ (Jasmine, I think he was called)! Towards the end of the day it started to drizzle. A sign of things to come the next day.

Day 3 – Practice Exercises @ Paradise Beach

The day began beautifully. The air was nice and warm. It was also the first time we got to see the Sun in days. We were on MV Scuba Sport in less than 30min after setting off from ScubaCat’s back office.

The objective for the day was simple; we were going to do what we did the previous day in the pool, except this time we would be subjected to the sea condition. We didn’t think much of it since the sea conditions seemed rather favorable that morning. Our instructors, of course, had very different ideas. Sean and Patrick casually mentioned that it would be a lot more beneficial to us trainees if the sea was choppier and winds were stronger. They then proceeded to summon a thunderstorm (which came within 5 minutes) with their secret mutant powers. Sean would later pretend that he had no hand in the sudden change of weather by humming to ABBA’s Mamma Mia!

As rescue diver wannabes, we were all getting more and more comfortable with the drills and routines we were supposed to do. Pretending as panicked or unresponsive divers, we were all getting more and more comfortable with having seawater go up our nostrils and into our eyes.

Day 4 – Practice Scenarios @ Rachai Yai

The 2nd day out at sea started early at 7.00am. We headed to Chalong Bay where MV Scuba Fun was already waiting for us. It was Christmas Day so there were no surprises when we found Santa Hats on board. The videographer Johnny B. was a strong advocate of them hats and spent a good 15mins trying to convince others on board to put them on as he did. The journey to Rachai Yai wasn’t the most comfortable one as the ship took a good beating from the angry sea. However, once we got into Bungalow Bay of Rachai Yai, everything was nice and calm again.

Today was the day we became extremely proficient in getting into our diving gear and jumping into the water. I think we may have gone in and out of the water no less than 15 times. Working together, we found out how much easier things could be if we established good communication during our rescues.

The highlight of the day came when we had a real search to carry out – fortunately, not for a real case of a missing diver – after it was discovered that one of the customer’s fin was knocked into the sea just as the boat was moving to another dive site. Eventually, we managed to recover it rather quickly.

Day 5 – Knowledge Review and Theory Examination

After 4 tiring days, we concluded the course with Patrick going through our knowledge reviews and then sitting for our theory examination, which all of us aced. We were now newly certified Rescue Divers! A bittersweet moment for me since although the course being absolutely exhausting, it was also extremely fun and insightful!

Family name: Antennariidae
Order name: Lophiiformes
Common name: Frogfish or Anglerfish
Scientific name: Antennariidae
Frogfish are very misunderstood and very little is known about this unique underwater lie-in-wait predator. They live generally on the ocean floor around coral or rock reefs throughout tropical and subtropical waters. Most species live in shallow water although some species are deep dwelling. Recreational divers in Asia are most likely to spot certain species including giant, clown and painted frogfish.

Around the Andaman we have seen frogfish in the Similans, Richelieu Rock, Koh Tachai, Koh Doc Mai, Phi Phi, Racha Yai and Noi.

Frogfish, are named because of their squat resemblance to the common amphibians, they range in size from around 5cm to the giant frogfish’s 40cm. The resemblance to frogs is that their fins are more like legs, which they use to walk slowly over the sea bed and on top of sponges and corals to lie in wait for their prey.
Colour is often not much help in identifying different frogfish since they can change this to allow themselves to camouflage and blend in with the environment they are in. Depending on the species, this change might take seconds or weeks. Some frog fish’s skin is also covered by bumps, flaps, hairs and tassles which further allow for mimicking the nearby seabed, corals, sponges or weeds. This also explains how divers can often cruise straight past, not noticing their presence.

There are not many other fish that you could mistake for a frogfish but it can be exceptionally difficult to distinguish between the sexes or species. Unless you get out your scalpel, there is no way to tell male from female. Since colouration is not a method of identification for all but the most rare species, you should be looking out for species-specific features such as what form the lure takes (maybe it is mimicking a worm or fish), the number of eye spots and the number of spines.
Frogfish move very slowly but they have the fastest strike speed of any other animal on earth. They move by gulping water with their massive mouth, then forcing the water through the gills, this allows them to move about the reef or bottom.

As the frogfish is scaleless and unprotected camouflage is an important defense against predators. Some can also inflate themselves, like pufferfish, by sucking in water in a threat display. In aquariums and in nature, frogfish have been know to when moved from their hiding spots and are clearly visible, to be attacked by clownfish, damselfish, and wrasse, and even to be killed.
It is the feeding approach of anglerfish that makes it such interesting creatures. They are perfectly camouflaged and lie in wait for any prey. The lure may be used to attract prey in a variety of different ways, depending on the species.

They can also use a chemical attractant so sometimes they just lie in wait for some unfortunate creature to venture too close. When the prey is within grasp the attack takes place. The frogfish expands its oral cavity engulfing the prey with a reflex that instantly sucks it in by creating suction pressure inside the mouth. Taking no more than around 6 milliseconds.

Frogfish have also been seen stalking their prey by sneaking towards their target along the sea bed.

They eat mostly small fish, shrimps and crabs but their prey sometimes being up to twice their own body size. As they are toothless the frogfish swallows its prey whole, allowing digestive enzymes to do the rest. The prey can often be seen twitching and writhing against the walls of the its stomach until they no longer are alive. Frogfish have also been observed to eat lionfish; the poison appears to have no effect on them.  In addition to expanding their mouths, frogfish can also expand their stomachs to swallow animals up to twice their size.

What eats anglerfish? the main answer is another frogfish, they are known for being cannibalistic. However considering that they are designed more to catch fish swimming in the water column, this is a rather rare phenomenon. Moray eels have also been witnessed eating frogfish, but again, this is an uncommon sight.

Learn more interesting facts about the local marine life to Phuket by joining us on a Naturalist or Fish ID specialty course.

Few months ago, I decided to leave Europe for my internship at Scuba Cat. As I had been told that I would have many opportunities to do diving here, I had become over excited because I could never image how the undersea lives looked like. However, I had felt very nervous at the same time.
My first dives DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) took places at Paradise Reef, a beautiful shallow site in the Patong Bay.

My instructor is Sean Porter, an incredibly optimistic English man. I heard that Sean was a very experienced dive instructor but I was still unable to hide my nerves.
I received a thorough briefing about mask, fins, pressure, breathing, etc before I jumped into the water. After putting on me a BCD and air tank, Sean did one more check to make sure that everything was well-setup. For this first dive ever, Sean would only take me down till 6 meters depth. Then now I was ready to explore the ocean.
Once being in the sea, I must breathe through the regulator. Although the air in the tank is similar to the normal air, I felt like it was the weirdest air I had ever breathe in my life. Being told to face down slowly into the water, I had feeling that my heart beat ten times faster to make it. Gosh! I felt water everywhere. I didn’t feel comfortable at all! As struggling few times with breathing and descending, I was now undersea.

Sean guided through reefs, show me fishes. He kept asking whether everything was ok with my ear, my mask and so on. He and I still remember how I was excited as I tried to catch the fishes with my hands. OMG! Fishes are everywhere surrounding me. My eyes opened as big as they can. I saw Sergeant Majorfish, Clark’s Anemone Fish, Longfin Bannerfish, Moorish Idol, Lined Butterflyish, Powder Blue Surgeonfish, Corals, Blue Sea Star, and that “ugly” Sea Cucumber and “scary” Black Diadema Urchin and many that I don’t know their names. I didn’t notice that 20 minutes had gone until Sean gave sign to go up. When we came back to the boat, Sean teased me that I could catch the fishes well but I should stop doing it next time.

The second dives would be the most unforgettable dive in my life. This time I didn’t have problem descending but struggling with breathing and water (again!). As water came into my mouth and my mask, I started feeling unsafe and wanted to go back but few seconds after that, I couldn’t resist anymore. I was shaking, trying to blow water out and somehow the regulator was out. In a second, I thought that I would end my life there but thank to Sean, he put the regulator in my mouth again, pressed the air button, the air flew into my lung and immediately I felt “alive” again. He inflated my BCD and I was already on the surface few seconds after that.
I went diving again a few days later, the feeling of being scared had disappeared and I felt more relaxed, and I guess it will feel like that more and more each time I do it.

It’s hard to believe that I just returned from a scary-but-interesting journey. In dedication to Sean, who made my first dive experience absolutely amazing. He has been doing a brilliant job as an hero undersea. How challenging it is to get over myself to see a wonderful world undersea but since that moment, I knew that I truly loved diving again.

I must agree with Dave Barry- a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author- as he said
“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.”