The Abundance of Marine Life!

Though Peru is not yet a hot spot on the Scuba diving map I find it hard to understand why!

The biodiversity and volume of Marine live here is immense. With more than 1,000 species of fish, 1,400 species of mollusks and 300 species of shell fish registered in Peru alone the sea is teaming with life. That is without mentioning the many species of Whales, Dolphins and Sea Lions also found swimming off our shore.

The Humboldt Current

The Humboldt Current, also known as the Peru Current is what makes this stretch of the Pacific the most productive marine ecosystems of the world. Flowing from the tip of Chile to Northern Peru it is the world’s largest upwelling current meaning that it brings the cool, nutrient rich water to the surface where it in turn can support an abundance of marine life. This is occurring off the coast of Peru year round.

Pregnant Seahorse

With such a vast array of life it is easy to understand why our dives over the last few months have been so fulfilling. Though we are a long way from registering all 2,700 species our count increases with every dive. In the last week we have spotted Pipe fish for the first time as well as Guitar and Trumpet fish. Maurice also swears, though I am not so certain, that he saw a Napoleon Maori hiding in between some rocks at Peña Alta. Frequently we observe Porcupinefish, Seahorses, Octopuses, Groupers, Butterflyfish, Emperor Angelfish and Sergeant Majorfish. Particularly noteworthy this week was the pregnant Seahorse we caught on camera and on my most recent dive not one but two Moray Eels poking their heads of their hiding place.

Our different dive locations obviously support different communities of organisms and as we get to know each one better we are recognising the patterns and individuality of each. El Ñuro, with its busy fishing pier, is especially unique with its colony of Green and Olive Ridley Sea Turtles. While we frequently have the privilege of diving with these endangered Turtles at this location Maurice’s recent spot of a large solitary sea Turtle at our Organos dive location was definitely noteworthy and out of the ordinary.

Come and see this all this for your self with us!!

Maurice’s word of the week: Octopi – Though I fear I may have mislead him…. Though Octopi is frequently used and accepted the wonders of the WWW has informed me that Octopuses is grammatically more correct based on the fact that Octopus derives from Greek not Latin.