Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 65
Three
Chromodoris annulata
nudibranchs mate on a crowded part of Myanmar's
Black Rock reef.
dark unblinking eyes. Even the cuttlefi sh that hovered over the reef and the
octopuses lurking in hollows were intricately patterned and colored, covered
with spotted retractable bumps that imitated the blazing palette of colors on
the reef itself. And everywhere in this riot of life were nudibranchs, the little
molluscan jewels of the sea.
Each anemone on the reef had a full complement of anemone fi sh and
glittering porcelain crabs. The real estate was so crowded that many crevices
were inhabited by two or even three moray eels. Food sources were so plen-
tiful that often two species of moray shared the same hole, even though on
most reefs morays will defend their holes fi ercely.
The dif erence between this crowded world of the Mergui reefs and the
simpler reefs that we had left behind in the Thai waters to our south was
dramatic, and it increased as we moved further towards the coast of Myan-
mar. Visibility went down as we sailed to the north, but the sheer roistering
exuberance of life grew even greater.
Away from the solid reefs, however, the story was dif erent. Small fi sh
were abundant, but the large schools of snappers, bannerfi sh, and triggerfi sh
