There are a Lot of Fish

“Fish soup” is how most divers would have described the abundance of fish life swarming over the reefs in Raja Ampat last week on Mermaid II. If you are a marine biologist, “a healthy biomass” would have most likely been the phrase you would have used to describe the conditions. No matter your preference for vernacular, the end result would have been the same as we’re all describing the same thing.

There was a lot of fish. From our first dives in the Daram islands in Misool where anchovies and fusileers rolled over us like glimmering waves to the walls of jack fish in the Dampier straight whose perfect formations were periodically ruptured by energetic mantas as they circled the reef tops. Those that were able to avert your attention from the fishy chaos taking place above the reefs and focus on the activity within the bustling reef itself were pleasantly surprised by a myriad of critters like electric clams, pigmy sea horses of various species, and the notorious blue ringed octopus. Wherever your attention was focused however, you were pleasantly bombarded with some of natures greatest and most.