Banded Sea Krait Facts:

• There are around 50 types of Sea Krait and all belong to the Cobra family
• The average Sea Krait grows to about 2 meters long with the largest growing up to 3 meters
• They have flattened tails to swim fast and have flaps over their nostrils that close when they are underwater
• With no gills they need to surface for air, but can stay down as deep as 100 meters for up to an hour
• Sea Kraits are highly poisonous but with small heads and tiny fangs they would struggle to bite through a wetsuit or skin
• Sea Kraits go on land to lay their eggs

Banded Sea Krait – What are they?

Banded Sea Kraits are a species of sea snake that mainly live in tropical Indo-Pacific oceanic waters. They are venomous but generally not aggressive and therefore do not necessarily pose a danger to divers.  Amphibious Sea Kraits are characterised by a feature that is clearly to aid them in swimming efficiently and fast, a broad paddle-like tail.  This tail is much different to snakes that purely inhabit on land and shows how Sea Kraits have evolved to live in our oceans. Although Sea Kraits have evolved to live in underwater environments, they are ‘amphibious’ which means they are adapted for living on land as well as water for laying their eggs etc as opposed to other true Sea Snakes that bear their young in water and so are ‘aquatic’ Sea Snakes. A Sea Kraits heart is located mid-body to enable blood pressure to be stable throughout its length which is very important when diving deep. Sea Kraits have extra large lungs to help them stay underwater for extended periods of time which is helped by nostrils that seal shut but they still need to surface every so often to breathe. Unlike Eels, Sea Kraits are reptiles and have scales. Sea Kraits have developed specialised ventral scales for crawling on land which allows them to come ashore every 10 – 14 days to digest food, shed their skin or lay eggs.

Manta Ray Facts:

• Mantas can be huge, growing up to 25 feet in length and weigh as much as 5,000 pounds.
• Manta Rays are known to engage in the process of migrating.
• A protective mucus membrane covers a manta ray and can be lost if they are touched by humans.
• The Manta Ray has the largest brain to body ratio of all sharks and rays on Earth.
• Manta Rays can live up to 20 years old.
• A very close relative of the shark. Ironically, sharks as well as whales are their main predators. They are also closely related to the stingray but they don’t have a stinger.
• Manta rays regularly display amazing aerobatic maneuvers for divers.
• The Manta Ray is actually classified as a fish. It is also one of the largest and it continues to be one that we know the least about.
• They don’t have a skeleton that is made from bone but from cartilage.
• The smallest species of Manta Ray is the Mobula Diabolis only growing to about 2 feet in length.
• The Manta Ray is only surpassed in size in the marine world by sharks and whales.
• The open fins of a Manta Ray can be more than 20 feet in length.
• While the Manta Ray has many rows of sharp teeth, they aren’t used for eating. Instead they have a filtering system.
• The Manta Ray doesn’t have a nose.
• The name Manta means blanket in Spanish, and the fact that this creature looks like a blanket as it moves in the water is part of the namesake.
• The mouth of the Manta Ray is located on the top of the head instead of on the bottom.
• They are the only jawed vertebrates that also have limbs.

Manta Ray – What are they?

The manta ray is a large ray in the family Mobulidae and  is the largest species of the rays. The largest known specimen was more than 7.6 metres (25 ft) across, with a weight of about 2,300 kilograms (5,100 lb). Manta rays are broader across than they are long, and they have distinctive fins near their faces which resemble horns, which also gives them the name ‘devil rays’. These fins are an ingenious tool which the mantas use to sweep in prey. Manta rays are filter feeders, living on plankton. They are very good swimmers, using huge fins, similar to wings to elegantly glide through the water and steer themselves with their whip-like tails. Some species can even jump totally out of the water. The manta ray is ovoviviparous, which means that the females incubate their eggs in their bodies. Typically only one manta ray baby hatches at a time, and newborn manta rays are already around four feet wide. Although it might be tempting to imagine grabbing on and hitching a ride with these fast swimmers, people should avoid handling manta rays, as they can hurt them or damage the mucus membranes which protect the body from infection. Manta rays are located throughout tropical waters of the world, typically around coral reefs which means that many visitors to these regions come into contact with manta rays. The famous Thailand dive sites of Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are considered to be among the top 10 dives sites in the world for spotting manta rays which is why we run 3 trips a week to this amazing site on our luxury cruiser ‘Ja Ru Pat‘.

How to work out the sex of a manta ray

Seashorse Facts:

• The seahorse species ranges in size from .6 inches (smaller than a thumbnail) to little over one foot (14 inches).
• They can rotate their eyes 360°, each independent of the other.
• They have no teeth and no stomach.
• When released, seahorse babies are fully formed, having grown inside their father’s pouch.
• The only species in the entire animal kingdom to do so, the male seahorse bears the young.
• Voracious eaters, seahorses consume an average of 3000 plankton, brine shrimp, and other microscopic marine life each day. By the time a seahorse is two weeks old, its appetite is “adult.”
• Most seahorses use camouflage to blend in with their surroundings.
• Because of their upright position, seahorses are not the best swimmers. As a result, they spend most of their time stationary, anchored to vegetation.

Seahorse – What are they?

If you think of the word ‘seahorse’ your mind will most probably picture a 6ft tall black stallion galloping off into the deep blue. Unfortunately, in reality this is not the case but even still, this small once mythical sea creature  creates an air of mystery with the very mention of its name.

Dating back to the the Ancient Greek period, the Seahorse is of the genus Hippocampus, which literally means “horse sea monster”: hippos is “horse” and kampos is “sea monster” in Greek. Seahorses are named for their equine profile. Although they are bony fish, they do not have scales, but rather a thin skin stretched over a series of bony plates arranged in rings throughout their body. Seahorses have a coronet on their head, which is distinct to each individual, much like a human fingerprint. Seahorses swim upright which distinguishes them from the closely related pipefish but they swim very poorly by using a dorsal fin, which they rapidly flutter and pectoral fins, located behind their eyes, which they use to steer. Seahorses have no caudal fin. Male seahorses become pregnant, not the females. Born with pouches like a kangaroo’s, male seahorses are perfectly designed to carry and protect seahorse eggs and hatchlings until they’re ready to strike out on their own. Within days of releasing one brood, males become pregnant once again. Its a tough life to be a male seahorse.

There are nearly 50 species of seahorse which are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world. They prefer to live in sheltered areas such as seagrass beds, coral reefs or mangroves where they form territories, with males staying in about 1 square metre (11 sq ft) of their habitat while females range about one hundred times that area.

Our excellent dive sites including Ko Haa are a great place to see the ‘Yellow Tigertail Seahorse’ with our expert guides being able to spot these creatures amongst the vast walls of soft corals.

Diving with a Seahorse for the first time

While hearing other divers compare seahorse stories it is not hard to get a little frustrated after many dives and not seeing these tiny sea creatures with your own eyes. After all, seahorses always manage to stir up excitement amongst divers before a dive if the chance of a sighting is in order. Very similar in fact to the excitement divers feel before the chance of maybe seeing an ocean giant like a manta or whale shark which is pretty amazing when you consider the size difference between the two.

After many times visiting Thailand’s top dive sites I had made it my mission to find my first seahorse. I knew where to look, I knew the best places to find them, I knew what size, shape and colour they are in order to find one but had still never seen one. Without building up the knack of spotting them like the rest of our excellent Scubafish guides it can be a very challenging task. You eventually realise patience seems to be a very handy tool when trying to find them.

Following the proverb ‘All good things come to he who waits’ has finally paid off. Not so long ago while on a day trip to Ko Haa, the stunning 5 islands close to Southern Ko Lanta it was a very normal day aboard our luxury boat ‘Moskito’. With 5 staff members and around 14 guests all fun diving for the day we all mutually agreed to dive island #1 which has beautiful walls and the famous ‘chimney’ swim-through. We all agreed to search for seahorses for the first portion of our first dive. With a large search party consisting of staff and guests, all searching a section of wall for these beloved creatures  after around a good 20 minutes searching it finally happened. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a diver point and make a ‘riding a horse’ signal so straight away everyone knew one had finally been found.  By either fluke or a strategic search pattern one of our resident Swedish instructors was the winner of the ‘find a seahorse’ game by finding a nice specimen of yellow tigertail seahorse. One by one we all took turns in moving in to take a closer look. With my 3 fun divers holding onto me we all slowly moved our faces in toward the coral which is when we saw it. Sitting nice and pretty on a section of coral exactly as how I had imagined it to look. With its horse-like resemblance very clear and dorsal fin fluttering away you just stare at it with the same thoughts as the Ancient-Greeks all those years ago: Wow! What actually is it? Who designed it? You suddenly get a head full of questions but at the same time you are in awe of this inspiring creature.

With my seahorse sighting now complete I look forward to seeing many more of these stunning sea creatures with many more excited guests. Amazing!

Simon, UK, 06/12/10

Diving with a Whale Shark for the First Time

Every scuba diver’s dream is to experience a close encounter with the ocean’s largest fish – the Whale Shark – the holy grail of every marine-life enthusiast. I too shared this dream, but was convinced that the existence of these mythical creatures was, at best, somewhat dubious.

Of course I’d heard many wonderful stories of divers catching a glimpse of these huge marine animals and seen the Natural History programmes showcasing breathtaking footage of these graceful giants, but my own history of encountering a Whale Shark had been one of near misses and well, let’s face it, bitter disappointment.

How many times had I heard ‘We’re seeing Whale Sharks every day at the moment’ – except, of course, the day I’m out on the boat! Or even worse, surfacing from a perfectly lovely dive, to hear my fellow divers raving about a Whale Shark that I’d somehow missed. ‘How could you have missed it – it was huge!’ is not a winning formula to make a disappointed diver feel any better. Enduring the ride home with the animated chatter of divers who have realised a dream – the stories of its size getting ever bigger, whilst trying to feel genuinely happy that everyone else has had such a great day, can start to make one feel somewhat jinxed. So the day I finally saw my first Whale Shark, was a very special day indeed.

Cruising out to the twin sea mounts, Hin Daeng & Hin Muang, on Scubafish’s luxury speed cruiser, I day dreamed of what surprises lay in store. The two famous pinnacle dive sites are located about an hour’s ride from Kantiang Bay at the southern end of Ko Lanta. They are fairly exposed in the open ocean, but lie only 200m apart. Being the deepest drop-offs in Thailand, they are magnets for all sorts of marine life, from rare critters, right up to the big stuff. You can expect to find something pretty special on almost every dive. My first dive however, was (you’ve guessed it) another personal Whale Shark disappointment. Some of the other divers on the boat had a fleeting encounter, but yet again, I was not one of them.

Little did I know, my luck was about to change dramatically… Just after we’d finished the first dive, we noticed some activity in the water just a few metres away from Hin Muang, so we went over to take a closer look.

A few people jumped into the water with snorkelling gear on and instantly there were excited shouts of ‘Whale Shark! Whale Shark!’. Feeling rather cynical about my luck, I assumed that as soon as I set foot anywhere near the water, any sign of this creature would instantly disappear, so I took my time.

Excited anticipation soon took over and I followed everyone else in. I was rewarded with a one hour personal Whale Shark encounter from a curious giant who just kept on coming back for more.

Within a minute of being in the water, I was greeted by the giant shark cruising directly underneath me at a depth of just 4 metres, seemingly revelling in the attention of humans. I was lucky enough to have my video camera with me and, with the sunlight glistening over his beautifully patterned body, our new friend offered repeated opportunities for great shots.

As the Whale Shark showed no signs of disappearing into the depths, we climbed back on board the boat, hastily got into our scuba gear and jumped back in for a closer look. As I floated effortlessly in the blue, marvelling at the truly breathtaking scene I was experiencing, it occurred to me how the curiosity of these gentle creatures is both a blessing and a curse, making them easy targets for fishermen, but also allowing lucky divers and scientists time to study and appreciate these ancient giants.

The Whale Shark continued to circle around, sometimes even swimming through, our group of delighted divers for another 40 minutes, treating almost everyone to at least one face-to-face encounter they will never forget.

As we neared the end of our dive, our obliging Whale Shark took in one last look at each diver, before gracefully diving down into the depths. I stayed watching his huge caudal (tail) fin get smaller and smaller until long after it had disappeared. I felt profoundly privileged, ecstatically happy, yet strangely sad that it was over. I finally surfaced from the dive having banished all my previous frustrations, safe in the knowledge that I had my own experience of a lifetime, safely recorded both in my memory and on film.

Phil, UK, 03/03/07

Hin Muang & Hin Daeng are easily reached in about 1 hour from the south of Ko Lanta on Scubafish’s luxury high-speed dive cruiser. These world-class dive sites offer some of the most regular Manta Ray and Whale Shark encounters in Thailand.