Turtles
Sharks and rays
- Whitetip reef sharkThe slender shark asleep under the ledge. Harmless, curious at night, and a resident at several of our sites.
- Grey reef sharkThe classic reef shark: a stocky grey patroller of walls, drop-offs and current points, often in groups.
- Blacktip reef sharkThe shark of the shallows: black fin tips cutting the surface over the reef flat and lagoon.
- Manta rayAn occasional visitor to the outer bommies: a reef manta gliding past can be the dive of the trip.
The big fish
- Māori wrasseThe reef’s gentle giant: two metres of blue-green fish with a hump on its head and a face full of tattoos, happy to follow divers around.
- Potato codThe famous friendly giants of the Cod Hole on the Ribbon Reefs, a liveaboard highlight north of Cairns.
- BarracudaSilver schools that hang in the blue off the bommies, sometimes hundreds thick, with a few solitary big ones.
- TrevallyBigeye trevally schooling in a slow silver tornado, and giant trevally hunting the reef edge.
- Coral troutThe reef’s most handsome predator: bright red with a scatter of blue spots, lurking by the bommies.
- ParrotfishFrom the crunching schools of bumpheads to the sleeping bags of mucus at night, parrotfish are the reef’s builders and gardeners.
Reef fish
- AnemonefishThe clownfish of the reef, living in a sea anemone that would sting anything else. Nearly every site has a family.
- SweetlipsStriped, spotted and thick-lipped, hanging in patient schools under the overhangs by day.
- Moray eelA head in a hole, mouth opening and closing: the moray is breathing, not threatening. Giants reach three metres.
- Titan triggerfishThe biggest triggerfish on the reef, and the one with a reputation: give a nesting female a wide berth.
