Snorkelling Playa Chiquita by Zipline

Adventure of the week?  Snorkelling Playa Chiquita

Blue tang

Playa Chiquita is the beach nearest to our house here in Puerto Viejo.
Although the reef has been damaged, we have had some enjoyable snorkelling in the clear water on calm days.  There are not as many species here as may be found in some areas of the Caribbean (and I initially found this disappointing). However, I overcame this disappointment by keenly observing the species on the reef, and by learning as much as possible about each fish that I was able to observe.

I learned, for example, that many species of fish will change their colors or color patterns 3 or 4 times as they mature; and, as with birds, it is often only the male that is colorful, while the female is less spectacular.

Here are some of the fish that we have observed on one small section of the reef on the calmest little bay at Playa Chiquita.

The sargeant major often swims in warm shallow water where sand adjoins the reef.  It is called the sargent major because it has 5 stripes, in the style of military epaulettes.  This species belongs to the damselfish family.

photo source: seafishes.files.wordpress.com

As a juvenile, the beaugregory damselfish is yellow with a bright blue splash, but as it matures it becomes quite plain.  We saw lots of mature beaugregory damselfish, but only one shy juvenile that was about 3 cm long.




photo source: fishdb.co.uk


We had been to the reef about three times before we saw this unique fish.  I learned that the bluehead wrasse progress through four color stages and only the sexually mature male has a blue head.  Guess what the bluehead wrasse love to eat?  Damselfish eggs.

source: wikipedia commons

By investigating the blue head wrasse, we learned that there are other species of wrasse in Playa Chiquita as well.

source: reef.org

source: wikipedia

One of our favorite fish on the reef is a juvenile blue tang.  A cousin to "Finding Dory" of Disney fame.

The juvenile blue tang is a solid bright yellow color with only a blue tinge on the upper portion of the dorsal fin.  But as it matures it becomes almost totally blue with just a yellow splash remaining on the tail.  The adult is not necessarily larger than the juvenile, just a different color.

source: wikipedia

source: wikipedia