Dive Guide Column: By Dray and Karin van Beeck
In the last few months three frogfishes have taken up residence on the wreck of the Salem Express near Safaga in the Red Sea.
The Salem Express sank in 1991 and was one of the biggest peacetime naval tragedies of modern times. During a storm she hit a reef and sank within twenty minutes, taking the lives of at least 470 people. Understandably locals were not always happy for divers to explore the wreck, although in recent years it has become a lot more acceptable. Blue o Two offers the opportunity to dive the wreck on our "Best of the Wrecks" itinerary and also on the "Simply the Best" itinerary if the boats are returning to Hurghada.
The wreck of the Salem Express is 110 meters long and 16 meters wide. Until recently she was quite an eerie wreck to dive, mainly because of the lack of marine life on her and personal belongings and luggage scattered around on the seabed. In the last two years she started to get colonized by schools of goatfish and fusiliers, moray eels, lion- and scorpionfish, hundreds of pipefish and even the occasional octopus. Hard and soft coral growth is also much more extensive on the wreck now. Many repeat divers commented that the "weirdness factor" is much reduced because of the amount of marine life that can now be seen.
A few months ago I was guiding some divers around the wreck when a green sponge-like blob caught my attention. I could have sworn that it had moved! I swam over to investigate and was very excited to discover a big frogfish! It was sitting completely motionless and superbly camouflaged, but I could see it checking me out with a beady eye. Since then we have dived the wreck a few more times and found a total of 3 individuals, slightly different in shading, but all of the same species and quite big. Where on earth did they come from and why have we never seen them before now? I suppose that unless you are specifically searching for them they are quite easy to overlook, especially against the backdrop of such a big wreck.
Frogfish or anglerfish are very strange looking creatures and masters in camouflage. They have a "lure" hanging in front of their face to attract small, unsuspecting fish (see photo).
The three frogfish on the Salem Express are about 25 to 30 centimeters long, approximately the same size as the Common Frogfish (Antennarius-commersoni). They are olive green with a pink pattern and seem to have small filaments growing out of their bodies. At the moment they are still unidentified. They normally hide on the posts on the rear deck that used to support the corrugated sunscreen plating.
It is a real privilege to see these rare animals but some divers (especially photographers) take it too far. Frogfish normally stick to one hiding place if undisturbed but taking too many photos too close-up can scare the frogfish and chase them from their spot. So, if you are one of the lucky ones to get the chance to see them, please keep a decent distance and maybe we can enjoy this experience for a long time.
For more photos and info on frogfish see:
www.aqualifeimages.com and www.aqualifeimages.com