5 Marine Creatures Worth Diving For In Thailand

This blog will present to you some of my favourite marine life creature located in Phuket Thailand. So if you're planning on scuba diving in Phuket, look out for these creatures as they are spectacular to view in their natural habitat and will definitely impress anyone.

Leopard Sharks

The Leopard shark is one of the more commonly spotted shark species amongst the sea life in Thailand. Measuring up to 2 meters long, these graceful creatures don’t usually oppose a threat if they are approached correctly and have been known to interact with divers very. As they can be found both in deep and shallow waters, the Leopard Shark is accessible to all levels of scuba divers. The way the Leopard shark swims is a wonderful sight to see, they have a very long tail fin (caudal fin) which they swish from side to side so elegantly, making them very agile in the water.

3 Fun Facts

1. Their mouths have no teeth, but instead very powerful boney plates, which have a serious shell crunching power.

2. They are one of the few sharks worldwide which can lie still on the bottom and still breathe efficiently. Most sharks need running water through their gills.

3. Leopard sharks are strictly nocturnal. They are rather sluggish during the day

Manta Rays

These huge 6-meter creatures are one of the most spectacular animals one may encounter adventuring down under. Living in the oceans Phuket, the Giant Manta Ray can be sighted regularly during scuba dives and has been known to circle divers getting as close as one meter (only if you’re lucky).

3 Fun Facts

1. The Giant Manta Ray has a top speed of 24k m/h

2. Largest brain-to-mass ratio of any cold-blooded fish.

3. It is one of the few animals who show signs of self-awareness when put through the mirror test.

Whale Sharks

The whale shark is one of the most sort after sea creature in Thailand and is considered the pinnacle of scuba diving. Unfortunately, seeing one of these is not guaranteed during your dive and unlikely too as the whale shark is a rarer species to come across 🙁They’re around 12 meters long and have been reported to grow up to 18 meters. Wow! If you happen to see one of these friendly giants, it will be a very special unforgettable moment.

3 Fun Facts

1. They're largest living non mammalian vertebrate

2. They have a life span of around 70 years

3. The whale shark has 3000 individual teeth lined up on 300 rows.

Turtles

You may come across two breeds of turtles in and around the Phuket area. The first being the Green Turtle growing up to 1.5 m in length and weighing up to an impressive 300kg. They can live up to 80 years old. They’re not distressed by scuba divers. The second is the Hawksbill Turtle which can commonly be seen in the southern areas. These turtles are slightly smaller growing to about one meter and weighing around 100kg. They live between 30 to 50 years.

3 Fun Facts

1. The Hawksbill Turtle spends most of its time in shallow lagoon sand coral reefs but can wonder into the open oceans also.

2. Sea turtles migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and their mating-nesting sites, with recorded distances longer than 2,600 kilometers.

3. Whilst these awesome animals like to cruise along at around 3km, if threatened they can reach speeds of up to 35km/h.

Clown Anemone Fish

Everyone knows these spectacular looking fish from the Movie finding Nemo. They are very common across most scuba diving sites throughout Phi Phi. They’re so beautiful that one must watch them in person to really appreciate their elegance .

3 Fun Facts

1. There are 28 varying species of Clownfish

2. All Clownfish eggs hatch as males. When the female in the group dies, the dominant male undergoes a sex change and turns into a female.

3. Females lay a few hundred or thousand eggs (depending on the species) during the full moon.

This blog has provided you with my top must see marine animals which live in the oceans of Phuket. I hope reading this has excited and motivated you for your next diving adventure.

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