Whoever said ‘the bigger the better’ had clearly never been macro diving on Koh Tao. Very often it’s the little things doing their thing on the coral reef that get completely overlooked by divers on their ‘eternal quest’ for the ‘big stuff’ namely whalesharks, reef sharks, polar bears, whales, manta rays, basically anything that requires no effort to find. Not that these aren’t wonderful and amazing but anyone who’s done any macro diving will know how satisfying it is to spot something so tiny and intricately beautiful that if you hadn’t taken the time to look for would never have known of its existence.
There are so many things to look for, in fact tons more than one pelagic creature swimming around showing off how big it is! Seriously, size doesn’t matter, well certainly not when it comes to the aquatic world. Next time you go for a dive slow right down, then slow down some more and look in all the tiny nooks and crannies or just look at the reef walls. For there you will find a circus of some of the craziest looking things you’ll ever see wrapped up in the tiniest of packages!
Macro Diving on Koh Tao
Take the glass cleaner shrimp, an almost transparent little fella who spends his entire life elevating himself up and down on to fish and other aquatic species 500 times his size to clean off any parasites or other tasty morsels that need removing so he can fill his belly, the contents of which you can see! Then there are Durban dancing shrimps, crabs the size of your finger nail, gobies, seahorses and of course our beloved multi-coloured nudibranchs, sea slugs and flat worms. These marine snail like creatures [gastropod molluscs] who never actually have a shell can be as small as 1.5cm, thank goodness everything looks 25% bigger underwater! It takes some real dedication, a torch, a keen eye and a possibly a magnifying glass to find one of these little marvels. There are many varieties and have some of the craziest of names…Spanish dancers, Variable Neon Slug, and my favourite the Beau Vallon Magnificent Slug. So next time you’re diving please don’t forget to pay some loving attention to the very small but hugely significant little things down there, you’ll be amazed.
