Next up are a small sample of the fish we saw. Although the coral is not what it used to be, there are still quite a few fish around.
The Whitespotted Toadfish is endemic (only found) in the Turneffe Atoll of Belize. They are rare but our dive guide was good at finding them and luring them out of their burrows. They are quite unique looking with their black and white camouflage, "starred" eyes, and "beard".
The angelfish (Grey, French, Queen) are always favorites.
And a few more colorful ones.
Turneffe Atoll is a marine protected area and it was good to see the big groupers hadn't all been fished out.
Lionfish are fabulous looking but they are native to the South Pacific, not the Caribbean. With no native predators their population can rise rapidly and damage ecosystems. The dive guides spearfish them and leave them for the sharks. This seems to be working since we saw relatively few lionfish. (Usually we didn't get a chance to photograph them because they would immediately get speared.)
Some of the other more unusual fish:
Scorpionfish are well camouflaged.
Nearer the surface we saw some different fish, including some of the local game fish.
This Sharksucker remora (usually seen attached to sharks) followed us looking for a suitable host.
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