RickCollier > Turtle Cleaning Station.  Two massive Hawaiian green sea turtles take their turns and circle over a patch of reef that serves as a cleaning station.  Fish school here to clean small animals and parasites off the huge turtles.  The turtles in turn come here to be cleaned.  Protected by law in Hawaii, swimmers can collect massive fines for interfering with these turtles.  Though they can stay underwater for very long periods, the sea turtles do breathe air, so have to periodically surface for breath.




Hawaii Oahu green sea turtle open ocean sea reef cleaning station fish underwater u/w scuba dive snorkel snorkeling
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- A colorful scalefin anthea briefly emerges above a bed of soft corals. © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.





Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; "Ras Muhammad"; "Ras Mohamed"; "national park"; "underwater park"; "Ras Muhammad National Park"; "nature reserve"; Gazlani; "Ras Gazlani"; point; "Gazlani Point"; fish; anthea; "scalefin anthea";
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- A school of glassfish (sweepers) and some of the ubiquitous antheas hover near a coral head. © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.




Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; fish; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; gardens; "gardens dive site"; "middle garden"; "far garden"; "tiddle garden"; fish; glassfish; "glass fish"; sweepers; "sweeper fish"; anthea;
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- Arrow barracuda patrol near the surface as bicolor damselfish and scalefin antheas group near the protection of the reef below. © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.





Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; "Ras Muhammad"; "Ras Mohamed"; "national park"; "underwater park"; "Ras Muhammad National Park"; "nature reserve"; shark; "shark reef"; fish; barracuda; damsel; damselfish; "damsel fish"; anthea; antheas; "arrow barracuda"; "bicolor damselfish"; scalefin; "scalefin anthea"
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- A pair of coral groupers maneuver for space in a hole. © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.





Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; "Ras Muhammad"; "Ras Mohamed"; "national park"; "underwater park"; "Ras Muhammad National Park"; "nature reserve"; shark; "shark reef"; fish; grouper; "coral grouper"
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- Beautiful soft corals grow on the reef wall. © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.





Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; "Ras Muhammad"; "Ras Mohamed"; "national park"; "underwater park"; "Ras Muhammad National Park"; "nature reserve"; Yolanda; "Yolanda reef"; "soft coral"
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- A common lionfish (also known as a turkeyfish) hunts among soft corals on the reef at night.  The sharp spines in the lionfish's fins are poisonous, and are its primary defense from predators.  When approached or threatened, the lionfish will spread its fins wide and seek to turn its face towards the reef, so that a potential attacker is presented with an array of poisonous spines. © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.





Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; Sharm; "Sharm el-Sheikh"; "Sharm al-Shaykh"; Paradise; fish; lionfish; "lion fish"; "common lion fish"; "turkey fish"; turkeyfish;
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- A common lionfish (also known as a turkeyfish) hunts on the reef at night.  The sharp spines in the lionfish's fins are poisonous, and are its primary defense from predators.  When approached or threatened, the lionfish will spread its fins wide and seek to turn its face towards the reef, so that a potential attacker is presented with an array of poisonous spines. © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.





Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; Sharm; "Sharm el-Sheikh"; "Sharm al-Shaykh"; Paradise; fish; lionfish; "lion fish"; "common lion fish"; "turkey fish"; turkeyfish;
RickCollier > Red Sea, Egypt -- A pincushion sea urchin hunts on the reef at night.   © Rick Collier / RickCollier.com.





Egypt; "Red Sea"; vacation; travel; destination; underwater; uw; "u/w"; scuba; "scuba dive"; "scuba diving"; dive; diving; coral; reef; "coral reef"; "dive site"; Sharm; "Sharm el-Sheikh"; "Sharm al-Shaykh"; Paradise; urchin; pincushion; "pin cushion"; "pin cushion sea urchin"; "sea urchin"; "pincushion urchin"; "pincushion sea urchin"
Turtle Cleaning Station. Two massive Hawaiian green sea turtles take their turns and circle over a patch of reef that serves as a cleaning station. Fish school here to clean small animals and parasites off the huge turtles. The turtles in turn come here to be cleaned. Protected by law in Hawaii, swimmers can collect massive fines for interfering with these turtles. Though they can stay underwater for very long periods, the sea turtles do breathe air, so have to periodically surface for breath.




Hawaii Oahu green sea turtle open ocean sea reef cleaning station fish underwater u/w scuba dive snorkel snorkeling
RickCollier > Turtle Cleaning Station.  Two massive Hawaiian green sea turtles take their turns and circle over a patch of reef that serves as a cleaning station.  Fish school here to clean small animals and parasites off the huge turtles.  The turtles in turn come here to be cleaned.  Protected by law in Hawaii, swimmers can collect massive fines for interfering with these turtles.  Though they can stay underwater for very long periods, the sea turtles do breathe air, so have to periodically surface for breath.




Hawaii Oahu green sea turtle open ocean sea reef cleaning station fish underwater u/w scuba dive snorkel snorkeling
Turtle Cleaning Station. Two massive Hawaiian green sea turtles take their turns and circle over a patch of reef that serves as a cleaning station. Fish school here to clean small animals and parasites off the huge turtles. The turtles in turn come here to be cleaned. Protected by law in Hawaii, swimmers can collect massive fines for interfering with these turtles. Though they can stay underwater for very long periods, the sea turtles do breathe air, so have to periodically surface for breath.




Hawaii Oahu green sea turtle open ocean sea reef cleaning station fish underwater u/w scuba dive snorkel snorkeling
See photo in original gallery.

Comments

|

New comment:

Name: Email: Link:


To foil spammers, enter this code: copy this text in this box: Code unreadable?

Add Comment Cancel

Photos by Rick Collier. All content copyright © RickCollier.com. No reuse, modification, or reproduction without express permission.
This site was updated on ...New content was last added on .