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Anemones
Anemones are simple animals that look like delicate flowers. But these “flowers” can move and catch prey.
Anemones have poisonous barbs in their tentacles that fire on contact, injecting poison into their prey.
To protect themselves, anemones secrete a special slime that prevents the stinging cells on one tentacle from firing when they come into contact with other tentacles or with the anemone’s body.
Common octopus
According to Two Oceans: A guide to the Marine Life of Southern Africa (Struik, 2007), the common octopus lives at depths of up to 200m and feeds on crabs, shellfish and rock lobsters. It lives in crevices and holes and is fiercely territorial.
Green sea turtle
Green turtles are so named because the fat layer underneath the carapace (shell) is green! The external colour of these turtles ranges from a very dark brown to a light brown mottled colour.
Loggerhead turtle
The loggerhead turtle, which is the most common in southern Africa, has a reddish-brown carapace and a hooked beak.
Adults reach a maximum mass of 125kg and measure up to 1.2m in length.
Longnose butterflyfish
The longnose butterflyfish is easily recognised by its yellow body and black and white head, but its most remarkable feature is its long snout. It uses this long snout to probe crevasses for food particles and prey, and to bite the tube feet off of sea urchins and other echinoderms. The longnose butterflyfish is the most widespread species of butterflyfish. It lives in pairs along rocky shores and reefs along the southern African coast. It is a common visitor to deep reefs throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is highly territorial, and will defend its patch of coral from any other longnose butterflyfish of the same sex. This butterflyfish uses soundwaves, generated by body movements, to signal its territorial boundaries to other fish. The IUCN classification for this species is Least Concern with stable populationsPearly butterflyfish
Pearly butterflyfish have very distinct colouration - silver-white bodies, yellow hindquarters and black chevron stripes pointing towards their heads.They inhabit sea-facing reefs off the east coast of Southern Africa, where they hunt small invertebrates and scavenge scraps of seaweed.The IUCN status is Least Concern.Giant kob
Giant kob (previously known as dusky kob) are found in estuaries and on rocky reefs and sandy bottoms from southern Mozambique to False Bay. They are also found off the coasts of Australia, Japan, Pakistan and India.
Pyjama catshark
This shark is called a pyjama shark because it looks like it’s wearing striped pyjamas.
Semicircle angelfish
The semicircle angelfish is a narrow, oblong fish with a greenish-yellow or yellow-brown body covered in dark blue spots everywhere excepts its face and pectoral fins. It has a vivid blue margin on its fins, gill covers and eye. Juveniles are black with white, semi-circular lines radiating out from its tail - and from this pattern it gets its name. In adult semicircle angelfish, both the dorsal and anal fins are tailed by bright blue or yellow filaments.Semicircle angelfish are solitary, inhabiting coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They hunt various small zooplankton. Juveniles are found in rock pools and in the waters of the Agulhas current.Red stumpnose
Red stumpnose are endemic off South Africa and occur from False Bay to Margate, although they are more common south of East London.
They have steep foreheads which, in males, become increasingly pronounced and bulbous as they get older. They have strong molars which they use to crush prey such as redbait, urchins, octopuses and crabs.
Although red stumpnose are good to eat, they have been over-exploited. Presently they may only be caught once they have reached a minimum size of 30cm and anglers may only catch one fish per person per day.
Red stumpnose are currently listed as a Red species on SASSI’s Customer Seafood List, which means you should not buy or sell these fish as seafood.
Photograph by Dagny Warmerdam.
Sand steenbras
These fish use camouflage to mimic the ripple patterns in the sand caused by currents and tides.
They feed mainly on bottom-dwelling animals e.g. cracker shrimps, sea lice and molluscs.
Roman
Romans are an endemic species found on rocky reefs off southern Africa at depths from 5m to 100m.
Like other sea breams, the roman has the ability to change sex, in this instance from female to male.
The male attracts a harem of females, with which he will mate. A large male is very aggressive and will defend his harem and territory against all intruders, including competitive males.
His frantic protective behaviour attracts the attention of predators, which increases his risk of being eaten.
Should this happen, the dominant female will immediately take over his role. Sex change takes a little longer.