Asian Giants in Mozambique

Asian megafauna travel far and wide. often slaughtered on our shores, can they find a haven in Mozambique?

IN the shallow water behind the surf zone arrows of light reflect off the back of the world's largest fish. Dr.Simon Pierce of the foundation for the Protection of Marine Megafauna hurriedly takes notes on his clipboard. Not too far away on a cleaning station, Dr. Andrea Marshall documents the behaviour of graceful manta rays, The mantas soar  doen from open water and stall above the reef to allow diligent fish to nip at their parasites. Simon and Andres have a pressing task at hand. Amidst declining whale shark and manta ray populations' woldeide, They are attempting to collect enough scientific data on local populations to convince a largely sceptical and financially challenged Mozambican government to implement a much needes marine protected area.
    Although Andera has worked in the area since 2003, the foundation was only established in 2009, led by these two marine megafauna experts ou of the Uiversity of Queensland. The experts are Austrslian, the animals wander between Asia, and Africa, and the interest generated in this  destination and its importance to whale shark and manta tay species survival spans the globe.
    Andrea's was the first doctoral thesis to be completed on manta ray; amongst her most notable scientific  achievenments was the reclassifacation of manta rays onto two separate species, the giant manta ray (Manta birostris) and the reef manta (Manta alfredi).

    Andrea explains, "This is one of the only places on the world where both species coexist." In the early days of Andrea's manta ray research, whale sharks were regular companions along a shallow corridor of water behind the breakers. In 2005, an invitation was extended to Simon to study these graceful giants and raise the profile of the area even further.
    Mozembique's road to recovery from a tumultuous history id long and many of the issues still facing the country directly hinder the conservation efforts of the foundation.With he country's most pressing concerns being political, economic and medical, marine comservation is a relatively low priority. The many challenges are not unlike those facing other conservation organisarions in Asia. Today, the foundation works to determine areas that require protection, mantaray and whale shark population sizes and the financial value of these species. The importance of their data is relevant to marine megafauna populations far beyond Mozambique's shores.

Sea turtles

Sea turtles in Andaman Sea of Thailand.

phuket diving

The reptile was born about 200 million years. The evolution of amphibian The turtle was found in 4 species of sea turtles around the world 8 types.
     1.Leatherback Turtle:: A large turtle is on the mature shell is about 2 meters long, weighs 600 kg. Soft shell-like petals, star apple Dark brown with white spots and brown. Swim thousands of kilometers away. Ate jellyfish for food. Only the Andaman Sea.

     2.Green sea turtle:: Large Leatherback Turtle, after about 1.5 meters long, weighs 200 kg when fully grown grass to eat sea food. Found in both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.

    3.Hawksbill sea turtle:: The hook-shaped mouth, like a bird. Overlapping scales. The adult carapace length of about 1 meter weighs about 70 kg with a colorful shell. The color is yellow, brown and black people are used to make jewelry. What turtles eat both animals and plants as food. Found in both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.

   4.Olive ridley sea turtle:: The smallest turtle sea. When fully grown, about 70 cm. carapace length, weighing about 45 kg. of shell-like zinc. Eat both animals and plants as food. Found near the open sea.

Coral reefs and Seagrass

Coral Reefs in Andaman Sea of Thailand.

andaman diving

    Coral habitats of marine species the tiny to large and propagation of the great marine ecosystems. Corals are marine animals Invertebrates Feature is The body has a radius or semi-radial, headless, the cavity in the body,there are two layers of tissue, a mouth but no anus, there are links between the rubber-like antennae, the needles are toxic to the cell body or foraging for food scattered around the mouth. Classification of scientific classification of animals in this group Phylum Cnidaria and group (class) Anthozoa Which include Coral, Sea Anemone and Sea pen. Can separate out the physical characteristics of 8 format is massive, submassive, branching, encrusting, foliose and mushroom or  fungia

Seagrass

    Along the coast with the wind is calm or a semi-closed bay will find a valuable ecosystem. That is the sea grass ecosystem. The evolution of plants on a gradual adaptation to the sea adjustment makes perfect. Beginning of the adaptation to the salt it. Then it can grow properly.
    Seagrass beds are among the underwater plants. Adaptation and evolution are completely in the monocotyledon Angiosperm flower is a true vascular system. In general, it has a structure similar to that land, sea grass, grass roots, stems, leaves and reproductive systems that are completely under water.