Reef Life of The Andaman - Part 1 - Introduction & corals

In the north-east of the Indian Ocean, spanning a latitude of 6 to 16 degrees north of the Equator, lies the Andaman Sea. For the people of Thailand and Burma, also known as Myanmar, the two nations bordering the eastern edge of the Andaman, the sea has always been an integral part of life and the economy. The Andaman's warm waters support an enormity of marine life and they are relied upon for food as well as transport. Limestone formations such as those which make up the Phi Phi Islands contrast with granite outcrops like the Similan Islands. The warm, clear water and diversity of marine life make the Andaman an attractive dive destination and many divers visit each year to explore and enjoy the underwater world and seldom is the marine landscape as diverse as it is here. Millions of years of decay have cut the limestone pinnacles of Burma's Mergui Archipelago into a terrain of underwater canyons and caves. Further south, the huge granite boulders of Thailand's Similan Islands continue beneath the waterline, creating dramatic caves and swim-throughs. Much of the submerged rock has been colonized by soft corals like this mushroom leather coral at Christmas Point or stony corals like this field of staghorn coral at Koh Bon or this Montipora coral at East of Eden. Elsewhere magnificent anemones have taken over. At shallow sites such as Richelieu Rock the ebb and flow of the tide brings the oxygen necessary for turtle weed, a type of green algae, to flourish. Dendronephthya soft corals adorn the valleys and slopes at Hin Muang, or "purple rock" in Thai. Elsewhere pretty crinoids, or "feather stars", take up prime positions for filtering plankton from the water a feeding strategy shared by giant sea fans, whose sieve-like skeleton makes them highly efficient filter feeders.