We are very lucky to have the mighty Stone Fish in Hurghada. Now this is one of the most dangerous but most beautiful fish in our oceans and also one of the hardest fish to ever spot but they are present! They are mostly found in the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific around Indonesia as well as other areas in Asia. Stone fish get their name from looking like a stone as they have a big round head and are similar colours. They are usually around 30-40 cm long but can grow larger and are very much a ball shape with a stumpy tail.
Now these fish really are the master at camouflage and are really hard to find to the untrained eye. You often find them hiding under rocks, close to the reefs or even on top of reefs. This is where they are most dangerous and one of the reasons you should never step on reefs apart from the fact you will break them causing them to die and take many years to grow back.
We teach all of our divers on the PADI Open Water Course and any divers diving with us in Hurghada to ensure they respect marine life and to never touch anything including the ocean floor. You never know what is there and maybe something can hurt you.
The Stone Fish is very docile and you will not often see it move. They are very lazy and capture their food by simply opening they mouth and waiting for a small fish to swim by, they are super-fast and it had been recorded that they can strike their pray in 0.015 seconds!. When you look at a stone fish you will see they look sad because their mouths are upside down to humans. This is also one of the features that you can tell what they are because people often mistake them for scorpion fish.
The Stone fish is one of the most venomous in the whole of our oceans and the 13 spines on their back can inject an incredibly effective venom that can be deadly to humans. Each of the 13 spines contain two venom sacs. The spines are very sharp and strong and have been know to penetrate wet suit boots. The fatal dose of Venom is only 18mg which can be delivered by only 6 of the 13 spines, the effects of the venom can range from Shock, Paralysis and tissue death. A large dose can be fatal especially to young children or the old or anybody with a weak immune system. You should seek immediate emergency care should you be stung by a stone fish.
Whatever you do, do not touch a stone fish. Its one of the reasons why we always stress to not touch anything and ensure your buoyancy is good at all times. You may think there is nothing on the ocean floor but I said earlier you may not see it because they are so heavily camouflaged.
All being said above if you don’t touch a stone fish, they are so so beautiful to look at, they often have different colours and we have seen multicolour, purple, pink and green Stone Fish in Hurghada. Come Diving in Hurghada so we can show you. The number 1 English dive centre in Hurghada.
We really suggest you do your PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Course or perhaps the PADI Advanced Course where you will polish your Buoyancy skills to ensure you remain safe when Scuba Diving. Safety is always number one for Dive UK Hurghada and then we ensure Scuba Diving is Fun. If you are safe, you will have fun, trust us.
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