Marine life

The island of Una Una is situated within the global hotspot of marine biodiversity known as the coral triangle, an area covering 1.6% of the planets oceanic area but containing 76% of all known coral and 37% of known reef fish species in the world.

Una Una exhibits amazing diversity of corals, fishes and a wide host of other marine creatures. It is known for huge coral and sponge formations, reef teeming with fish and excellent visibility. The 35 dive sites situated around the small island provide a wide range of habitats to explore – huge walls, sloping reefs, pinnacles and muck diving sites.

Situated right outside the dive centre is our house reef, busy during the day with schooling fishes and alive at night with bioluminescence, nocturnal predators and macro life.

Due to the low human impact on the island, with only small scale pole and line fishing practiced by the local community, the fish size is larger than average with frequent sightings of huge napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, tuna, schooling trevallies, groupers and snappers.

Dolphins, turtles and eagle rays are known to pass by, as well as the occasional reef shark. Most iconically, giant schools of black-tail barracuda are resident in the waters forming thousand strong shimmering whirlpools.

Una Una is one of the only places in the world to witness huge schools of whitebelly tobys, sometimes forming blankets over an entire reef, a behaviour that is still not fully understood.

Less frequent visitors also include whale sharks, blue marlin, pilot whales and manta rays. There is also so much to explore on a macro level with countless nudibranchs, shrimps and crabs – many of which still having an ‘undescribed’ status in ID guides.

Octopus, cuttlefish, mantis shrimp and pipefish are frequently sighted, and due to the relatively new arrival of diving on the island, the list of creatures known to call Una Una home is constantly growing.