Black Spotted Pufferfish, Shark Reef, Mohammed, Egypt

Black Spotted Pufferfish, Shark Reef, Ras Mohammad, Egypt, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

This Black-spotted puffer is very common sight in Ras Mohammad. This one is on the move, but these gentle, solitary fish may often be seen resting in a sponge or among coral branches. As with the other types of nearly 90 species of pufferfish, they inflate themselves by gulping down water when disturbed. Unlike the thick-skinned porcupinefish (also of family Tetradontidae, "fused teeth"), the Black-spotted puffer has relatively thin skin and small, short spines. This one is about seven inches in length. This species may vary from a gray base color to yellow. Pufferfish are also known as "blowfish" or "globefish".

Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef are two reefs rising just off the Ras Mohamed coast. They are twin peaks of a single coral sea mount, separated from the mainland by a shallow channel.

Shark Reef is the more colourful and spectacular of the two reefs; with its wall and great marine life. Yolanda Reef is the larger of the two. Its name comes from a vessel which sank here in 1980.

Ras Mohammed is the National Park of South Sinai and located on the very tip of the Sinai Peninsula; it probably represents some of the most famous dive sites in the Red Sea with 800-metre (2,600 ft) deep reef walls and pounding current and coral gardens.