One of the greatest things about scuba diving is that it allows you to visit a foreign world full of interesting creatures and plant life, but sometimes it can be difficult to know what you’re actually looking at. We’ve put together some tips to help you identify the extensive variety of marine life you’ll see when you stay and dive at Belize Dive Haven.
Take a Course
The scuba certification body, PADI, offers a marine life identification course that can give you the knowledge and tools to identify the various aquatic life you will see on your trip to Belize. There are far too many types of marine life for one person to remember, but the course teaches you how to identify species within certain groups, based on unique characteristics. While taking the course, you will learn:
- How to identify fish families and species based on visual and behavioural characteristics
- Strategies and techniques for fish surveillance
- Information about programs that protect aquatic life like project AWARE
The course also counts towards the collection of course credits you need to achieve your Advanced Open Water Diver certification.
Do Your Research
You can learn how to do practically anything online these days, including how to identify the marine life that you’ll find in Belize. There are endless articles online about how to find and identify the various species of fish and aquatic life you’ll see while diving in Belize. YouTube videos are the best way to learn because you can actually see what the various species look like. Many of the species of marine life in Belize have distinct appearances, so chances are, if you’ve done your research beforehand and know what to look for, you’ll be able to identify them while you’re diving.
Use An App
Regardless of how many courses you’ve taken and how much research you complete before your trip to Belize, you may still have trouble trying to identify certain species of marine life while you are in the water. Not to worry, if like many divers you enjoy taking photos of the aquatic life you encounter on your dives, you can easily identify the ones you don’t recognize after your dive using an app. You can use free apps like Real Life Pro to identify the fish you encountered on your dive, or if you’re looking for an app with extensive information, you can choose to use a paid app like FischFinder.
Interested in trying out your marine life identification skills?
Visit Belize Dive Haven to explore an aquatic world unlike any other.
Just 30 miles from Belize City, Belize Dive Haven is located in pristine Turneffe Atoll. Consisting of creeks, lagoons, mangrove islands and cays, the atoll is home to over 500 species of fish, 65 different species of stony corals as well as birds, turtles, manatees and dolphins.
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