My Marine Sightings

Ever wonder what kind of marine species you might see in a particular spot? If I’ve been there, I will have logged it! Here I will start my log of all my personal marine sightings. They are pinned on the map in the approximate location of where I’ve seen them. Slowly but surely, I'll hopefully create a map filled with a bunch of marine species!

The Map

On this map I have pinned my personal underwater sightings. I have divided the sightings into categories based on the class of the taxonomic rank. I couldn’t add all of them so these are the ones I’ve picked:

Mollusca (e.g. clams, nudibranches, octopuses);
Mammalia (e.g. whales, dolphins, seals);
Echinodermata (e.g. urchins, sea stars, sea cucumbers);
Arthropoda (e.g. lobsters, crabs, shrimps, barnacles);
Cnidaria (e.g. jellyfish, corals, anemones);
Porifera (e.g. sponges);
Gnasthostomata (e.g. sharks, rays);
Osteichthyes (e.g. other bony fish);
Repitilia (e.g. sea turtles, snakes);
Aves (e.g. birds)
Other (e.g. worms, sea squirts);

Since I will try and explore a bit more of the fresh water world, I’ll try and add those too!

About The Map

When I started diving I tried to find any maps that could tell me what kind of species I could expect to find somewhere. This turned out to be a bit harder than I expected. Of course, any notable sightings such as sharks and marine mammals were easy to find. But there are so many more beautiful species that might not be as well known. Although I highly doubt this will ever become a complete world map with any and all marine species, I do like the idea of just starting and seeing how far I’ll get.

That being said, it is near impossible to list EVERY single species in a particular area, I’m going to do my best to list as many as I can identify. Sadly, this means that many of the sponges, sea weeds, and clam-like organisms will most likely fall in the cracks. Needless to say, I’m not a marine identification expert. I’m doing my best to accurately identify the species, but they might not be a 100% accurate!

It is also important to note that each tag does not necessarily mean one sighting of the species. I’ll try and mention if it was just a single sighting, if there were a few, or if the species were abundant.

Marine Sightings In Photo’s

Red Lionfish (Heraklion, Greece)

Red Lionfish. An invasive species. There were so many although I'm not sure if it was the P. volitans or the P. miles. Both are common in the area. Seen at a depth of approx 5m
Date: June 24, 2023
Short-Snouted Sea Horse (Barcelona, Spain)

Could have been the H. hippocampus, I'm not sure. Very well camouflaged! Seen at a depth of approx 5m.
Date: May 31, 2023
Ornate Wrasse (Tossa del Mar, Spain)

One of the most common sightings in the Mediterranean I think, but so colourful and pretty nonetheless! Seen at depths between ~4 and 12m
Date: February & May, 2023
Nudibranch (Barcelona, Spain)

Not entirely sure I identified it correctly, but it was so cute! According to the dive guide there are dozens of nudibranches here in summer. Seen at a depth of approx. 6m
Grey Seal (Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands)

Although they're not super common here, occasionally they are seen and we were lucky! It was sleeping on the beach and enjoying the sun. So cute.
Date: March 27, 2022
Mediterranean Moray (Chania, Greece)

A small Mediterranean Moray I found while snorkeling. It was about 50cm long and very feisty. After taking some footage of this beautiful fish, I left him alone.
Date: July 18, 2024
Loggerhead Seaturtle (Mátala, Greece)

A loggerhead hatchling making its way to the sea. To read more about my experiences with loggerhead seaturtles, go to the Save The Turtles page!
Date: August 10, 2023
Common Hermit-Crab (Scheveningen, Netherlands)

A beautiful little guy hanging out on the beach. I had to wait for a bit before he felt comfortable enough to come out of the shell, but when he did I was so happy!
Date: April 12, 2021