Fish identification in Naples, Italy and the World

When I was a kid I used to love watching the film “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”.

I used to watch this film over and over of course wishing that I, like the hero Mr. Limpet, could be a fish. During the initial scene where Mr. Limpet realizes that he is a fish and bumps into a hermit crab he says:

“Why, you're a splendid specimen
of a Pagurus pollicaris.

In common terminology,
you're a crustacean, a hermit crab.”

Those familiar with the film will know that the hermit crab immediately became offended and directed Mr. Limpet to “raise his fins” for a fight.

Well, unlike "Crusty" I was amazed at how a crab could be called a Pagurus pollicaris or even a hermit crab for that matter! (I was 6) I always wanted to be able to look at a fish and immediately be able to point out the genus and species of that creature without having to look through a thousand books. I now know there are 276,500 common names of fish in the ocean. I think I’m happy with just using this tool that I found at Fish Base.org:

Fish Base.org

This database contains over 31,200 species of fish and allows you to narrow your search to country or level of invasiveness. I learned that there are 491 different species of fish associated with the country of Italy.

If you use the fish identification tool then you can narrow your search just by what you saw in the water.

I located a species that I had seen out at Nisida several times and discovered that the true name of this little guy is a “Greater Weever”. These fish like to bury themselves under the sand when you approach them so all you see are their beady little eyes and little mouth.

After finding the shape of the fish I discovered there were 9 species of this family Trachinidae then narrowed that down to 4 specific species in the Mediterranean. (Lesser weever, Spotted weever, Greater weever, and Starry weever).

I guarantee that once you start playing with this site you will be identifying all the crazy fish you can find! The next thing you know we will all be A.W.A.R.E. Diver certified!

Did you finally find the name to that ‘weird’ fish you’ve been seeing lately in your favorite dive spot? Can you identify what genus and family that species is in? Share your find with us in the comments!

Dive site: Nisida, Italy

As a lot of you know one of the best beach entry dives here in Naples, Italy is the dive site known as “Nisida”.

Nisida is a fun place to dive mostly because of the short distance to two underwater towers which house everything from sea anemones to stone fish. I have yet to dive there once and not see something new every time. This is also the site where a lot of open water courses are taught due to the sandy bottom and even 35 – 45 feet depth.

Here is a Google Earth image of the dive site:

As you can see on the bottom of the page are the GPS coordinates to this dive site. If you are a member of NATO or the American base you can park your car right across from the beach entry and suit up there. Then all you have to do is throw a wave to the guard and he will open the gate for you and you are in business.

Here is a depth sounding chart to help you plan your recreational dive. Note that all the depths are in meters:

If you would like a higher resolution copy of the picture and chart just shoot us an email at divingitaly (at) gmail (dot) com.

Did you already know about Nisida? Have some fun SCUBA stories to tell? Are you busting at the seams to tell someone about the eel you you took a picture of at the bottom of the rocks?

Share your stories with us in the comments!

What it means to be a good dive Buddy

I did a dive this weekend at Nisida, Italy with someone who is quickly becoming a good friend and a great dive buddy. Something happened during that dive that got me thinking about what makes a good dive buddy.

I compiled the following list.

A good dive buddy:

• gives input on where to dive and doesn’t just agree to anything
• doesn’t mind waiting when it takes you just a little bit longer to get to the bottom
• touches the octopus first
• volunteers to swear himself to secrecy when you have lost YET another item before you’ve had a chance to express your embarrassment

These are just some of the things that I could think of.

What do you think makes a good dive buddy? Do you like someone who is learning with you or someone who likes to teach? Do you demand having someone on site that can do a rescue dive due to your history with that pesky regulator?

Add to my list in the comments!