At Sea
Ascension Island is a jewel in jewel seas. Diving here is like slipping into the heart of an endless aquamarine, crystal blue, fading only at the distant edges of perception. But the real treasure here is the marine life, a unique community of rare species and strange behaviors, set against a backdrop like no other in the world.
Ascension is a young island, raised above the sea by volcanic eruptions only about one million years ago. And it is very isolated, lost in the open tropical Atlantic, nearly halfway between Brazil and Africa. The combination of these factors means that the island itself and the seas surrounding it have been colonized only by a relatively few hardy species of birds, plants, ferns, fish and invertebrates. In the seas there is very little coral, so there are no true coral reefs, even though the bright sunlight and 80F water temperature would easily support them.
Instead there are rocky reefs, formed from the craggy lavas that built the island and now largely encrusted with beautiful miniature stalagmites of coralline algae, like sandcastles for tiny fairies. Among these live some of the rarest fish in the world; Ascension’s reefs support a large number of endemic species, some found only here and others shared with Saint Helena, the island’s nearest neighbor. The pretty little white hawkfish (Amblycirrhitus earnshawi), which lives nowhere else in the world, is unique in the pale coloration that allows it to blend in with the pinkish white coralline algae, a wonderful example of a colonist species adapting to its new home.
Other species have evolved unique behaviors in the relative freedom of the simple marine communities here. If you want to see moray eels, Ascension is a mecca. Not only are there remarkable numbers of them, they are highly visible, being unusually active in the daylight and often found swimming freely over the surface of the reef.
Ascension is probably most famous for its green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). For countless centuries these beautiful ancient creatures have been migrating thousands of miles across the Atlantic to mate and lay their eggs here. But for me it is the endemic fish that are the most precious treasures of the island. Rarity is a quality we prize very highly and these biological jewels are unique in all the world, they are pearls of great price hidden among the waves of the blue Atlantic.
Ascension Island is a jewel in jewel seas. Diving here is like slipping into the heart of an endless aquamarine, crystal blue, fading only at the distant edges of perception. But the real treasure here is the marine life, a unique community of rare species and strange behaviors, set against a backdrop like no other in the world.
Ascension is a young island, raised above the sea by volcanic eruptions only about one million years ago. And it is very isolated, lost in the open tropical Atlantic, nearly halfway between Brazil and Africa. The combination of these factors means that the island itself and the seas surrounding it have been colonized only by a relatively few hardy species of birds, plants, ferns, fish and invertebrates. In the seas there is very little coral, so there are no true coral reefs, even though the bright sunlight and 80F water temperature would easily support them.
Instead there are rocky reefs, formed from the craggy lavas that built the island and now largely encrusted with beautiful miniature stalagmites of coralline algae, like sandcastles for tiny fairies. Among these live some of the rarest fish in the world; Ascension’s reefs support a large number of endemic species, some found only here and others shared with Saint Helena, the island’s nearest neighbor. The pretty little white hawkfish (Amblycirrhitus earnshawi), which lives nowhere else in the world, is unique in the pale coloration that allows it to blend in with the pinkish white coralline algae, a wonderful example of a colonist species adapting to its new home.
Other species have evolved unique behaviors in the relative freedom of the simple marine communities here. If you want to see moray eels, Ascension is a mecca. Not only are there remarkable numbers of them, they are highly visible, being unusually active in the daylight and often found swimming freely over the surface of the reef.
Ascension is probably most famous for its green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). For countless centuries these beautiful ancient creatures have been migrating thousands of miles across the Atlantic to mate and lay their eggs here. But for me it is the endemic fish that are the most precious treasures of the island. Rarity is a quality we prize very highly and these biological jewels are unique in all the world, they are pearls of great price hidden among the waves of the blue Atlantic.
