The warm climate and gentle currents of the Aegean Sea make it an ideal place for snorkeling explorations. With approximately 10,000 marine species in this historic sea, you’re guaranteed encounters with intriguing and beautiful fish of all shapes and sizes during your Athenian riviera snorkeling dives with Experience Eco.
Whether you're a first-timer or experienced in snorkeling, you’ll be blown away by the diversity of the marine life you’ll encounter. Check out our list of the 8 most captivating Mediterranean fish species to look out for:
Rainbow Wrasse
The rainbow wrasse is found near the shallows and is distinguished by its brilliant silver color and bright red stripe running down the length of its body. This species can grow up to 25 centimeters long, though all fish over 18 centimeters long are male.
Like many reef fish, the rainbow wrasse is a sequential hermaphrodite, meaning it can change its sex as it grows. Far from being solitary, rainbow wrasses are known to swim in groups consisting of adults and juveniles. Try to make your approach as gentle as possible since these fish are known to bury themselves in the sand when frightened!
Mediterranean Parrotfish
If you’re on the lookout for really colorful fish, there’s nothing that comes close to the vivid splendor of the Mediterranean parrotfish. Its bold colors appear to have been mixed on an artists’ palette: females are colored a brilliant red and yellow, with a striking saddle of silver across their backs. Males are colored grey and their fins are pink.
This species can also change sex as necessary, but not all females will change their sex in their lifetime.
Painted Comber
An equally iridescent though solitary fish, the painted comber has an orange-red to pinkish color, with darker colored vertical stripes along its body (resembling a comb) and a shimmery silver-blue spot towards the tail end. This fish is a hermaphrodite and spends the majority of its days in rocky cave areas, coming out at dusk to feed. They can be found often laying in the seabed, between rocks and grass, waiting for any potential prey.
Tentacled Blenny
Mediterranean tentacled blennies have bright brown dots and black stripes covering their elongated bodies.
Two tentacles perch atop their heads, giving them a caterpillar-like appearance. They like to stay close to sandy bottoms and hide in crevices where the males guard the nests.
Garfish aka sea-niddle
The garfish is a long and slender fish with a laterally compressed body and grows to about 50 to 75 cm in length. Usually moves inshore into shallow water in May-June to spawn among floating vegetation. The jaws are elongated and armed with sharp teeth.
The pectoral, dorsal, and anal fins are situated well back on the body and the latter two are similar in appearance. Positioning the fins so far back gives greater flexibility to the body. The lateral line is set low on the flanks. The color of the body is bluish-green with a silvery grey belly and the bones are green.
Gilt-head bream
Gilt-head bream (Sparus aurata) belongs to the Sparidae family. This is one of the noblest types of Mediterranean white-flesh fish. In ancient Greek cuisine, it was considered a true delicacy. For its magnificent appearance and the specific golden stripe on the forehead, ancient Romans gave it the prefix “aurata”, meaning golden.
It grows to a length of 70 cm, and the maximum recorded weight is 17 kg, although it generally weighs between 0.8 and 4 kg. Thanks to its attractive appearance, it is also known as the “Queen of the Sea”. In modern times, in just about any Mediterranean country, this delicious fish is the star in any fish restaurant.
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish, any of several marine cephalopods of the order Sepioidea, related to the octopus and squid and characterized by a thick internal calcified shell called the cuttlebone. The approximately 100 species of cuttlefish range between 2.5 and 90 cm (1 to 35 inches) and have somewhat flattened bodies bordered by a pair of narrow fins.
All species have eight arms and two longer tentacles that are used in capturing prey and can be withdrawn into two pouches. Suction disks are located on the arms and on expanded pads at the tips of the tentacles.
Octopus
Octopuses are sea animals famous for their rounded bodies, bulging eyes, and eight long arms. They live in all the world’s oceans but are especially abundant in warm, tropical waters. Octopuses, like their cousin, the squid, are often considered “monsters of the deep,” though some species, or types, occupy relatively shallow waters.
Most octopuses stay along the ocean’s floor, although some species are pelagic, which means they live near the water’s surface. Other octopus species live in deep, dark waters, rising from below at dawn and dusk to search for food. Crabs, shrimps, and lobsters rank among their favorite foods, though some can attack larger prey, like sharks. Octopuses typically drop down on their prey from above and, using powerful suctions that line their arms, pull the animal into their mouth. The octopus performs its famous backward swim by blasting water through a muscular tube on the body called a siphon. Octopuses also crawl along the ocean’s floor, tucking their arms into small openings to search for food. Seals, dolphins, and large fish prey on octopuses.
If you want to encounter all these beautiful marine species (and much more!) visit Experience Eco for our snorkeling activities!