Diving with Angelfish
Royalty of the Reef
Not to be confused with the freshwater angelfish of the Amazon Basin, marine angelfish are brilliantly colored and live on the warm, shallow water reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and western Pacific Oceans. This beautiful family of reef fish consists of about 86 different species, the most well-known being queen, king, french, royal, and grey angelfish. With their large, laterally compressed bodies, small, up-turned mouths, and bright colors, they are hard to miss and a favorite sighting for most divers.
Diving with them are always a special encounter as divers can often times get quite close, especially to the larger species as they are fairly bold and seemingly unfazed, making them a favorite amongst underwater photographers. Due to their wide, abundant distribution and tendency to stay on the shallow areas of the reef, it is almost guaranteed to see one of them on every dive. Click here to find the best dive sites around the world to go diving with angelfish.
Dive sites with this animal Show more on map
★★★★☆ Villingilli Thila
Small Thila directly on the island of Villingilli on the offshore plateau in the direction of the channel between Raa and Baa Atoll. Usually a jump into the blue water east of the Thila above the plateau at the edge for approx. Let drift along 30m towards Thila and then slowly climb up the Thila. Current !!!!
★★★★☆ Kudathulhaadhoo Caves
Drift dive along Kudathulhaadhoo Island. Large overhang with soft corals in the west, caves in the middle, and a small bay and the tip in the east is full of fish
★★★★☆ Kinolhas Kandu
Drift dive with the current flowing from the western tip of Kinohlas along the north side towards the small Thila. Lots of fish on the top of the reef, some really nice little overhangs deeper. Experienced divers dive to the thila, beginners stay over the overhangs and slowly ascend the Sandy Slope
★★★★★ Northern Arch
Northern Arch is a renowned site that often has large pelagic species and current. The Arch is deep and bottoms out at over 36m, there is interesting structure on either side of the Arch and the Northern side of the Arch keeps sloping away down to 50m+.
★★★★★ Aarah Kuda Thila
A small reef with many different types of colorful coral. The reef roof is at a height of 6m and has a diameter of approx. 20m, at a depth of 25m it should be approx. 50m. On the west side an overhang with soft corals, further deeper a gap with giant moray eels and cleaner shrimp.
★★★★☆ Magic Wall
A very colourful wall dive. A short distance from Blue Mao Mao Arch on the opposite side of the Labrid Channel and in good conditions with no current, both sites could be seen on the same dive for divers good on their gas consumption and navigation. The walls maximum depth is around 20m.