Soldierfish
Wide Eyed Reef Fish
Soldierfish are a common sighting amongst divers visiting tropical and subtropical locations and are typically seen swimming in tightly organized schools that may resemble a military formation, hence their name. Members of the squirrelfish family, soldierfish have red bodies and wide eyes. Due to their nocturnal behavior and desire to live in caves and overhangs throughout the reef, soldierfish are also recognizable by their large eyes.
You can dive with soldierfish throughout the warm waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. They grow, on average, to around 30 cm (12 in) long and have laterally compressed, oval bodies. Their fins are usually yellow and/or white in color, with the dorsal fin being spiny and the caudal fin forked. There are many varieties of soldierfish, such as blackbar, big eye black bar, and panamic soldierfish. Discovering a school of soldierfish under a ledge while diving along a reef is always a fun sighting. Explore the dive map below to see where you can go diving with soldierfish.
Dive sites with this animal Show more on map
★★★★★ Fenfushi Giri
If you want to see anemones you have to come to this place,, there is a field with hundreds of anemones where we also can always find turtles. The Giri has approx. a diameter of 120m and is easy to dive around. Some nice small overhangs
★★★★☆ Neyo Kanmathi
The reef top has something of a lunar landscape, despite or precisely because of this it is often a very special dive. The northern side often serves as a starting point when the current is draining from a steep wall over a sandy plateau to a normal slope. Manta rays between the end of September and November
★★★★★ HP Reef / Rainbow Reef
One of the most colorful dive sites in North Male Atoll. On the south side of Girifushi island with abundant fish life and very nice soft corals, there are numerous blue soft corals and a swim through. The current can be strong!
★★★★☆ Okobe Thila
This amazing reef are 3 blocks. The biggest begins in the south between 80-100m long and it's full of corals, it would be nice we can start here. In the east we have another wonderful block a bit similar to east block Maya Thila covert full with corals. In the north is the smallest block. AOW or higher
★★★★★ Back Kani
Easy but always nice dive. The top of the reef drops down from 7m to 30/35m and then runs into the sand. Depending on the current, you simply dive the right or left shoulder. With a little luck, this dive site offers everything that makes diving exciting!
★★★★☆ Kottefaru Kanmathi
A very nice drift dive over several hundred meters along the island of Kottefaru. The top reef is made of hard corals that drop from 4 to 8m, sloping down to 15m, then a wall that drops far more than 30m. On the top reef between June and November the site becomes a cleaning station for mantas.