Fauna of the Seram Sea

Inter-island sea of Indonesia in the Malay Archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between the islands of Seram, Buru, Sula, Obi, Misool and the peninsulas of Cendrawasih and Bombarai on the west coast of New Guinea and extends in latitude about 600 km.  Its area is 161 thousand km², water volume - 173 thousand km³, average depth - 1074 m, the greatest - 5319 m. The average annual water temperature at the surface is 28-28.5 °C, salinity is about 34‰. The tides are irregular semidiurnal, up to 2.3 m. Strong currents from the depths create a nurturing environment that attracts large and small fish. Numerous coral reefs are located near the shore, where a large number of unique fish species can be observed.

Popular inhabitants of Seram Sea

Multiple coral reefs are ideal for diverse fish populations. Large schools of reef fish are often found in the waters of the sea, inhabited by everything from dwarf seahorses to giant manta rays. This sea is home to several species of tropical gobies (neon goby, yellow clown goby, Stigmatogobius sadanundio, etc.), groupers (giant grouper, red grouper, orange-spotted grouper), Spanish mackerel (scad mackerel, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, Indo-Pacific king mackerel) and tuna (mackerel tuna, skipjack tuna, Pacific bluefin tuna).

The Dangerous Inhabitants of the Seram Sea

Sea urchins can be seen in the waters of Seram. Among them there are quite poisonous subspecies. Barracuda can also be found in these waters. It is considered a very dangerous fish, but it rarely attacks humans. Red lionfish live here. These are very beautiful fish, but their fins have very poisonous spines with paralyzing venom. There are reef stonefish. These fish look inconspicuous, but they are among the ten most dangerous. They do not attack themselves, but can injure a person if accidentally touched.

Sharks in the Seram Sea

Of course, the Seram Sea is home to sharks, which you should be extremely careful of. The most common are the whale shark, hammerhead shark and megamouth shark. Rare species such as the Japanese wobbegong and the epaulette shark can also be seen. 

Diving in the Seram Sea

Seram Sea is considered to be one of the best diving spots. The water is clean and transparent. The shores of the sea are extremely picturesque. Bizarre rocks, beautiful lagoons, picturesque underwater world attracts lovers of tropical exoticism. It is an ideal place to see schools of fish and reef slopes with the most diverse corals in the world. The lucky ones can see green turtle, bigfin reef squid, rare nudibranch, blue-ringed octopus, wonderpus octopus, humphead wrasse, ornate ghost pipefish, psychedelic frogfish, mandarinfish and cuttlefish.