Joanna James
The beautiful archipelago of Maldives holds many treasures and one of these is its spectacular range of marine wildlife. Let's look at some of the most popular of these wonderful creatures.
Maldives has been listed amongst Telegraph's top 10 best whale watching destinations in the world and has been described by them for presenting "a good chance of seeing some of the more unusual whale species. Here's a list of the different types of whales found in the waters around Maldives.
Blue Whale
Blainville's Beaked Whale
Longman's Beaked Whale
Cuvier's Beaked Whale
Sperm Whale
Dwarf Sperm Whale
Bryde's Whale
Melon-headed Whale
Dense-beaked Whale
Out of all these whales, it's no surprise that Blue Whales make the most popular of all, as after all, it's the largest animal to have ever known to exist. The Longman's Beaked Whale has been long considered to be the rarest species of whale in the world. The best time to see these majestic creatures as well as the other whale species in Maldives is during the time from February to April and October to November.
Who doesn't love dolphins, one of the most adorable creatures on earth! In Maldives, you'll be able to see a wide variety of dolphins as listed below.
Spinner Dolphin
Lesser Noddy
Lesser Frigatebird
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Saunder's Tern
Spotted Dolphin
Bridled Tern
Audubon's Shearwater
Sooty Tern
White Tern
False Killer Whale
The first type, spinner dolphins are the most commonly seen as they roam the seas off Maldives in tens and thousands. Just like most humans, spinner dolphins also have a routine in their life making it easier to spot them on a safari or sunset cruise in Maldives Islands. They would fee offshore in the night, visit the atolls very early in the morning and depart to the open ocean around late afternoon. Dolphin watching can be quite romantic as well, thanks to resorts like Adaaran Select Meedhupparu that combine a romantic dinner aboard a luxury yacht giving you the opportunity to see dolphins frolicking in the ocean while the sun sets.
Maldives is famous as a top snorkelling and diving destination and that's partly due to the abundance of spectacular coral reefs. The archipelago entirely consists of atolls and accompanying coral formations. The corals in you see here are of two kinds, soft corals, and hard corals. While the hard corals grow in large colonies and leave limestone skeletons on which new corals can grow, soft corals such as whip and fan corals, live as solitary growths and leave no skeletons behind. Listed below are a few of coral species you'll see in Maldives.
Brain coral: Can grow up to a huge width of about 6 feet and live for up to 900 years!
Staghorn Coral: The quickest to grow as well as the quickest to claim territory.
Whip coral: Found in the deep parts of the reef and has an appearance of pieces of rope or string extending from the coral bed.
Star coral: One of the most beautiful of corals, star corals come in a variety of colours and look like Patrick Star from SpongeBob.
Gigantic and graceful, manta rays can measure between 20 t0 25 feet across. These amazing creatures roam the undersea depths of Maldives looking for their favourite snack, plankton. The best place to see them in Maldives is at the Manta Point, where large flocks of rays gather to be cleaned by tiny cleaner wrasse fish.
The mesmerizing waters around the Maldivian islands are home to five species of sea turtles as listed below,
Leatherback turtles
Loggerhead turtles
Hawksbill turtles
Green Turtles
OIive Ridley Turtles
The best time to see turtles in Maldives is from June to November when they come ashore to nest.
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