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Romans are an endemic species found on rocky reefs off southern Africa at depths from 5m to 100m.

There are 51 species of surgeon fish, 19 of which occur in southern African waters.

Three-spot angelfish get their name from the two spots that appear just behind their gill slits and a third spot on their forehead.

Devil firefish (Pterois miles) have beautiful reddish or brown stripes and delicate fins, making them interesting to watch and photograph. “Pterois” means “winged” and “miles” means soldier, so in English, their species name means “winged soldier”.

The “strepie” (which means “small stripe” in Afrikaans) is so-called because of the bright yellow stripes that run horizontally along this silver fish’s body.

There are 30 to 40 different kinds of seahorses, but only five of these have been seen around the southern African coastline.

These sharks are often confused with puff adder shysharks but can be identified by their broader, more bluntly rounded snouts and depressed heads, and their large, light spots on a dark body.

These shysharks are similar in colour and markings to puffadder snakes, hence their name. 

Beaked sandfish use their hard-pointed snouts to burrow in the sand, where they hide out during the day. At night they come out to hunt.

These large, silvery fish are prominent members of our Kelp Forest exhibit. White steenbras (Lithognathus lithognathus), also sometimes known as pignose grunters, occur in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. They grow up to a length of about one metre and can weigh up to as much as 30 kilograms, making them popular targets for anglers.

Palmate sea fans are related to soft corals.

Sinuous Sea fans are related to soft corals.