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Sipadan Island - Marine Life
 Beginning life some 450-500 million years ago,
the Earth's coral reefs are now the largest ecosystems on the
planet. They sustain and support over 1 million species worldwide
and one coral reef alone may harbour some 3000 species. The major
Indo-Pacific ocean currents cross the seas that surround Sabah's
sandy shores, making them amongst the most biodiverse marine
environments in the world. 
Within a single dive in Sipadan, divers may observe many of
the 150 species of butterflyfish. Used by marine biologists as
indicators of coral reef health, a great number and species
diversity of butterflyfish reflects the abundance and diversity of
corals. Pristine coral reefs not only play landlord to
countless butterflyfish but also other reef dwellers such as
angelfish, snappers, wrasse, sweet lips, parrotfish as well as the
larger pelagics, barracudas, mantas, schools of hammerhead sharks,
dolphins and whales.
Pulau Sipadan is famous for its vast numbers of
Green and Hawksbill turtles which feed and breed within its waters
before the females climb ashore to lay their eggs in the white
sandy beaches.
Diving near the coral reefs surprises with incredible phenomena such
as thousands of schooling chevron barracuda and big-eye trevally or
'Jacks'. Floating inside such a tornado of fish is a
truly breath-taking experience that is very hard to beat.
  Sabah is also becoming a world famous location
for 'muck diving' - the term used by divers to describe the search
for rare and exotic small marine animals. Many rare and newly
identified gobies can be found living in the corals, sand, mud and
mangroves of Sabah, along with the little understood and rarely seen
mimic octopus, neon patterned blue-ringed octopus, delicate
flamboyant cuttlefish, psychedelic mandarin fish and ghost
pipefish.
Dive guides are specifically trained to find such
rarities and can show divers several of these oddities on a single
dive. Many new islands and reefs are being explored around the
coast of Sabah and with this exploration comes the discovery of new
dive sites and rarely seen marine creatures.
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