Sardinia's underwater environment is extremely precious, and various groups and institutions work hard to preserve it and educate people to ensure it stays pristine. With two Marine Parks Gallura has some of the most unspoiled waters of the Mediterranean, rich in underwater life. Access to La Maddalena Marine Park and the Tavolara/Coda Cavallo marine reserve is restricted to protect the underwater environment, with only licensed operators allowed to work or dive in these very special areas.
www.parks.it/riserva.marina.tavolara/
www.lamaddalenapark.it/

For those interested in marine biology, below are just a few of the enormous number of species divers can expect to find here:

 

FISH

Species of fish include pelagics such as Mediterranean Barracuda sphyraena sphyraena.

Cartilaginous fish include such as raja montagui and dasyatis pastinaca.

Beautiful morays muraena helena are plentiful and lurk in the holes between the granite;  their teeth-baring is simply a way of getting more oxygen to their gills.

Shade lovers such as phycis phycis (musdea)and cardinal fish apogon imberbis (re di triglia) are often found in the mouths of caves and overhangs, where seahorses can also sometimes be spotted, hippocampus guttulatus and the shorter-nosed hippocampus hippocampus.

Various scorpion fish camouflage themselves among the rocks, including scorpaena scrofa and scorpaena porcus (scorfano rosso e bruno) and the little scorpaena notata (scorfanotto).

Large brown groupers epinephelus marginatus, many over 1m in length and weighting 40kg+, live around the islands of Lavezzi where their inclination to lurk motionless around the rocky outcrops makes them very popular with photographers.  The less common white grouper epinephelus aenus is also found in the area.

 

Anthias anthias  red anthias live in large groups in deeper water, often led by a dominant male.  A hermaphrodite species where the change of sex is a function of size, but also the presence or absence of other males within the group.

Shoals of black anthias are prevalent at shallower depths.

 

CRUSTACEANS

Lobster and various crabs, including hermit crabs eupagurus prideauxi  and spider crabs, hide among the rocks.

Rarer scyllarides latus, the Mediterranean slipper lobster (cicala) rise from the depths in the warmer months to lurk in areas of low light such as the roof of caves, and are mainly nocturnal feeders.

Many prawns, including hyppolyte huntii and  stenopus spinosus (gambero meccanico), hide among the rocks.

 

INVERTEBRATES

Nudibranchs include beautiful mauve and pink flabellina with their vibrant strings of eggs, cratena peregrine, and the larger black and white discodoris atromaculata (vacchetta del mare).

 

Worms are a favourite with many photographers, including beautiful spyrografo.  Octopus can also be found in many spots.

 

Colourful walls are covered in a variety of anemones and a wide variety of sponges, as well as the flower-like animals of leptopsammia pruvoti and parazoanthus axinellae (margherite di mare), and filtering organisms such as clavelina lepadiformis lightbulb squirts.  

 

 

CORAL

Particularly beautiful are the Gorgonia in this area, found at depths below c.25m where conditions are suitable, including the black-gorgonia-that's-yellow gerardia savaglia;  Secca del Papa and Mortoriotto sites are particularly rich in stunning examples of gorgonia and other corals.

 

Different seasons bring different forms of marine life;  for example, in winter some creatures which prefer a deeper habitat during the summer months rise towards the surface for food, while water temperature and density create differing visual conditions.