What's Down There in Curaçao

Photo: Geoff Shuetrim, CC BY

The one everyone's hoping for, and in Curaçao there are a lot of them. Snorkel a few beaches and you'll very likely see one. Greens have a short, rounded snout and a smooth shell, and they surface every few minutes for air. They're endangered and protected — hang back a few body lengths, never touch or chase, and let them come and go on their own terms.

Photo: Kyle Van Houtan, CC BY

Easy to mix up with a green, so here's the tell: a hawksbill has a narrow, pointed, bird-like beak and a shell of overlapping plates with jagged back edges. They stick close to the reef, picking at sponges, and you'll see plenty of them around the island. They're critically endangered, so give them extra space.

Photo: Pauline Walsh Jacobson, CC BY 4.0

A slow, round-bodied fish covered in short spines that lie flat unless it feels threatened. They get big, up to around 18 inches, and genuinely curious — give one space and it'll often drift closer to check you out. Usually hovering near rocks or ledges during the day.

Photo: Dan Schofield, CC BY

Usually in small groups hovering in a neat line near the surface, and often just as curious about you as you are about them. Stay still and they'll hold their ground, flashing through colors and patterns — that's how they talk to each other. Sheltered coves and cliff walls are good places to look.

Photo: Denis Hurley

This is the octopus you'll find around Curaçao, and unlike a lot of octopuses it's often out hunting during the day. Look for a small hole with a little pile of empty shells outside it — that's a den, and there may be an eye watching you. Out in the open it changes color and texture almost instantly, from reddish-brown to pale and bumpy in a blink.

Photo: Don Loarie, CC BY

Long, silver, and toothy, usually hanging nearly motionless a little way off, keeping an eye on things. They mostly keep to themselves and aren't interested in snorkelers, but give them their space. Leave shiny jewelry on shore, since a flash of metal can look like a baitfish.

Photo: desertnaturalist, CC BY 4.0

Gold body, blue-tipped fins, and a dark "crown" spot ringed in electric blue on the forehead, which is where the name comes from. Solitary and a little shy, but worth the extra few minutes of quiet drifting to find.

Photo: keesgroenendijk, CC BY

Long and skinny, and usually just hanging there tilted sideways or head-down, like it forgot which way is up. Often tucked in among sea rods and soft coral, lined up with the branches. They'll also shadow a bigger fish, using it as cover to sneak up on prey. Brown, yellow, or bluish-grey — they change color to blend in, so look for the long snout.

Photo: desertnaturalist, CC BY 4.0

Big, colorful, and doing the reef a real favor: parrotfish scrape algae off coral with a beak-like jaw, and much of the white sand on Curaçao's beaches ultimately comes out the back end of fish like these. Listen near the rocks and you can actually hear them crunching.

Photo: Eamon Corbett, CC BY

A flat fish lying on the sand with both eyes on one side of its head, covered in bright blue rings. It can change color to match the bottom almost perfectly, so you'll often see one only when it moves. Scan the sandy patches between reef sections.

Photo: Chris Taklis, CC BY

Brownish and easy to overlook as it "walks" along the sand on little finger-like fins. Get too close and it spreads a pair of huge fan-shaped fins edged in electric blue, like wings. Look over sandy patches in shallow water, and move slowly.

Photo: Matteo Bellucci, CC BY

The juveniles are the prize: small, black and white, with a ridiculously long trailing fin on top that they wave around as they swim in little loops. Adults are striped and spotted, with a tall fin of their own. They tuck under ledges and into crevices, and tend to stick to the same spot, so once you find one you can usually go back to it.

Photo: Rachel Crane, CC BY

A tiny fish, only a couple of inches long, that's bright purple in front and bright yellow in back. Look under ledges and overhangs, where they hover close to the rock, often swimming upside down along the ceiling. Small, but the colors are hard to beat.

Photo: keesgroenendijk, CC BY

Usually the first thing you see is a pair of long, spiny antennae poking out from under a ledge or crevice, waving slowly. Hang still and you may get a look at the rest: a big, spiny, reddish-brown body with pale spots. No claws, unlike the lobsters most people picture.

Photo: Robin White, CC BY

A few kinds turn up around the island. The whitespotted filefish can switch between orange covered in white spots and plain grey in seconds; the scrawled filefish is long and flat, covered in blue scribbles, and often swims at a strange tilted angle. Usually in pairs.

Photo: Jay Brasher, CC BY

A boxy little fish with two short "horns" sticking out over its eyes and a hexagon pattern all over its body, like a honeycomb. It's a close cousin of the trunkfish and moves the same slow, hovering way, so if you find one you can usually get a good look. Can shift its colors and pattern to blend in.

Photo: Daniel Benák, CC BY

Beautiful and a real problem: lionfish aren't native to the Caribbean and eat huge numbers of young reef fish. Curaçao fights back with divers culling them, and they show up on local restaurant menus — order one. Their spines are venomous, so look but keep your distance.

Photo: Denis Hurley

Named for its wide, flattened branches that really do look like antlers. Once the dominant reef-building coral across the Caribbean, it's now critically endangered after mass die-offs — what's left is precious. Never touch it, stand on it, or let a fin brush it.