South Africa
Where to dive in South Africa
Top species 25
- Unlikely
- Likely
- Very likely
Frequent sightingsBlacktip Shark
Carcharhinus limbatus
The Blacktip Shark is easily recognized by the dark tips on its fins. It is a fast and energetic predator, often seen leaping out of the water. Blacktip sharks can be found in warm coastal waters around the world.
Frequent sightingsBroadnose Sevengill Shark
Notorynchus cepedianus
The Broadnose Sevengill Shark is notable for having seven gill slits, unlike most sharks which have five. It is a large, strong species that inhabits coastal and offshore waters. This shark is known to be opportunistic, feeding on a variety of prey including fish and marine mammals.
Frequent sightingsBull Shark
Carcharhinus leucas
The bull shark is a robust coastal shark known for its ability to tolerate freshwater, frequently entering rivers and estuaries. It is an opportunistic predator feeding on fish, rays, crustaceans, and other marine animals in tropical and subtropical regions.
Frequent sightingsCape Fur Seal
Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus
The Cape Fur Seal is a large marine mammal known for its thick fur and external ear flaps. They are highly social animals, often found in large groups along coastlines and islands in southern Africa.
Frequent sightingsCommon Bottlenose Dolphin
Tursiops truncatus
The Common Bottlenose Dolphin is a robust dolphin characterized by its short, stocky snout and grey coloration with a paler underbelly. Highly intelligent and social, these dolphins form complex fission-fusion societies. They are found globally in temperate and tropical marine waters, and are known for their active swimming, leaps, and use of echolocation for hunting.
Frequent sightingsDusky Shark
Carcharhinus obscurus
The Dusky Shark is a large predator known for its sleek, streamlined body and is typically grayish or dusky in color. It inhabits warm coastal waters and is primarily a carnivore, feeding on bony fishes and other marine life.
Frequent sightingsGiant Oceanic Manta Ray
Mobula birostris
The Giant Oceanic Manta Ray is the world's largest ray, with a disc width that can reach up to 9 meters. It is a circumglobal species found in tropical to temperate pelagic waters, often near coastlines, reefs, and in the open ocean, diving to depths of 1,000 meters. These filter feeders primarily consume zooplankton, including mesopelagic sources, and can also eat small fish. While generally solitary, they aggregate at feeding grounds and cleaning stations. The species is currently listed as Endangered due to overfishing and low reproductive rates.
Frequent sightingsGreat Hammerhead Shark
Sphyrna mokarran
The great hammerhead is the largest hammerhead species, recognizable by its wide, flat head and tall, curved dorsal fin. As a migratory apex predator, it uses its unique head for enhanced sensing and pinning down prey.
Frequent sightingsGreat White Shark
Carcharodon carcharias
The Great White Shark is the largest known predatory fish, characterized by its torpedo-shaped body, conical snout, and large, serrated triangular teeth. It is an apex predator found in temperate and tropical waters worldwide, playing a crucial role in marine ecosystems. This species exhibits regional endothermy, allowing it to maintain a body temperature higher than the surrounding water, which aids in its active predatory lifestyle.
Frequent sightingsGreen Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
The green sea turtle is a large marine reptile distinguished by its heart-shaped carapace and a single pair of prefrontal scales.
Frequent sightingsGrey Reef Shark
Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos
The Grey Reef Shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) is a medium to large-sized requiem shark, common in Indo-Pacific coral reefs and adjacent waters. Characterized by its grey body and a distinctive broad black band on the trailing edge of its caudal fin, it is a fast and agile predator. These sharks are known for their social daytime aggregations, which disperse at night for individual hunting.
Frequent sightingsHawksbill Sea Turtle
Eretmochelys imbricata
The Hawksbill Sea Turtle is a medium-sized marine turtle recognizable by its distinctive hawk-like beak and overlapping scutes, which create a serrated edge on its carapace. Primarily found in tropical coral reefs, it plays a crucial role in these ecosystems by feeding mainly on sponges, which are toxic to most other animals. This species is critically endangered due to historical exploitation for its beautiful shell and ongoing threats like habitat loss and bycatch.
Frequent sightingsHumpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
The Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a large baleen whale known for its distinctive body shape, long pectoral fins (up to one-third of its body length), and knobbly head. These migratory cetaceans are filter feeders, consuming krill and small schooling fish. They are also famous for their acrobatic surface behaviors like breaching and complex vocalizations, particularly the male's elaborate songs.
Frequent sightingsHumphead Wrasse
Cheilinus undulatus
The Humphead Wrasse is one of the largest reef fish, identifiable by a prominent hump on its forehead and thick fleshy lips. It is a protogynous hermaphrodite, meaning individuals are born female and some transition to males later in life. This carnivorous species plays a crucial role in coral reef ecosystems by preying on hard-shelled invertebrates and toxic animals like the crown-of-thorns starfish.
Frequent sightingsPotato Grouper
Epinephelus tukula
The Potato Grouper is a large fish known for its spotted appearance, resembling the surface of a potato. It primarily inhabits coral reefs and is a solitary carnivore. Potato Groupers can grow to be quite large, reaching up to 2 meters in length and weighing over 100 kg.
Frequent sightingsReef Manta Ray
Mobula alfredi
The Reef Manta Ray (Mobula alfredi) is a large filter-feeding ray found in tropical and subtropical waters, primarily around coral reefs and coastal areas. Known for its pelagic lifestyle, it feeds on zooplankton and exhibits complex social behaviors, often forming aggregations at feeding or cleaning stations. This species is listed as Vulnerable due to threats from overfishing and its slow reproductive rate.
Frequent sightingsSand Tiger Shark
Carcharias taurus
The Sand Tiger Shark is known for its fierce appearance with a bulky body and sharp, protruding teeth. Despite its menacing look, it is relatively sluggish and not aggressive unless provoked.
Frequent sightingsScalloped Hammerhead Shark
Sphyrna lewini
The Scalloped Hammerhead Shark is a large, migratory shark easily recognized by the central indentation on its hammer-shaped head. These sharks are found globally in warm temperate and tropical coastal and oceanic waters, often forming large schools around seamounts and islands. They are primarily nocturnal foragers, feeding on a diverse diet of bony fishes, cephalopods, crustaceans, and smaller sharks and rays.
Frequent sightingsShort-tail Stingray
Bathytoshia brevicaudata
The Short-tail Stingray is the largest species of stingray, known for its dark brown or blackish coloration and short tail relative to other rays. It is found in coastal and deep waters, often near the seabed where it hunts small fish and invertebrates.
Frequent sightingsSilvertip Shark
Carcharhinus albimarginatus
The Silvertip Shark is a large, streamlined requiem shark identifiable by the prominent white tips and trailing margins on all its fins. It is an aggressive apex predator, often dominating other sharks during feeding, and can be found in various tropical Indo-Pacific marine habitats from the surface to considerable depths. While often solitary or in pairs, it can also form small groups or mixed-species aggregations and exhibits variable activity patterns throughout the day and night.
Frequent sightingsSouthern Right Whale
Eubalaena australis
The Southern Right Whale is a large baleen whale distinguished by its robust, black body, lack of a dorsal fin, and distinctive callosities on its head. It is a filter feeder, consuming vast quantities of krill and copepods in the Southern Ocean. These migratory whales travel to warmer coastal waters for breeding and calving.
Frequent sightingsStriped Catshark
Poroderma africanum
The Striped Catshark is a small shark species, known for its distinctive pattern of vertical stripes. It resides mostly in coastal and reef environments around South Africa and is primarily nocturnal, feeding on small fish and invertebrates.
Frequent sightingsTiger Shark
Galeocerdo cuvier
The tiger shark is a large apex predator recognized by the dark vertical stripes along its body, especially visible in juveniles. It inhabits tropical and subtropical waters and has a highly varied diet, feeding on fish, rays, turtles, seabirds, and other marine animals.
Frequent sightingsWhale Shark
Rhincodon typus
The whale shark is the largest fish in the world and a gentle filter feeder.
Frequent sightingsWhitetip Reef Shark
Triaenodon obesus
The Whitetip Reef Shark is a slender, medium-sized shark easily identified by the distinctive white tips on its dorsal and upper caudal fins. Primarily nocturnal, it spends its days resting in caves and under ledges on coral reefs and hunts at night for bony fishes, crustaceans, and cephalopods. These sharks are generally social, often found in groups during the day, but can hunt individually or cooperatively.