Trang Marine Life: The Seagrass Coast

Asian Small-clawed Otter Occasional Vulnerable

Aonyx cinereus

The smallest otter in the world, a sociable, hand-using charmer that feels for prey with nimble fingers.

Where: Mangrove creeks on the mainland side. Best: Year round, early morning.

Dugong Occasional Vulnerable

Dugong dugon

The gentle sea cow said to have inspired mermaid legends, grazing seagrass meadows in warm shallow seas.

Where: Seagrass meadows off Koh Libong, from a longtail at high tide. Best: Dec-Apr, calm mornings on a spring tide. Thailand's most important dugong population. Local boatmen at Koh Libong know the feeding trails.

Brahminy Kite Common

Haliastur indus

A handsome chestnut-and-white kite of coasts and harbours, forever quartering the shoreline for scraps and stranded fish.

Where: Coast and mangrove edges. Best: Year round.

Germain's Swiftlet Common

Aerodramus germani

The little cave swift whose nest of pure saliva is harvested from sheer sea caves for bird's nest soup.

Where: Limestone caves on the islands. Best: Year round.

Pacific Reef Heron Regular

Egretta sacra

Comes in two entirely different colours, charcoal grey and pure white, and both can hatch in the same nest.

Where: Rocky shores and reef flats at low tide. Best: Year round.

White-bellied Sea Eagle Regular

Haliaeetus leucogaster

A huge coastal eagle in grey and white that snatches sea snakes and fish from the surface in a spectacular swoop.

Where: Over the island cliffs and mangroves. Best: Year round, morning.

Black-capped Kingfisher Occasional

Halcyon pileata

A striking mangrove kingfisher in black, white and deep purple-blue, a winter visitor to Thailand's coasts.

Where: Mangrove creeks. Best: Nov-Mar.

Green Sea Turtle Regular

Chelonia mydas

The great grazing turtle of the tropics, the only sea turtle that turns vegetarian as an adult.

Where: Seagrass meadows around Koh Libong and Koh Muk. Best: Nov-Apr, best Dec-Mar on the seagrass.

Bullethead Parrotfish Common

Chlorurus sordidus

A blunt-headed reef grazer that scrapes algae from coral with a beak of fused teeth and sleeps in a bubble of its own mucus.

Where: Reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.

Clark's Anemonefish Common

Amphiprion clarkii

A hardy, boldly banded anemonefish that will share its stinging anemone with a confidence bordering on cheek.

Where: Anemones on reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.

False Clownfish (Clown Anemonefish) Common

Amphiprion ocellaris

The famous orange and white anemonefish, immune to the stinging tentacles that shelter it and every group ruled by a single dominant female.

Where: Anemones on the shallow reefs. Best: Nov-Apr.

Raccoon Butterflyfish Common

Chaetodon lunula

A golden butterflyfish masked like a raccoon, drifting the reef in pairs by day and roaming at night.

Where: Reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.

Longhorn Cowfish Occasional

Lactoria cornuta

A box of armour with horns front and back, that hunts by blowing jets of water into the sand.

Where: Seagrass and rubble. Best: Nov-Apr.

Saddleback Anemonefish Occasional

Amphiprion polymnus

The one anemonefish that lives out on open sand rather than the reef, in a host buried up to its mouth.

Where: Carpet anemones on sandy shallows. Best: Nov-Apr.

Thorny Seahorse Rare Vulnerable

Hippocampus histrix

Covered in long sharp spines and able to shift colour to match whatever it has wrapped its tail around.

Where: Seagrass and rubble margins. Best: Nov-Apr, calm water.

Tiger Tail Seahorse Rare Endangered

Hippocampus comes

A slender seahorse banded down the tail like a tiger, the male carrying and giving birth to the young.

Where: Seagrass margins and sponge rubble off Koh Libong. Best: Nov-Apr, calm water on the seagrass margins. Ask boatmen rather than searching blind; the beds are large.

Blacktip Reef Shark Common Vulnerable

Carcharhinus melanopterus

The neat little reef shark of the shallows, its black-tipped fins often cutting the surface over sun-lit sand flats.

Where: Shallow reef flats around the islands. Best: Nov-Apr. Often visible from the surface on a snorkel in knee-deep water.

Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray Regular

Taeniura lymma

A small, brilliantly marked ray, olive gold studded with electric blue spots, tucked under coral ledges.

Where: Sand pockets on the reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.

Brownbanded Bamboo Shark Occasional Near Threatened

Chiloscyllium punctatum

A small, slender carpet shark that walks across the reef on its fins and can survive hours out of water in a tide pool.

Where: Under coral ledges at night. Best: Nov-Apr, night.

Porcupine Ray Rare Vulnerable

Urogymnus asperrimus

The only large stingray with no sting at all, protected instead by a hide of blunt thorns.

Where: Sand flats near seagrass. Best: Nov-Apr.

Sicklefin Lemon Shark Rare Endangered

Negaprion acutidens

A heavy, yellow-brown shark that uses mangrove shallows as a nursery and barely moves out of them for the first years of life.

Where: Sandy shallows and mangrove edges. Best: Nov-Apr.

Giant Spider Conch Occasional

Lambis truncata

It does not crawl, it pole-vaults, hooking a claw-shaped foot into the sand and flipping itself forward.

Where: Seagrass beds. Best: Nov-Apr.

Wedge Sea Hare Occasional

Dolabella auricularia

Ejects a cloud of purple ink that does not hide it but jams the chemical senses of whatever is attacking.

Where: Seagrass at low tide. Best: Nov-Apr.

Flamboyant Cuttlefish Rare

Metasepia pfefferi

The only cuttlefish known to be poisonous to eat, and it advertises the fact in pulsing purple, yellow and red.

Where: Silty sand near seagrass. Best: Nov-Apr. The flesh is toxic, and the walking display is worth waiting for.

Magnificent Sea Anemone Common

Heteractis magnifica

A great carpet of stinging tentacles that is home and fortress to the anemonefish, a partnership at the heart of the reef.

Where: Shallow reef. Best: Nov-Apr.

Staghorn Coral Common

Acropora species

The fast-growing branching coral that builds the living thickets of the reef, nursery and shelter for a whole community.

Where: Shallow reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.

Haddon's Carpet Anemone Occasional

Stichodactyla haddoni

A metre-wide sticky carpet on open sand that will genuinely hold onto a bare hand, and can pull a small fish under.

Where: Sandy shallows and seagrass margins. Best: Nov-Apr.

Blue Sea Star Common

Linckia laevigata

An almost unreal cobalt blue starfish scattered across the shallows, able to regrow a whole body from a single lost arm.

Where: Reef flats and seagrass margins. Best: Nov-Apr.

Pincushion Urchin Common

Tripneustes gratilla

Decorates itself with shell, weed and rubbish held on with its tube feet, apparently as a sunshade.

Where: Seagrass and rubble. Best: Nov-Apr.

Porcelain Anemone Crab Occasional

Neopetrolisthes maculatus

A tiny spotted crab that shelters in an anemone alongside the clownfish, fishing the current with feathery fans.

Where: In carpet anemones. Best: Nov-Apr.

Indo-Pacific Horseshoe Crab Rare Endangered

Tachypleus gigas

Not a crab at all, closer to a spider, and its blue blood is used worldwide to test every injectable drug for contamination.

Where: Muddy shores and estuaries on spring tides. Best: Around the full and new moon.