The Madeira Divepoint Dive Centre and its staff at the Pestana Carlton Hotel in Funchal, Madeira
Steve Pratchett & Ralf Hein at Madeira Divepoint in Madeira
Ralf Hein
Wilfred Pilzer
PADI Training in the pool at the Madeira Divepoint Dive Centre
Konstance Pilzer
Paulo
Madeira
Diving from Madeira Divepoint in Madeira 2012
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Madeira
Diving from Madeira Divepoint in Madeira 2013
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One of the famous large Dusky Groupers at ‘Garajau’ dive site in Madeira's National Marine Reserve with Ralf Hein. The groupers here have become habituated to divers and will often approach when a dive party descends the anchor chain and like this one come to rest on the sandy bottom. This species was added to the endangered list in Annexe 3 of the Berne Convention in 1996. They are also on Portugal’s endangered species list.
Dusky Groupers can grow to as much as 150cm in length and 60kg in weight. Like this one, they normally have one cave among the rocks as home with several others. The latin name for the fish is Epinephelus, which can be loosely translated as “with clouds on it”, which refers to the blotches on its body. They are a solitary and territorial species, usually resting in caves or under rock overhangs. They feed on crustaceans, octopus, molluscs and other fish and swallow their prey whole, crushing them with tooth plates in their throat. They use their mouths and gills to suck their prey in from a distance They are long-lived with a maximum recorded age of 50 years.
