You'll find you enjoy your dives more when you recognise the creatures that you see. The fun part about this course is you can use the skills you learn on every scuba diving vacation because once you learn the main fish families and characteristics it will help you decipher the species you see all over the world.

For example, a butterfly fish in the Caribbean has a similar shape to a butterfly fish in Southeast Asia, but their colours and markings maybe wildly different. If you know what fish family it belongs to, it becomes easier to look up the local name or at least be able to intelligently ask the local scuba instructor what you saw. That works better than asking about a "yellow thingy with a funny fin tail".

What You Learn:

During two dives you gain hands-on (okay, eyes-on) experience in looking for and identifying the fascinating fish you see underwater. You'll learn:

• How to identify characteristics of local fish families and species.
• Fish survey techniques and strategies.
• How to practice fish identification dive planning, organisation and procedures.

The Learning Materials You Need:

AWARE's Our World Our Water includes a section on identifying reef fish based on body shape and habitat. You'll also learn about marine life indigenous to tidal zones, polar regions, kelp forests, and wetlands. Our World Our Water also includes a five page glossary of terminology used by marine biologists.

Pre-requisites:

To take this course, you must be a PADI Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver (or qualifying certification from another organisation).

Your Next Adventure:

While your learning about fish, you'll probably be curious about the different types of coral and want to check out the Coral Reef Conservationist course.

You may also want to brush up on your underwater photography skills so that you can document and capture images of the species you're encountering.