Rare and Beautiful Fish Spotted in Eilat’s Coral Reef

Divers at the Eilat Coral Reef called the “Rock of Moses Coral Reef Reserve” at the southern coast of Eilat spotted a very rare fish in the middle of the reef. It’s called the Pinecone fish since it has spikes and scales which are similar to those of a pine cone. But since it looks like a pineapple it’s also called the pineapple fish.

Boaz Samurai a diving and underwater photography instructor with many years of experience and thousands of dives at this reef says he never saw this fish in the reef till now. “When we came to the part of the reef jutting out that’s called Moses’s Rock I saw a small little thing no larger than a centimeter flit by, swimming against the current. I saw this fish I have never seen before that’s yellow with a spikey body.”

“Looking in the fish guide I found this fish is rare to spot since it likes deeper water and stays at the sea floor. Only at this stage of being young do they hang around the more shallow reefs. I’ve been diving here on a daily basis as a diving and underwater photography instructor and this is the first time I’ve seen this fish. I’m happy to see nature surviving and taking care of itself in spite of the changes we do to it.”

Another reason why this fish is rare is that it lives mainly off Japan and Australia and it’s nocturnal meaning it only comes out at night.they also have little nodes near their mouth that give off light either to illuminate where they're going or to attract prey of smaller fish to it.