Reef or sea, Egypt
Ras Mohammed and the Red Sea
The southern tip of Sinai, Egypt's first national park, where Red Sea reefs drop into deep blue water.
Ras Mohammed is the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, where the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba meet the Red Sea. It became Egypt's first national park in 1983. Its reef walls, which plunge hundreds of metres, are famous for schools of fish, sharks and turtles. The Red Sea as a whole holds more than a thousand fish species, with a high share found nowhere else.
A sea of its own
The Red Sea is warm, salty and almost closed, linked to the Indian Ocean only by the narrow strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. Many of its fish are endemic, including the bluecheek butterflyfish and the Red Sea clownfish. Red lionfish drift along the reef, and the humphead wrasse is common in protected areas. Its corals are known for tolerating high temperatures, which has made them a subject of research on how reefs may cope with warming.
Sharks and tourism
Scalloped hammerheads gather in summer at sites off Ras Mohammed and the nearby Straits of Tiran, and oceanic whitetip sharks are seen at offshore reefs. Tourism from Sharm El Sheikh brings income but also pressure from boats, anchors and divers. Egypt banned shark fishing in its Red Sea waters, and moorings have been placed to protect the reefs from anchors.
Still to be written: Bluecheek butterflyfish, Red lionfish, Humphead wrasse, Scalloped hammerhead, Oceanic whitetip shark.