Whilst on my honeymoon in the Maldives we had some very nice wildlife sightings including a handful of mammals (the Maldives not being the most mammal rich country in the world) and a great highlight of several large whale sharks. Obviously there are ways to get more marine mammals out of a trip to the Maldives (specialist multi-day cruises and marine mammal surveys etc); but most resorts offer the chance to have a standard dolphin watching excursion, where they often see one or two of the common (inshore) dolphin species around here. Which we did and saw all three of the commonly seen species. I also kept an eye out for the two different flying foxes in the evenings and it is not too difficult to differentiate between the two based on size alone when in the Maldives.
But of course the real wildlife highlights of the Maldives lies under the surface and the snorkelling and diving is second to none in many parts of the country. We had some incredible snorkelling including swimming with three whale sharks, one of which was easily 8m long and just incredible as it spent around 20 minutes slowly swimming beneath us (only around 4-5m beneath us).
Species List Maldives Snorkelling in Luxury (honeymoon) Feb 2022
Mammals
| Common Name | Binominal Name | |
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| 1 | Small Flying Fox | Pteropus hypomelanus |
| 2 | Indian Flying Fox | Pteropus medius |
| 3 | Striped Dolphin | Stenella coeruleoalba |
| 4 | Spinner Dolphin | Stenella longirostris |
| 5 | Indo Pacific Bottle-nose Dolphin | Tursiops aduncus |
Birds
| Common Name | Binominal Name | |
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| 1 | Brown noddy | Anous stolidus |
| 2 | Grey heron | Ardea cinerea |
| 3 | House crow | Corvus splendens |
| 4 | Asian koel | Eudynamys scolopaceus |
| 5 | White tern | Gygis alba |
| 6 | Bridled tern | Onychoprion anaethetus |
| 7 | White-tailed tropicbird | Phaethon lepturus |
| 8 | Little tern | Sternula albifrons |
Reptiles
| Common Name | Binominal Name | |
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| 1 | Indian garden lizard | Calotes versicolor |
| 2 | Green turtle | Chelonia mydas |
| 3 | Spotted house gecko | Hemidactylus parvimaculatus |
Fishes
| Common Name | Binominal Name | |
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| 1 | Scissor tail sergeant | Abudefduf sexfascistus |
| 2 | Orange socket surgeonfish | Acanthurus auranticavus |
| 3 | Ringtail surgeonfish | Acanthurus blochii |
| 4 | Powder blue surgeonfish | Acanthurus leucosternon |
| 5 | Blue lined surgeonfish | Acanthurus lineatus |
| 6 | Pale surgeonfish | Acanthurus mata |
| 6 | Convict surgeonfish | Acanthurus triostegus |
| 7 | Brown eagle ray | Aetomylaeus milvus |
| 8 | Indo-Pacific bonefish | Albula glossodonta |
| 9 | Clark’s anemoefish | Amphiprion clarkia |
| 10 | Maldives anemone fish | Amphiprion nigripes |
| 11 | Blue-spotted wrasse | Anampses caerilopunctatu |
| 12 | Small tooth jobfish | Aphareus furca |
| 13 | Spiny eye cardinal fish | Apogon melanorhynchus |
| 14 | Spiny -headed cardinalfish | Apogon urostigma |
| 15 | Green jobfish | Aprion veriescens |
| 16 | Painted cardinal fish | Archamia fucata |
| 17 | Stars and stripes pufferfish | Arothron hispidus |
| 18 | Orange-striped triggerfish | Balistapus undulata |
| 19 | Lunar fusilier | Caesio lunaris |
| 20 | Yellow-top fusilier | Caesio xanthonota |
| 21 | Black saddle pufferfish | Canthigaster valentini |
| 22 | Barcheek trevally | Carangoides plagiotaenia |
| 23 | Big eye trevally | Caranx sexfasciatus |
| 24 | Black-tipped reef shark | Carcharhinus melanopterus |
| 25 | Yellow angelfish | Centropyge flavissima |
| 26 | Many spined angelfish | Centropyge multispinis |
| 27 | Leopard rockcod | Cephalophlois leopardus |
| 28 | Peacock rockcod | Cephalopholis argus |
| 29 | Pollen’s rockcod | Cephalopholis polleni |
| 30 | Chocoloate hind | Cephalopod boenak |
| 31 | Threadfin butterflyfish | Chaetodon auriga |
| 32 | Triangular butterflyfish | Chaetodon baronessa |
| 33 | Lined butterflyfish | Chaetodon lineolatus |
| 34 | Meyer’s butteflyfish | Chaetodon meyeri |
| 35 | Spot-naped butterflyfish | Chaetodon oxycephalus |
| 36 | Collared butterflyfish | Chaetodon reticulatus |
| 37 | Yellow-headed butterflyfish | Chaetodon xanthocephalus |
| 38 | Milkfish | Chanos chanos |
| 39 | Glider flyingfish | Cheilopogon atrisignis |
| 40 | Spotfin flying fish | Cheilopogon furcatus |
| 41 | Sutton’s flying fish | Cheilopogon suttoni |
| 42 | Saddled parrotfish | Chlorurus cynanscens |
| 43 | Green fin parrotfish | Chlorurus sordidus |
| 44 | Green parrotfish | Chlorusu enneacanthus |
| 45 | Yellow-speckled chromis | Chromis alpha |
| 46 | Black axil chromis | Chromis atripectoralis |
| 47 | Twotone chroms | Chromis dimidiata |
| 48 | Swallowtail chromis | Chromis tenatensis |
| 49 | Clown coris | Coris aygula |
| 50 | Batu coris | Coris batuensis |
| 51 | African wrasse | Coris cuvieri |
| 52 | Network pipefish | Corythoichthys flavofasciatus |
| 53 | Fringelip mullet | Crenimugil crenilabis |
| 54 | Humbug dascyllus | Dascyllus aruanus |
| 55 | Three-spot dascyllus | Dascyllus trimaculatus |
| 56 | Slatey sweet lips | Diagramma pictum |
| 57 | Shark sucker | Echeneis naucrates |
| 58 | Blue-and-yellow grouper | Epinephelus flavocaeruleus |
| 59 | Honeycomb rockcod | Epinephelus merra |
| 60 | Four saddle rockcod | Epinephelus spilotoceps |
| 61 | Four-saddle rockcod | Epinephelus spilotoceps |
| 62 | Leopard blenny | Exallias brevis |
| 63 | Long-nosed butterflyfish | Forcipiger flavissimus |
| 64 | Delicate blenny | Glyptoparus delicatulus |
| 65 | scolopsis bilineata | Gnathodentex aurolineatus |
| 66 | Indian Ocean bird wrasse | Gomphosus caeruleus |
| 67 | Adorned wrasse | Halichoeres cosmetus |
| 68 | Goldstripe wrasse | Halichoeres hartzfeldii |
| 69 | Checkerboard wrasse | Halichoeres hortulatus |
| 70 | Three-spot wrasse | Halichoeres marginatus |
| 71 | Zigzag wrasse | Halichoeres scapularis |
| 72 | Black pyramid butterflyfish | Henitaurichthys polyepis |
| 73 | Indian Ocean parrotfish | Hipposcarus harid |
| 74 | Common cleaner wrasse | Labroides dimidiatus |
| 75 | Wedge-tailed wrasse | Labropsis xanthonota |
| 76 | Spangled emperor | Lethrinus nebulosus |
| 77 | Black spot snapper | Lutjanus fluviflamma |
| 78 | Blue lined snapper | Lutjanus kasmira |
| 79 | Rainbow runner | Maaniyaa mas |
| 80 | Black snapper | Macolor niger |
| 81 | Indo-Pacific tarpon | Megalops cyprinoides |
| 82 | Indian triggerfish | Melichthys indicus |
| 83 | Shortthorned Pygmy devil ray | Mobula kuhlii |
| 84 | Big-eye emperor | Monotaxis grandoculis |
| 85 | Goldstripe goatfish | Mulloidchthys vanicolensis |
| 86 | White-margin unicornfish | Naso annulatus |
| 87 | Humpback unicorn fish | Naso brachycentron |
| 88 | Big-nosed unicorn fish | Naso indicus |
| 89 | Clown unicorn fish | Naso lituratus |
| 90 | Long-nosed unicorn fish | Nasobrevirostris |
| 91 | Tawny nurse shark | Nebrius ferrugineus |
| 92 | Black damsel | Neoglyphidodon melas |
| 93 | Bloodspot squirrelfish | Neoniphon sammara |
| 94 | Regal damsel | Neopomacentrus cyanomos |
| 95 | Black tail grunbfish | Parapercis hexophthalma |
| 96 | Black flag sand perch | Parapercis signata |
| 97 | Sailfin flyingfish | Parexocoetus brachypterus |
| 98 | Dash and dot goatfish | Parupeneus barbernis |
| 99 | Side spot goatfish | Parupeneus pleurostigma |
| 100 | Circular spadefish batfish | Platax orbicularis |
| 101 | Longfin spadefish | Platax teira |
| 102 | Oriental sweet lips | Plectorhincus vittatus |
| 103 | Jewel damsel | Plectroglyphidodon lacrymatus |
| 104 | Striped catfish | Plotosus lineatus |
| 105 | Emporer angelfish | Pomacanthus imperator |
| 106 | Semicircular angelfish | Pomacanthus semicirculatus |
| 107 | Blue-faced angelfish | Pomacanthus xanthometopon |
| 108 | Caerulean damsel | Pomacentrus caeruleus |
| 109 | Neon damsel | Pomacentrus coelestris |
| 110 | Indian damsel | Pomacentrus indicus |
| 111 | Two-spot anthias | Pseudanthias bimaculstus |
| 112 | Yellow-backed anthias | Pseudanthias tuka |
| 113 | Regal angelfish | Pygolites diacanthus |
| 114 | Picasso triggerfish | Rhinecathus aculeatus |
| 115 | Whale shark | Rhyncodon typus |
| 116 | Dark-striped squirrel fish | Sargocentron praslin |
| 117 | Speckled squirrel fish | Sargocentron punctatissium |
| 118 | Tail barred parrotfish | Scarus caudofasciatus |
| 119 | Pale-nosed parrotfish | Scarus psittacus |
| 120 | Dusky capped parrotfish | Scarus scaber |
| 121 | Tricolor parrotfish | Scarus tricolor |
| 122 | Two-lined Monocle bream | Scolopsis bilineata |
| 123 | Robust ghostpipefish | Solenostomus cyanopterus |
| 124 | Blue-lined wrasse | Stethojulis albovittata |
| 125 | Cutribon wrasse | Stethojulis interrupta |
| 126 | Reef needlefish | Strongylura incisa |
| 127 | Scythe triggerfish | Sufflamen bursa |
| 128 | Black-spotted stingray | Taeniura meyeni |
| 129 | Jordan’s damsel | Teixeirichthyes jordani |
| 130 | Twotonw wrasse | Thalassoma amblycephalum |
| 131 | Six bar wrasse | Thalassoma hardwicke |
| 132 | Hebrew wrasse | Thalassoma hebraicum |
| 133 | Crocodile Longtom | Tylosurus crocodils |
| 134 | Mangrove ray | Urogymnus granulatus |
| 135 | Blue-stripe glider goby | Valencienna strigata |
| 136 | Moorish idol | Zanclus cornutus |
| 137 | Brushtail tang | Zebrasoma scopas |
| 138 | Scissor tail sergeant | Abudefduf sexfascistus |
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