Abu Dabbab

Abu Dabbab is a bay along the coast of Marsa Alam in Egypt's Red Sea Governorate, reached directly from shore, with a broad sandy bottom covered in seagrass that shelves gradually into deeper water. It is a beginner site with a maximum depth of around 20 metres, light current, and generally good visibility. The bay is known for dugongs feeding on the seagrass, along with ghost pipefish and guitarfish, and divers have also reported turtles, eagle rays, octopus, frogfish, seahorses, pipefish and pipehorses, and even clownfish. Because animals here often sit camouflaged in the sand, including rays, care is needed when moving through the shallow flats, and some caution is warranted near boat and zodiac traffic close to the bay mouth, where boats have struck surfacing turtles. Current picks up somewhat at the bay mouth and along the outer reef, and there is an overhead section in a canyon on the south side that calls for more care than the open bay itself.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• Sea turtleSea turtleReported here · unconfirmed
• Freckled HawkfishParacirrhites forsteriReported here · unconfirmed
• Threadfin ButterflyfishChaetodon aurigaReported here · unconfirmed
• Klunzinger's WrasseThalassoma rueppelliiReported here · unconfirmed
• Crown ButterflyfishChaetodon paucifasciatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Harlequin Prawn-gobyCryptocentrus caeruleopunctatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Masked PufferArothron diadematusReported here · unconfirmed
• FrogfishFrogfishReported here · unconfirmed
• SeahorseSeahorseReported here · unconfirmed
• Eagle rayEagle rayReported here · unconfirmed
• PipehorseAmphelikturus dendriticusReported here · unconfirmed
• PipefishPipefishReported here · unconfirmed
• DugongDugongConfirmed present · 5 independent sources
• Ghost pipefishGhost pipefishConfirmed present · 3 independent sources
• GuitarfishGuitarfishConfirmed present · 3 independent sources
• OctopusOctopusReported here · unconfirmed
• ClownfishClownfishReported here · unconfirmed