Pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting and often lethal to fish. To humans, tetrodotoxin is deadly, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote.
Liveaboard Diving in Burma
Western Rocky
- Site Layout:
- Three limestone pinnacles, caves, soft corals, walls
- Diving depth:
- Surface to 30m+
- Currents:
- Can be strong, but the site offers lots of natural shelter
- Visibility:
- Up to 30m
- Surface:
- Quite exposed so can get choppy towards the end of the season. Sometimes strong surface currents
- Site access:
- Dinghy
Western Rocky is a cluster of rocks in the southwest of the archipelago and is often the last dive of the trip, if not the last two. One of the highlights of the dive is a cave that extends for around 30 metres through the bottom of the main rock at a depth of 18m-22m. Though the nurse sharks that used to sleep in here are long since gone, there are often large numbers of Ornate and Painted Spiny Lobsters, as well as Giant Red Reef Crabs awaiting your arrival. To the north of the main rock is a pair of rock pinnacles that break the surface and are covered in pink and purple Hemprich's Soft Coral and, especially to the north, giant Gorgonian Sea Fans. Between these pinnacles you have the chance to see Leopard Sharks, Hawksbill Turtles, and Great Barracuda. There are also large numbers of Wrasse, Snapper, Common Lion Fish, and Titan and Clown Trigger Fish on the site.
Select other Burma Dive Sites you can see on your liveaboard trip.
- Black Rock
- Macca Tee
- MacLeod Bay
- North Twin Pinnacles
- North Twin Reef
- NOT North Rock
- Sea Fan Forest
- Shark Cave
- Sharp Peak Pinnacle
- St George's Rock
For general tourist information for the Mergui Archipelago see the Official Mergui Archipelago Website.
Return to Liveaboard Diving in Burma.