Blotcheye soldierfish

The blotcheye soldierfish (Myripristis murdjan) is a stocky, bright red fish clad in large, silvery-sheened scales. Its most striking features are the eyes – disproportionately huge and dark – and the deep red-black bar running behind the gill cover, which gives the species its English name. It is a close cousin of the squirrelfish but lacks the long cheek spine, and its rounder face gives it an almost plush-toy look.

It is a dedicated nocturnal hunter of plankton and crustaceans: after dusk it rises above the reef to pick large zooplankton, shrimps and crab larvae from open water. By day it musters in caves, inside wrecks and beneath deep overhangs, often in stationary schools of dozens or even a hundred fish, sometimes hanging upside down beneath the ceiling. With its swim bladder it produces clicking, popping sounds – how school members keep in touch in the dark.

Around Hurghada you can count on it in every shaded nook: schools hover like red clouds in the engine room of the El Mina wreck, in the caverns of Umm Gamar and beneath the ledges of El Fanadir. When your torch beam finds them, a hundred huge eyes turn towards you at once – one of the most striking moments of any cavern dive. Snorkelers can peek at them too in the larger recesses of shallower reefs.