Moses sole

The Moses sole (Pardachirus marmoratus) is the hidden artist of the Red Sea's sandy bottoms. Its flat, oval body wears a marbled, sand-coloured pattern, both eyes sit on the right side of its body – as is the way with soles – and by day usually only the eyes and gill cover show above the sediment. Its name comes from an old legend: when Moses parted the Red Sea, a fish was said to have been split in two, and each half swam off to live its own life – and so the flatfish were born.

Its real fame, though, comes from chemistry. At the base of its fins it produces a toxic, milky-white secretion called pardaxin, which irritates the gills and mouth lining of attacking predators. In experiments even sharks instantly released a Moses sole the moment they tasted the secretion, and pardaxin was studied for decades as a potential shark repellent. The fish itself is a peaceful bottom-dweller, hunting small invertebrates in the sand at night.

Around Hurghada it lives on sandy plateaus and lagoon floors: the sand flats of El Fanadir and Abu Hashish and the lagoon of Shaab Sabina are the places to search. Finding one is not easy – cruise slowly over the sand and watch for a fish-shaped outline on the bottom or a patch of sediment that suddenly moves. If startled, it ripples away a few metres, then buries itself again with a single shudder.