The lagoon around Rarotonga teems with tropical fish, easily accessible from the beach with a mask and snorkel. Here are pictures of many of those I have photographed and identified in our thirteen trips to the Cook Islands.
The pictures are principally taken in the lagoon at Palm Grove and at the Sanctuary Rarotonga on the Beach, with a small number from the Edgewater Resort, at Sea Change Villas, or at Titikaveka. However, most of the fish pictured can been seen in any snorkelling location in the Rarotonga lagoon where there are rocks and coral. It is certainly not a complete list of the fish you can see, but the 70 or so pictured are good samples of fish that take no real effort to see.
Some fish are much easier to find than others. For example, Threadfin Butterflyfish will often seek swimmers out and cruise around their legs, whereas I have only ever seen one Black Butterflyfish (and that was only because I later found it in a picture of some other fish.)
At the bottom I have also included some of the invertebrates I have seen.
All pictures have been taken with an Olympus OM TG-4 Tough or an OM System TG-7.
Fish
(Juvenile)
(Juvenile)
(looking to clean my leg!)
(Female)
(Male)
Invertebrates
