Salema Porgy

Photo: Guido and Carrara family · CC BY

Immense schools of salema, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, stream through the submerged colonnades and harbour walls in tight, coordinated formations. They graze relentlessly on algae coating the ancient stonework, their feeding activity actually helping preserve carved stone surfaces by preventing thick algal overgrowth. The silvery mass of a large salema school swirling around a Roman column is one of the signature images of Phaselis diving.