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Smoothskin Horsefish - #21 on G'Bay MegaCache rout Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Adventure_T: Location no longer viable

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Hidden : 8/12/2016
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This is part of the “Interesting and Unusual Fish you’ll find in Gordon’s Bay” collection.

This cache is also #21 on the G’Bay MegaCache Sea and Mountain route. (See route map and schedule in gallery)


This circular walking route has a possible 23 geocaches up for grabs and is 7.5 km long and could take you 6.5 hours to complete. Some of the caches are quite tough to find, so if you don’t find it after about 10 minutes searching, move on to the next one as there are many more to find! (If you get more than 15 caches then you have done well)

The “Smoothskin Horsefish” are very large and can be found at Steenbras Deep.  They are incredibly well camouflaged and often difficult to spot. 

The Smoothskin Horsefish has a compressed body and a very tall dorsal fin over its head. The young are light brown in colour with irregular darker brown markings, whereas the adults are only dark brown in colour. This fish lacks scales and has a projecting snout with a small mouth. Adults have a very smooth skin and juveniles are anything but smooth-skinned, and are actually covered by rough little bumps. The Smoothskin Horsefish can grow to 75cm in length.

Native to the southern hemisphere this fish lives on the bottom of shallow temperate sub-Antarctic seas, at depths up to 300m. They can be seen in deep cracks or between plates on a wreck.

Interestingly the Smooth Horsefish is very docile and can be readily approached. In some instances they have even been picked up in which case they emit a soft 'tok-tok-tok' sound. This fish does not seem to have any obvious defence mechanism.

Diet: crustaceans

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Yvsr vf yvxr n obk bs pubpbyngrf…

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)