Daedalus Reef – Western Side

On the west side, a wide ledge holds a large colony of anemones, with resident Red Sea anemonefish and dottybacks. Massive Porites coral formations create an underwater architecture where moray eels find shelter. On this side, the slope runs diagonally down to a plateau covered by a forest of fan corals more than 3 m tall. Both the east and west sides of the reef are densely covered in fan corals and soft corals.

In Arabic, Daedalus is called Abu El Kizan, and it is a single oval reef carrying a lighthouse and a small manned station. The lighthouse station was founded in 1863, and the current lighthouse, from 1931, was renovated in 1993 and is run by the Egyptian maritime safety authority and the Egyptian Navy.