SeaLogEgypt · reef
A horseshoe of two reefs closing around a shallow pool of coral gardens, 18 m at its deepest.
Gota Hossam takes its name from its shape: two reefs curl round to enclose an area like a pool, with several coral gardens inside it. The catalogued maximum depth is 18 m, which makes it one of the shallower named sites in this part of the Marsa Alam coast.
It sits in the cluster of reefs off Abu Dabbab - a couple of hundred metres from our Long Canyon record and close to Abu Dabab IV - so the boats that work those sites are the ones that reach this one. We could not find an operator page publishing entry type, current, visibility or a difficulty rating for Gota Hossam specifically, so those fields are left empty here rather than borrowed from its neighbours.
Our OBIS record for the position covers 60 taxa with moderate counts and reads as an ordinary, well-populated fringing-reef community rather than anything unusual: two-band anemonefish, rusty parrotfish, humpnose big-eye bream, dusky parrotfish, striated surgeonfish, blackspot snapper, giant clam, yellowfin goatfish, exquisite butterflyfish, moon-tail bullseye. That is what an enclosed shallow pool of coral heads should look like, and it is consistent with the horseshoe description.
The site sits in the offshore reef cluster off Abu Dabbab, roughly 200 m from our Long Canyon record and near Abu Dabab IV, so it is reached by the boats and zodiacs that work those sites. No source states whether shore access exists, so we do not claim one.
No seasonal data is published for this site, so no best-season claim is made.
Not documented. The shape - two reefs closing around a shallow enclosed pool at no more than 18 m - implies shelter, but no source publishes current, visibility or surge figures for Gota Hossam, so none are recorded.
On current: The only quantified figure we could source for Gota Hossam is its 18 m maximum depth. No source publishes current, visibility, surge or a difficulty rating for this site specifically, so all of those are left unrecorded. Its neighbours in the Abu Dabbab cluster are generally sheltered and easy, but that is an inference about other sites, not a measurement of this one.
The catalogued maximum is 18 m, which makes it one of the shallower named sites in this part of the Marsa Alam coast. The coral gardens inside the horseshoe sit shallower still.
'Gota' is the local word for a reef or reef head, and the site is named for its horseshoe form: two reefs curl round to enclose an area like a pool, with several coral gardens inside it.
It sits in the offshore reef cluster off Abu Dabbab, roughly 200 m from Long Canyon and close to Abu Dabab IV, so it is reached by the boats and zodiacs that work that group. No source states whether shore access exists, so we do not claim one.
Not published. We could not source a current, visibility, surge or difficulty figure for this site specifically. Its neighbours in the cluster are generally sheltered and easy, but that is a statement about other sites - take the plan from your operator's briefing.
Our OBIS record for the position covers 60 taxa of ordinary, well-populated northern Red Sea reef fauna: two-band anemonefish, rusty and dusky parrotfish, humpnose big-eye bream, striated surgeonfish, blackspot snapper, giant clam, yellowfin goatfish, exquisite butterflyfish.
On depth alone, 18 m is inside Open Water limits and the enclosed shape suggests shelter. But we have no sourced difficulty rating or current figure for this site, so we record no minimum certification and leave the judgement to the operator running the boat.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Amphiprion bicinctus | occasional | 19 |
| Scarus ferrugineus | occasional | 17 |
| Monotaxis grandoculis | occasional | 15 |
| Scarus niger | occasional | 14 |
| Ctenochaetus striatus | occasional | 13 |
| Mulloidichthys vanicolensis | occasional | 12 |
| Rhinecanthus assasi | occasional | 12 |
| Chaetodon austriacus | occasional | 12 |
| Tridacna maxima | occasional | 12 |
| Lutjanus ehrenbergii | occasional | 12 |
| Arothron diadematus | occasional | 11 |
| Priacanthus hamrur | occasional | 11 |
| Hipposcarus harid | occasional | 11 |
| Chaetodon semilarvatus | occasional | 11 |
| Pomacentrus sulfureus | occasional | 11 |
| Paracirrhites forsteri | occasional | 11 |
| Chromis viridis | occasional | 10 |
| Heniochus intermedius | occasional | 10 |
| Naso elegans | occasional | 10 |
| Cephalopholis argus | occasional | 10 |
| Parupeneus cyclostomus | occasional | 9 |
| Chaetodon paucifasciatus | occasional | 9 |
| Dascyllus abudafur | occasional | 9 |
| Oxycheilinus digramma | occasional | 8 |
| Pygoplites diacanthus | occasional | 8 |
| Zebrasoma desjardinii | occasional | 8 |
| Parapercis hexophtalma | occasional | 8 |
| Variola louti | occasional | 7 |
| Halichoeres hortulanus | occasional | 7 |
| Taeniura lymma | occasional | 7 |
| Malacanthus latovittatus | occasional | 7 |
| Zebrasoma xanthurum | occasional | 6 |
| Gymnothorax javanicus | occasional | 6 |
| Cheilinus quinquecinctus | occasional | 6 |
| Balistoides viridescens | occasional | 6 |
| Platax orbicularis | occasional | 6 |
| Pseudanthias squamipinnis | occasional | 6 |
| Chlorurus gibbus | occasional | 6 |
| Thalassoma rueppellii | occasional | 6 |
| Chlorurus sordidus | occasional | 6 |
| Pterois miles | occasional | 5 |
| Cephalopholis miniata | occasional | 5 |
| Chaetodon fasciatus | occasional | 5 |
| Epinephelus tauvina | occasional | 5 |
| Lutjanus bohar | occasional | 5 |
| Neoniphon sammara | occasional | 5 |
| Plectorhinchus gaterinus | occasional | 5 |
| Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus | occasional | 5 |
| Pseudocheilinus hexataenia | occasional | 5 |
| Pseudodax moluccanus | occasional | 5 |
| Pycnochromis dimidiatus | occasional | 5 |
| Anampses twistii | occasional | 5 |
| Theonella swinhoei | rare | 4 |
| Millepora dichotoma | rare | 4 |
| Bodianus anthioides | rare | 4 |
| Dascyllus marginatus | rare | 4 |
| Epibulus insidiator | rare | 4 |
| Chromis flavaxilla | rare | 4 |
| Caesio lunaris | rare | 4 |
| Triaenodon obesus | rare | 4 |
A single fissure in the reef that takes fifteen to twenty minutes to swim, opening into chambers on the way through.
The third and larger of the offshore Abu Dabbab reefs: two facing pinnacles, narrow tunnels on the south side, and a burnt-out liveaboard in the channel next door.
The second of six numbered reefs a few kilometres off the Marsa Alam coast, dived with number three as a single shallow speedboat dive.
Reef one of the Abu Dabbab chain: a coral garden on sand with a shallow canyon, and the one of the group operators sell least.
The quietest of the numbered Abu Dabbab reefs, and the one with the coral cover to show for it.
The fifth of the numbered Abu Dabbab reefs: a sandy slope with coral blocks and swim-throughs, and very little written about it.
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