Birders often go gaga over gorgeous and glamorous members of the avian community but if there is anything to outdazzle birds it has got to be marine life. Meeting members of the marine world is, however, more complex – you may need scuba diving equipment, expertise and, of course, access to the ocean. To catch a glimpse of what I was missing , I took myself off to Goa’s ‘Abyss’ marine aquarium – and yes was pretty gob-smacked.From the exterior it looks a bit tacky, but the world changes once you step inside. At the entrance, as if to greet you is an open-air tank containing endearing looking Red Ear Slider Turtles, Koi Carp (aka nishikigoi) splotched orange and white, and a few sinister looking (well-fed presumably) small sharks. The turtles clamber one on top of the other and gaze at you beseechingly – really all humbug because these guys are history sheeters. Native to the southern United States and northern Mexico, they have done what Trump accuses foreigners of doing in America: become a hugely invasive species around the world. They are very popular and inexpensive to maintain as pets, and when released, go and outcompete the (lazy? ) locals and are on the list of 100 of the world’s most invasive species. They are outlawed in Australia and have invaded the north-eastern states of India and temple ponds in Kerala. They also spread the nasty salmonella virus if handled.The brilliantly lit tanks (alas, not so the signage which is hardly readable and need to provide more information) are dazzling. Moray eels, with black and white leopard-like markings coil around each other – I came across one such, dead with a bloody mouth on Morjim beach, a couple of years ago.The guitar fish, a bottom-feeder, very stingray-like, is sand-coloured and with its wing-like fins, flaps languorously at the bottom of its tank, its body guitar shaped. Other stunners include reddish-brown and white striped lionfish, their faces painted like American Indians, armed to the hilt with fins tipped with venomous spines. They are natives of the Indo-Pacific region. The blue-ringed angelfish, with its dark bronze body and indigo stripes, is another knockout and swims the oceans, off East Africa all the way to New Caledonia. Though they breed conventionally, all babies are born as little girls and change to boys as they grow. The Mono angels are diamond shaped, silver with black vertical stripes. Other angels, diamond shaped and silvery with lemon yellow fins swim languidly around.Enormous olive green and black and white patterned lobsters with orange faces, all claws and legs and feelers squat in corners of their tank; alas, when they’re dunked alive into boiling water, they turn virulent pink and red.Zebra fish, with their white horizontal stripes against an orange or grey base have been bred in many Smartie colours too. Native to South Asia they are hugely popular aquarium fish and beloved of scientists for research in developmental biology and gene function. They have remarkable regenerative qualities too.Hefty Alligator gar fish, in olive-gold armour, have a tank all to themselves. They are an ancient lot, found in the fresh, brackish and marine waters of North and Central America and the Caribbean. Their scales were used for arrowheads by Native Americans, and for breastplates by natives of the Caribbean. They have powerful DNA repair capabilities and can be used in the treatment of cancer.Story continues below this adDe rigeur for any aquarium are piranha, and sure enough there they are, gunmetal grey with pouting faces, their deadly dentition mercifully concealed. A personal favorite is the orange and white clownfish – one of whom was blissfully dozing in a bed of snowy coral – or perhaps it was a chrysanthemum-like anemone. There are smaller – equally colourful – inhabitants too: Starfish in various hues and, if you look closely, hermit crabs trundling along at the bottom of the tanks carrying their homes on their backs, and crabs squatting belligerently defying all comers. Sea turtlesMost of the inhabitants of these tanks are from foreign oceans and you wish there had been more local representation: estimates vary from more than 374 to 4000 species of ornamental fish in India. Also, perhaps a larger collection of sea snails, shrimps (like the deadly mantis, and pistol shrimp) and jellyfish. They had an octopus at one point but it’s gone – ah, but then they’re genius jailbreakers.There is a well-lit souvenir shop too with ankhs and shells on sale among other items. Tempting (but environmentally unethical) and you know it is illegal – they are protected by the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, so you wonder why they’re being displayed here. (They’re available readily everywhere outside too.) But yes, underwater, there’s a whole new dazzling world to be discovered – beautiful, sinuous, bewildering, graceful and deadly dangerous. ‘Crocodile hunter’ Steve paid with his life when he got too close to a stingray. Reel and rod fishing has become another macho-pastime where large gabbling men get hysterical as they reel in something big; fighting desperately for its life, its mouth snared in a cruelly hooked barb. They’ll land the fish, have selfies taken, measure and weigh it and then, magnanimously release it – so that it can go through the same trauma yet again at the hands of another macho-hero. So nice.They claim fish do not feel pain but experiments show that they do – and sadly that includes fish that are caught by the million in nets and suffocated as they’re brought out of the water. But then, these are a food resource and have not suffered merely to fluff up macho egos.