At first it looks more like a fat white and yellow fish swimming through a green sun-speckled ocean, as if it and the tree and the grass were occupants of a fantastical aquarium.

ECONOMIST: Leon Kossoff

Just an hour from Khasab are dive sites with schools of blue and yellow Indian Ocean angelfish, Arabian butterfly fish, snappers, lionfish, groupers, stingrays and turtles.

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However, because of different methodology, the fish gets a middle-of-the-road "yellow" from the Blue Ocean Institute.

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The yellow powders are saffron-spice blends to make Essaouira's signature fish tagine, but the mysterious purple pigment is what first made Essaouira's reputation, some 2, 000 years ago.

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