Overview
A shallow favorite, named for its shape: a long rocky structure that looks like a horse's head. Full of life for how shallow it is.
What to See
Garibaldi, opaleye, and plenty of lobsters and other invertebrates.
Typical Conditions
Open Water / beginner-friendly. Water 50-52F; visibility varies.
History
Natural rocky reef in the Point Loma kelp beds.
Photographed here
What our divers have photographed at Horse Head Reef
32 species and features identified in our own photographs from this site. A record of what has been here, not a promise of what will be: sightings change with season, visibility and luck.
Photographed by Callie Mack, August 2024, July 2026, May 2025
A garibaldi nest · Black and orange sea cucumber · Black perch · Black skimmers · Blackeye goby · Blue Christmas tree worm · Brown rockfish · California moray and red rock shrimp · California sheephead female · Christmas tree worm · Garibaldi dad with eggs in nest · Giant keyhole limpet · Golden gorgonian · Gopher rockfish · Gray moon sponge · Kellet's whelk · Kelp rockfish · Lacy bryozoan · Lobsters · McPeak's anemone · Pacific blood star · Painted greenling · Porter's chromodorid · Red trumpet tubeworm · Red urchin · Shrimp Pandanus gurneyi · Spanish shawl · Sunburst anemone · Tricolor dorid · Tricolor dorid McPeak's anemone · Tricolor dorid Pacific blood star · Warty sea cucumber