It’s the season for Ornate Ghost Pipefishes here in Lembeh! This exotic looking fish hovers head down and can usually be found in pairs or smaller groups. Most of the time Ornate Ghost Pipefishes live right next to crinoids, feather stars or soft corals. Colors can vary from black, red, yellow to white.
The Wonderpus or Wunderpus photogenicus is one of the most photographed subjects in Lembeh. That is of course, if you can find it! Being a crepuscular hunter (active during twilight), the Wonderpus typically hides in a hole in the sand during day-time. Also, the Wonderpus is often confused with a similarly looking cephalopod, the Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus). We will look into both species and point out some differences, which will help you distinguish between the two!
Certainly one of the weirdest critters and alien-looking creatures, is the Idiomysis or Opossum Shrimp. They only reach a few millimeters in length but yet I’m sure that every diver checking the sand or reef has seen them before. Idiomysis usually come in groups of 5 up to maybe 20 individuals and look a little like “flies” but underwater.
It’s one of the signature critters of the Lembeh Strait: The Hairy Frogfish. Colors can highly vary to match their environment. Therefore, we have had Hairy Frogfish in all different shades of brown, orange, yellow, white and black. Best dive sites to spot them at the moment in various sizes are Rojos, Kareko Batu and Aer Bajo.
With tons of different kind of nudis in the Lembeh Strait, I find it hard sometimes to get excited about the „sluggy stuff“. However, there’s certain species which, even if you’re not a nudi lover, are just spectacular. Sometimes it’s their funky colors, sometimes their incredible shapes, just like the Miamira Alleni which Joni Toy spotted the other day.
It’s considered the holy grail of critters because they’re extremely rare and usually only spotted during a short period of time: the Hairy Octopus. Once you’ve seen Wonderpus, Mimic, Blue-Ring and Mototi, this is probably the ultimate Cephalopod left on the list.
The Denise Pygmy Seahorse (Hippocampus denise) is one of the several Pygmy Seahorses to be seen in Lembeh Strait. Like its bigger cousin – the Bargibanti Pygmy Seahorse – it lives in Seafans. But this species is not restricted to one type of seafan. It can be found it different types of seafans AND in…
One of the lesser known and more rarely seen families of fishes are the bandfish. These elongated, snaky looking creatures are relatively big and usually found quite deep – down to about 500m. But some species of bandfish can be found in shallower areas. For example the Yellow-Spotted Bandfish (Acanthocepola abreviata) which we see on some spots here…
The Cryptic Sponge Shrimp or Paron Shrimp (Gelastocaris paronae) is a small crustacean that really has perfected its camouflage. It grows to about 2,5 cm in size and lives on sponges which it matches perfectly in colour, texture and shape: The Cryptic Sponge Shrimp has very small dark spots all over its body that make him actually…
The Giant Frogfish (Antennarius commersoni) is the biggest of the various Frogfish species you can find in Lembeh Strait. And without doubt one of the most impressive ones. This critter can grow up to 30cm in size and comes in various colours: white, tan, brown, black, grey – but also more striking colourations like yellow, red, pink,…