As discussed in an earlier blog, the Banggai cardinalfish, which are considered to be a vulnerable or threatened species in their original home of the Banggai islands, is an introduced species to Lembeh (the exact story about how this happened varies, from a broken seine net to a transport being late and an exporter just…
We just took a very short family break to Disney Hong Kong for a few days, and when we arrived yesterday we were met by a bunch of friends from Reef Photo Video in the US, and a whole bunch of shipping that arrived in our absence. Obviously shipping things around in Indonesia is time…
Yesterday`s blog on Batesian mimicry got me started thinking (thus the big tank of air, brain activity requires oxygen!). Batesian mimicry was about “parasitizing” on the true signal of something sending out an honest warning. This is a very special type of mimicry. Camouflage, where animals try to look like something more or less inedible,…
Mimicry in a biological sense is the similarity between two species that protect one of them or both. One species, the mimic, evolves to share traits with a noxious species, the model, with the fundamental purpose to send a signal from the mimic to a receiver (most often a predator) so that the…
A couple of weeks ago the title for being the ugliest animal in the world was awarded by the British science festival. Top contenders were the proboscis monkey, lice, the nowadays famous blobfish and a frog from lake Titicaca with the catching name the scrotum frog (it is, I promise! No, I did not make…
Cephalopods belong to the large group of animals known as molluscs. Generally molluscs do not move well, and when they do, it is by either gliding over a slime track or by using their external shells. But not the cephalopods. Cephalopods move very quickly and with very precise movements when that is needed. Most animals…
Once again, back in Lembeh. And not only me, when I arrived at NAD six other guests in several groups that I met the last couple of years here where also back. One would think that the black sand, so so visibility as well as muck divings risk for dives with not much to see…
In the six months that I’ve spent in Lembeh over the past year, today was probably the single most insane day for critters that I can remember. Between the two boats today, guests saw Hairy/Randalls/Painted Frogfish, multiple Mototi Blue-ringed Octopus, Blue-ringed Octopus, Algae Octopus, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish, Ambon Scorpionfish, and the…
Lots of great things happening at NAD right now. The camera room is being extended, and should double the current space available. Work on the new extended jetty is in progress. No more climbing up and down at low tide, as the new extensions are on floats and the boats are always at the same…
Well, they are back. After a few reported sightings over the last few months where the Rhinopias has promptly disappeared afterwards, there finally appears to be one staying still for a while now. We are being tough on our rules about overcrowding and taking too many shots with this critter. We won’t give you 20mins…