Velvetfish is one of my favorite fish, but very hard to find. Aptly named turdfish, these weird fish must get anyone actually having the pleasure of seeing them trying to figure out how such an untalented animal, barely able to move, uglier than most, and not very quick at that, can survive! I am definitely…
As an avid hitchhiker earlier in my life, meeting loads of cool people and getting to a lot of places for free, the term hitchhiker describing an ecological interaction has immediate appeal. In contrast, the movie the hitchhiker with Rutger Hauer certainly has left no one seeing it untouched! So, what is a hitchhiker in…
In general, the numbers of individuals of different species are limited. To a degree, this is very obvious, as no species can ever grow to unlimited numbers, which if not kept in check by something, all species could. The actual regulatory mechanism is often thought to be either by competition for species capable of exhausting…
Garbage in the sea is an internationally recognized problem, and on a smaller scale, garbage on beach is one of the more common complaints from tourists visiting tropical beach areas. The first article I read about Lembeh started of with a comment on just the garbage in the strait (the author thought that he had…
Communication in order to share information between conspecifics is very common in nature. Just think about male birds singing very loudly early in the morning with the dual purpose of telling conspecific males that this spot is taken as well as getting information through to the females what a hunk he is, or the male…
On one of last week’s morning dives we went to the southern end of the Lembeh Strait to check out some divesites that haven’t been visited for a while. The first dive we did at Wangurer – a black sand muck dive on the very southern mainland side of the strait. Basicly it is a…
Our many times repeater guests Tom and Susan come to NAD-Lembeh since many years and spend several weeks with us each winter. So we are very happy that our good friend Tom has reached the magic number of 1500 dives while diving here with us. When Simon found out yesterday he insisted on taking a…
The IWUPC 2013 (Indonesia World Underwater Photo Contest) is a competition by the indonesian government inteded to promote Indonesia as a diving destination. With prices valued at 200,000 US$ and a Jury of well known Names in Underwater Photography it surely also attracted many first class Photographers. The basic priciple of the contest was, that photographers…
On one of yesterdays dives i witnessed one of these special moments i love the Lembeh Strait for. During a dive at Are Prang – a black sand muck dive on the mainland side – i found a long armed octopus peeking out of its whole in the sand. After taking some shots it slowly…
I have been in Lembeh quite a number of times, and diving with some of the best guides there are. Thus I believe I have seen a high percentage of the cooler animals in the strait. Obviously there are minute nudis I haven seen and other things microscopic, but new cool things that are visible…