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 came out to investigate. When my strobe lights started scaring him, he went off. But not back into its hole … he just swam off some meters to the side and disappeared into another hole. Big mistake. What the Octopus might not have realized was that this hole was inhabited by a little jawfish. These little fish dig their own holes and are also willing to defend them. But what i did not expect was that a tiny little jawfish would pick a fight with an octopus more than 10 times its size. Well, it did. 
At first it positioned itself next to the octopus and started to threaten him with some yawns … i could not stop laughing and the octopus also did not seem very impressed by the little fish. But then the yawfish started attacking the octopus with quick bites on the arms and the head. About 10 or 15 of them within less than half a minute. Eventually the octopus got tired of the little attacker and gave up the hole. i could not believe my eyes when i saw the octopus retreating and leaving the victory to this tiny little fish. The whole action lasted maybe a minute … still i did not manage to take any good photos … i was too busy laughing and looking. Next time 😉
