Lembeh is not only a place to see rare critters – due to its shallow depths and easy diving conditions it is also a very good place to observe marine animal behavior. After some busy days doing gardening work in the resort i finally went diving again yesterday afternoon. And it was a treat to…
The Flamboyant Cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) is a member of the cuttlefish family – but a very untypical one. Unlike other cuttlefish it is not shy at all but displays it’s poppy colour signals to communicate the potential danger of the poison in his flesh to potential predators. This makes it really easy to observe and photograph…
Lembeh Strait is home to several species of Ghostpipefish including the Ornate, Robust, Slender, Roughsnout and Halimeda Ghostpipefish. But the rarest and most bizarre is the Velvet Ghostpipefish. It is smooth, relatively small and mimics sponges. And at the moment we are seeing them at 3 different dive sites: There are two purple pink individuals…
We found this Phycocaris species for the first time in October and since then already several times at different dive sites here in the Lembeh Strait. This one is now the 5th specimen we found and we have seen them in between 25 and 10 meters depth. It is always associated with the little green ascidians…
To follow a guest request we went to see a sea fan with Denise Pygmy Seahorses on yesterday’s morning dives. This particular fan had 3 individuals living in it. As the seafan is easiely accessable from both sides, they are very cool to watch. Two of them had big blown up bellies and were obviously pregnant.…
Emperor Shrimps are famous for hitchhiking on other marine animals such as Sea Cucumbers and various Nudibranchs and they are frequently seen on Lembeh Strait’s beautiful black sand muck dives. But today i have seen one for the first time ever taking a ride on an adult female flamboyant cuttlefish. When photographing it the flamboyant…
Even though we have “Low Season” there is still a lot going on our Housereef … here is a little Update on the Critters we are seeing right off the Beach these days: Our little colony of Lembeh Sea Dragons is spreading from Banggai (our older Wreck) to our newer Wreck – there are now 5…
The Yellow Pygmy Goby (Lubricogobius exiguus) can be found frequently in Lembeh Straits black sand muckdives: It’s poppy yellow colour makes it stand out and an attractive critter for Photographers, Videographers and normal divers alike. It usually lives in pairs and can be found on mucky sand substrates – living in holes, under pieces of…
On a dive this week i found this very cool shrimp goby watching out from his hole. Not only did he yawn for the camera several times, he had also a very beautiful colouration. This firework like colour made me choose him for the todays Blog post on december 31st – Happy new Year everyone!…
The Blue Ringed Octopus is one of the top Critters for Muck Divers … it’s a little bit like a small version of a Whaleshark: everybody really really wants to see one. And of course it is possible to find it here in the Lembeh Strait – the muck diving capital of the world. The Blue Rined…