Critter Post #10
Posted on Nov 30, 2009 by bruce_moore
.. Virtually impossible to have a "bad" dive ...Excitement Reigns ...Overheating Dive Sites ... Life Is Grand ...
Where to start. So much seen, so little room to relate. As expected, September through early November offered massive critter overload on an expanded scale. And this period offered different highlights in comparison to years past. As I tend to overstate - there's always something to see. Here are notes from only a small selection of sites.
Tanjung Kubur (Cemetery Point):A lovely yellow Rhinopias frondosa popped up, causing quite a stir. There were up to three thorny seahorses there and some nice nudis, velvet fish and more every dive. Plenty of squid mating and laying eggs too.
Then late in October all of them vanished - the sea horses, then the rhino, etc... Boo-hoo. But then we started seeing - in any combination - a blue ring octopus and a pair of wonderpus.I have put shots of the same blue ring in different moods on subsequent dives.
And there were two "hairy" octopus about, offering fleeting visions at best (the picture on top of this entry shows how well they blend in). We did some surveys off-site and found a few frogfish and other critters, including my spotting of the lovely red thorny seahorse that we had last seen in the area back last May, covered in skeleton shrimp (see picture in earlier Critter Post). Our most recent dive there offered little: a mantis shrimp bearing an egg mass, a juvenile pinnate batfish, some decent nudis, but little else. Feast & Famine ...But one interesting thing there is that so many of the sea stars are covered in an attractive parasite, probably some sort of flatworm (see the picture)
Jari Jari: Called Jahir 2 by some, this has been probably the best site in recent months. Our last dive there (yesterday) coughed up an orange Lembeh frogfish, two flamboyant cuttlefish, a mimic octopus (which was a pleasant surprise), sea horses, juvenile painted frogfish (I saw 4 my last time there), ornate ghost pipefish, and much more. There has been giant frogfish, a candy crab, a variety of robust and ornate ghost pipefish, blue ring octopus, snake blennies, superb nudi action (notice the little crab hitching a lift on board the Sclerodoris tuberculatus), six flamboyant cuttlefish on a few dives, but always at least one, a lovely hairy frogfish for a few dives and much much more. And the best news is that in spite of heavy diver traffic, it continues to thrill.
TK3: My most recent dive there yielded little by my estimates, but the guest thought it was great. The highlight for me will be in the next blog entry. There were numerous stingfish, fingered dragonets, devilfish, a few kinds of snake eel, a green robust ghost pipefish, but not a lot. But last month it was certainly hot. Three tiger shrimp, various ornate and robust ghost pipefish, up to three hairy frogfish during a period mid-October. I have so many frogfish pictures to post that I'll cobble together a separate report just for those special critters. Suffice to say that the bleak black sand patch had plenty to offer, in spite of the rampant net-dragging by the locals that wiped away numerous ambon scorpionfish and other easily-noticed absentees.
Pantai Parigi: Rated as my favourite site in 2008, it continues to deliver the goods. My last jump there had excellent phyllodesmium nudi action, a wonderpus, robust ghost pipefish, the lovely grey / cream Rhinopias frondosa that has been there for quite some time. Always "big" for wee commensals, there have been various painted frogfish, long-term ambon scorpionfish (now gone) and plenty more.
Makawide 2: A newer site and my present favourite. I was there this morning (30 / 11), enjoying a session with the resident hairy octopus, which I found myself (usually Hengki finds it), a juvenile flying gunard (they are more colourful when small), a pair of white leaf scorpionfish, a black giant frogfish, and a few other critters. The last time I was there, a few days ago, Soleman found a pair of tiger shrimp and a big crocodile fish, Hengki found the pair of leaf scorpionfish for the first time and a white clown frogfish and I was happy to follow. On the previous jump, after a brief time with a different hairy octo next door at Makawide 1, I had the extreme pleasure to shoot a pair of stunning and size large harlequin shrimp, all thanks to Hengki, but they disappeared quickly (two dives only: you snooze, you lose). The dive before that I got some decent shots of a wonderpus making himself look formidable whenever a curious fish happened by and in the shallows saw a large cuttlefish laying eggs, among other highlights. "Woo-Hoo!", as Larry Smith would say.
So I'll post this and follow up on my beloved frogfish as well as a piece on the hairy octopus we're seeing.
Onwards and downwards.
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