Diving at Sulawesi

I went to Sulawesi with a few friends from 21 to 28 Jun 2010. Here are some quick highlights of the things we saw during the diving trips.


Pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti), also known as Bargibanti's seahorse.


Ghost pipefish (Solenostomus sp.)! Look like they were made from plastic :P


Harlequin ghost pipefish (Solenostomus paradoxus).


Oriental flying gurnard (Dactyloptena orientalis).


Cockatoo waspfish (Ablabys taenianotus).


Inimicus didactylus, also known as Demon Stinger or Devil Stinger.


Super brightly coloured frogfish.


Yet another brightly coloured frogfish.


Porcupinefish.


Pufferfish.


Sea whip goby.


Flounder (Pseudorhombus sp.).


Juvenile shaded batfish (Platax pinnatus).


Clouded moray (Echidna nebulosa).


Anemonefish (Amphiprion sp.).


Anemonefish (Amphiprion sp.) in Heteractis crispa.


Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni).


Pfeffer's Flamboyant Cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi).


There were lots of knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus) at one of the dive sites.


Granulated sea star (Choriaster granulatus).


Cushion star (Culcita novaeguineae).


Spiny cushion sea star (Culcita schmideliana).


Necklace sea star (Fromia monilis) with 6 arms.


Unknown sea star.


Gomphia gomphia.


Linckia laevigata.


Echinothrix sp.


Astropyga radiata.


Not quite sure what sea cucumber is this, though it looks a bit like a sandfish.


Ceratosoma trilobatum.


Risbecia tryoni.


Chromodoris annae.


Chromodoris dianae.


Helmet shell (Family Cassidae).


Juvenile painted rock lobster (Panulirus versicolor).


Commensal shrimp on a synaptid sea cucumber.


Arrowhead crabs (Huenia sp.).


Box crab (Calappa sp.).


Ghost crab?


Found this rather big crab which lived in burrows just outside our room.

Diving at Bali

Finally, I am back from Bali!

Have to admit that the reefs there were really amazing. While the coral cover may not be as dense as some of the other reefs I have visited, the diversity was great and it was really easy to spot many interesting stuff. It is impossible to list down everything I saw here, and so this is just a small selection of some of the highlights.


A school of Jacks (Family Carangidae). The photo didn't turn out well enough to really tell the exact species.


Can you spot the Pygmy Seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti)? Again, apologies for the poor quality. There's a whole line of divers waiting to photograph it after me, so I only managed to snap a few.


A Teira Batfish (Platax teira) with a few cleaner wrasses (Labroides sp.).


A Leaf Scorpionfish (Taenianotus triacanthus).


Saw several Red Lionfish (Pterois volitans) too.


A pair of tobies. Looks like the Bennett's Toby (Canthigaster bennetti) to me.


A school of Razorfish (Aeoliscus strigatus).


The Bumphead Parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum).


Clark's Anemonefish (Amphiprion clarkii) in a Beaded Sea Anemone (Heteractis aurora).


Saw several Long Tentacle Anemones (Macrodactyla doreensis) with lots of black and white anemonefishes which I don't know the ID.


A seawhip goby (Bryaninops sp.).


During the night dive, we saw several parrotfishes (Scarus spp.).


A Jewel Grouper (Cephalopholis miniata).


Probably an Yellow-edged Moray Eel (Gymnothorax flavimarginatus).


A very pretty Ribbon Eel (Rhinomuraena quaesita).


A Shrimp Goby with a snapping shrimp.


A stunning red File Clam (Lima sp.).


A cone snail which I am not exactly sure of the ID, but it looks like a Marbled Cone (Conus marmoreus) to me.


We saw lots of nudibranchs, so here are jsut a few of them. The above are probably Risbecia tryoni.


Chromodoris magnifica.


A rather huge one, about the length of my palm. Probably a Spanish Dancer (Hexabranchus sanguineus).


Phyllidia ocellata.


Also found this cuttlefish (Sepia sp.).


There were quite a few sea stars. This is probably a black variety of the Echinaster luzonicus.


This more usual form of Echinaster luzonicus was rather common at Bali. I have encounter those with various number of arms, ranging from 4 to 8.


A sea star which I don't know the ID.


Probably a Nardoa novaecaledoniae.


Linckia laevigata.


We saw several species of sea urchins, including the ever common Black Long-spined Sea Urchin (Diadema setosum).


One of the several Fire Urchins (Asthenosoma varium) we saw, with a huge body of about 25cm wide.


And there are Coleman Shrimps (Periclimenes colemani) on most of them. Can you spot them?


There were lots of Hingebeak Shrimps (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis) on some of the sponges.


Several Cleaner Shrimps (Stenopus hispidus) were spotted too.


I was quite delighted to find many Anemone Hermit Crabs (Dardanus pedunculatus).


And last but not least, a Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus).