Critters of the Lembeh Strait | Episode 08 – 2016 | July Highlights

This episode features some of the highlights of July, including a lot of baby frogfishes, oodles of nudibranchs (including the Melibe colemani) and some awesome cephalopods like the wunderpus and flamboyant cuttlefish. The king of photogenic fishes, the weedy scorpionfish (aka ‘Rhinopias frondosa’), also makes an appearance in some moody and dramatic lighting. Enjoy the dive!

Critters of the Lembeh Strait | The Melibe Colemani

For many nudibranch lovers the “Melibe colemani” tops their list of must-see creatures. This critter is so perfectly camouflaged that it is very hard to spot – it lives in the waving polyps of a Xenia family coral (Anthelia) where it hunts tiny organisms by extending its large oral hood. If you watch carefully, you can see at 50 seconds into the film how a small brown acoel flatworm (Waminoa sp.) living on the base of the coral flees the attacking Melibe! Best watched in 4K!

Critters of the Lembeh Strait | “Biting Off More Than You Can Chew” – The Brown Moray

If you don’t have hands to hold on to your food, it can be tricky to eat. Especially when your meal has venomous spines on the pectoral fins, like the catfish. These spines with barbs got stuck in the mouth of the moray making it impossible for it to swallow the whole fish. In an attempt to eat it, the moray got some “battle scars” from this deceptive snack. Best watched in 4K.

Critters of the Lembeh Strait | Episode 06 – 2016 – Reef Diving in Lembeh

The Lembeh Strait is famous for all the weird critters, but there are as well colourful, thriving corals at many of the dive sites. This video shows the fantastically diverse coral at our nearby dive sites, where you can ‘have it all’ and see not only famous critters but also beautiful reefs. I couldn’t resist and had to include a few scenes of critters, shot with a fish-eye though :-). Best watched in 4K!

SEA WARS – The Skeleton Shrimp Strikes Back

Make sure your sound is turned up for this epic underwater battle between the tiny skeleton shrimps and the ‘massive’ sea hare. Will Luke Skeleton Shrimp save his young from the sudden attack? Watch ‘The Skeleton Shrimp Strikes Back’ to find out!