This highlights of 2016 video is a spectacular fireworks-like display of the brightest and best critters in Lembeh. Pulsating blue-ringed octopuses fall upon their crustacean prey, an iridescent bobbit worm shimmering with rainbow colors waits patiently for a meal and a vast array of rare and beautiful nudibranchs all appear, along with one of the cutest and most unexpected buddy pairs you’ve ever seen – see if you can spot it near the end of the video. Enjoy the video and may 2017 bring you great critterful dives, health and happiness!
Category Archives: Underwater
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | SEA WARS – Blue-ring Octopus
Did you know that the deadly, highly venomous blue-ring octopus cannot tell the sex of another blue-ring at first sight? They have to feel the other one first in order to be able to figure it out. An encounter can be witnessed in this video where two blue-ring octopuses (Hapalochlaena sp.) meet each other for the first time. Love at first sight or disaster date? Watch to find out!
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | Episode 12 – 2016 | November Highlights
You asked for mantis shrimps, and you got them! OK, even if you didn’t ask for them, November’s highlights include some fascinating behavior (what were the mantis shrimps doing?!) and weird wildlife. A rare Polycera nudibranch (check out that beard!) makes an appearance feasting on red arborescent bryozoans, a wunderpus (Wunderpus photogenicus) pulsates color change on its eye-stalks and a rare green shrimp with eggs flexes its brood. Bonus points for you if you spot the bobtail squid covering itself with sand, one of the cutest things you can see when night diving in Lembeh Strait. Enjoy!
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | SEA WARS – The Frogfish Strikes Again
Frogfishes are a member of the anglerfish family and eat pretty much everything, shrimps, fish and even other frogfish. The strike itself is accomplished with the sudden opening of the jaws, which enlarges the size of the mouth up to 12 times, pulling the prey into the mouth along with water. The water flows out through the gills, while the prey is swallowed and the food pipe closed with a special muscle to keep the victim from escaping. In addition to expanding their mouths, frogfish can also expand their stomachs to swallow animals up to twice their size.
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | Eat dessert first
This little clown frogfish (Antennarius maculatus) obviously did not eat his dessert first! Frogfish tend not to be picky eaters and have been known to eat just about any creature that is close enough and that will fit in their mouth (including other frogfishes of the same species) but this shrimp seemed to not suit his palate. It’s anyone’s guess as to why he spit it out – did he eat the good parts and expel only the hard shell? Was it an awkward shape and difficult to swallow? What do you think?
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | Episode 11 – 2016 | October Highlights
In the last few months we’ve been very lucky and have had an extraordinary number of coconut octopuses (Amphioctopus marginatus) on dives in Lembeh. These intelligent critters are the only mollusk known to use tools, and everyone who sees them agrees they have the most fascinating behaviour! Other awesome sightings included harlequin shrimp, hairy frogfishes galore and the rare magnificent shrimp goby with its sail-like dorsal fin and dapper red-and-white partner shrimp. We hope you enjoy the video as much as we do!
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | SEA WARS – Fighting Mandarin Fish
It’s hard to believe such a beautiful species as the mandarin fish (Synchiropus splendidus) can be so cut-throat when it comes to territorial battles, but make no mistake, these guys don’t mess around when another male comes in to try and muscle in on their harem. Finally the ‘sheriff’ makes an entrance at the end and breaks up the dirty fight!
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | Episode 10 – 2016 | September Highlights
We guarantee you have never before seen some of the crazy critter action featured in this week’s video; have you ever seen a video close up of the eye of an elegant sand diver? No? What about this eye with a shrimp on it? Didn’t think so. This and many more bizarre and beautiful surprises in this will make you wish you were here. What was your favorite part?
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | SEA WARS – The Flamboyant Cuttlefish Strikes Back (Part II)
In part I of this series, we saw a newly hatched flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) getting snatched up by a small mantis shrimp, a surprising choice of meals since they are widely (but perhaps wrongly) believed to be toxic. In this latest episode II, we see a reversal of roles when an adult flamboyant cuttlefish snatches a mantis shrimp to feed on, so it’s not always predictable who is the hunter and who is the prey between these 2 species! The slow-motion part of this underwater video shows in amazing detail how the flamboyant carefully extends its two feeding arms, then at lightning speed grabs its prey and grips the mantis with its suckers, waiting until the mantis tires before consuming her crispy crustacean meal.
Critters of the Lembeh Strait | SEA WARS – Flamboyant Cuttlefish vs. Mantis Shrimp (Part 1)
Flamboyant Cuttlefishes have the reputation of being highly toxic, but newer studies show that it might not be true and more research has to be done. Unfortunately the action in this video was so fast and unexpected, that I could not see what happened after the attack.