Wakatobi Marine Life News - reports on recent marine life observations!

Keep the Wakatobi experience alive after you return home or build excitement for your upcoming adventure. Visit this page for regular reports from Wakatobi dive staff on recent marine life sightings.

Report from Coralie (November 2008, Trip34)

© Wakatobi Dive Resort 2008

Dolphins and pilot whales have been seen on the way to Blade (dive site) in a big school together!

And a long time missing resident of Teluk Maya' sandy bay (dive site) finally reappeared...Eurypegaus draconis (dragon sea moth)! Welcome back to this weird looking critter but definitely a five star for photographers. Mainly found on sand, rubble and sea grass bottom, this dragon fish "walks" instead of swims with his pelvic fins. Living solitary or in pairs, we will now X-Ray the entire area to see if there is more.

Report from Coralie (October 2008, Trip33)

© Wakatobi Dive Resort 2008

This past week our dive guides found another Fire Clam - Lima Scabra . This one was seen at the dive site Cornucopia. Our local name for this striking species is the "disco clam". It is definitely one of our favorites.

This clam is a member of the pteriomorph clade, she is non swimmer and usually found in dark places where she naturally attaches herself. Her mantle extends in long tentacles which catch the plankton and detritus she feeds on. Crabs and shrimp are her main predators and she will escape from them by retracting in her shell in a big valves push. The "electric pulse" that has prompted us to call her the "Disco Clam" is a display of phosphorescence and the divers who see it might feel the beat of the discofever!

Report from Coralie (October 2008, Trip32)
LOVE IS IN THE AIR!!!
A pair of two twinspot lionfish (Dendrochirus biocellatus) got together to mate on a night dive in front of our eyes! The chance to actually witness that must be one out of a zillion! It was unbelievable. We watched them courting for half a minute and then releasing two pockets of fertilized eggs. On the picture, given by Dirk Overkleeft, you can easily recognized the female who has a swollen belly and a third spot starting to form on her soft dorsal fin as she gets bigger. Later during the trip we had more sex on the reef with two broadclub cuttlefish (Sepia latinamus) mating in Teluk Maya divesite, picture from Mark Snyder. And the last morning it was in the divesite Conchita that two groups of divers were again entertained by a large (4 meter span) Manta Ray (Manta birostris) . . . the only difference with last time was that there were also a dozen blacktip reef sharks ( Carcharhinus melanopterus)! What a nice way to end a trip!

Report from Coralie (October 2008, Trip31)

Velvety Ghostpipefish

Photo by Kurt Johnson

WOUA! What a trip! Big stuff, small stuff . . . . . we had it all!!! For the macro lovers we had 4 different species of ghostpipefish: Robust, thin and Halimeda (Solenostomus cyanopterus). One of out dive guides Guya, also spotted for the first time, a Velvety ghospipefish (Solenostomus sp3).

Robust/thin Ghostpipefish
Halimeda Ghostpipefish

On the big side, well it was actually enormous, 2 WHALES were observed from Wakatobi 3 and 4 (diveboats) during their morning surface interval. We think they were sperm whales. We estimated their size to be 15 meters long!!!. On one of the final dives of the week a group of divers were entertained by a large (3 meter span) Manta Ray (Manta birostris) who appeared to be waving "goodbye" to divers on the dive site Magnifica.

Report from Coralie ( October 2008, Trip30)
Table Coral City dive site has some new residents over the last few weeks. A school of over a hundred Sphyraena qenie (blackfin barracuda) are now being seen. See the picture below. At Pastel dive site we recently enjoyed watching over 50 Aetobatus narinari (Spotted Eagle Rays)! They were so elegant, dancing around us! On the last morning of the recent trip, a hawksbill turtle was feeding on whatever she could find. She was happily following a group of divers when she unexpectedly begin to beat on something that started to shake. As the divers moved in for a close look to see what she was doing, they almost lost their regulators from laughing. She was trying to pick food from the back of a stonefish!!! He didn't seem pleased at all, but she continued to make a least three attempts before moving on! You just never know what you will see on a dive at Wakatobi.

Report from Coralie ( October 2008, Trip 29 )
The visibility still improves with an average of 30meters (90 feet) and the rented out hooded vest are becoming history as the water keeps warming up. We have encountered the magnificent Mobula tarapacana (devil ray) a few times at different locations. The tides were finally right again to go back to The Zoo (divesite) at night after a few months of waiting. Many of our usual suspects were still there including Camposcia retrusa (decorator crabs), Sepia (pygmy cuttlefish) and dozens of Panulirus versicolor (painted spiny lobsters). During our dive we were lucky to see the most famous free-swimming nudibranch! The unique thing about this nudibranch is that it can grow to a size of 20" (52 cm) ! The picture below shows how big and gorgeous this Hexabranchus Sanguineus (Spanish Dancer) can be!!!

Report from Coralie (September 2008, Trip 28)

A buddy team diving deeper than their group got face to face with a Manta Ray! She was at around 40 meters (120 feet) which was exciting as we don't see these beautiful animals very often here . . . or... could be that we generally just dive too shallow!
In the more usual Wakatobi size range we got to see two Epitonium billeeanum (wentletraps shell) feeding on Tubastrae coccinea. The picture below right, shows the male (smaller) and the female feeding on the coral polyp with their proboscal tube. Once done they will have a new home ready for nesting their eggs. And because of their yellow colour, they will trick predators into thinking they are stinging polyps.

Marine News Archive 1

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