How Does Diving Compare?

What fish did you see while diving in Gorontalo that you don’t see in Thailand? This is what we asked guests from Phuket whom we hosted this week. Besides Gorontalo’s new or endemic species, fish you see here but not there include: the up-side-down hovering Coral shrimpfish (Aeoliscus strigatus), Solor boxfish (Ostracion solorensis), elegant Gilded triggerfish (Xanthichthys auromarginatus), Teardrop butterflyfish (Chaetodon unimaculatus), locally abundant Purple queen anthias (Pseudanthias tuka), and huge Napole an wrasse. Named after its discovery in these equatorial waters, Tomini bristletooth (Ctenochaetus tominiensis) is not found west of Indonesia. Also, not found in Andaman waters is the relatively new Allen’s tubelip wrasse (Labropsis alleni, 1981), a species found in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Micronesia. With Gorontalo edging the most biologically diverse marine environment on earth, those diving here notice the sheer abundance of diversity. However, while as we only found a few small Yellow-edged morays (Gymnothoras flavimarginatus) this week, those diving out of Phuket are sure to see a number of large morays of several species.

Emperors Reign

Unexpected rain and shifting winds has made diving possible this past week along Gorontalo’s southern coastline. This has come just in time for special guests from Thailand. Even though visibility has been degraded by the bad weather of the last week (15 meters), the fish were out in force. At our Honeycomb dive site meter-long Lose-nose Emperors (Lethrinus olivaceus) came up from the deep to feed with schools of other fish. Stuck onto the wall, a cushion starfish hosted a number of dark, hump-backed shrimp that turned out not to be Emperor shrimp but possibly Periclimenes solor. We also dived the Traffic Jam and Alleyways dive sites today.

Archerfish

Baby Banded archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix) love the brackish waters where Miguel’s Diving docks its boat. Especially at high tide, these pale, banded fish are evident around the pilings. Called “Spitting fish” locally (ikan ludah-ludah), these fish have the unique ability to squirt water to hit insects above the water. Adult archerfish are able to hit something at a distance of two meters or more. When the bug falls into the water, it is quickly gobbled up. These archers make water bullets by pulling in their gill flaps and squirting water out their mouths. In order to hit their target, these fish must compensate for the angle of refraction of light, quite a feat in itself. This particular species grows to 30 cm in length. Plentiful in the mangrove forests of the Togian Islands, locals use little lizards (cicak) as bait, proving that these archers eat more than bugs.

Changing Seasons

May is transition month for weather on Tomini Bay. One of the sure signs of changing weather is when lines of floating debris appear. This debris is typically branches, leaves, coconuts, and foam. In early May when heavy rains allowed us to continuing diving, we noticed about ten sea eagles circling the river mouth as we were heading for a dive site. We watched as one by one the eagles swooped down to the water’s surface to grab not a fish but a branch. Evidently, changing weather also means nesting season.

Last Day at Sponge Wall

The winds have shifted to the east, bringing rough seas to the Gorontalo side of Tomini Bay. Miguel’s Diving staff has been out to sea these last few days mapping and measuring a dive site. We rode meter-and-a-half swells heading out but had to go slowly on the way back. A couple of times huge waves doused the boat crew, allowing us to dive without leaving the boat! ;-) This is only the beginning of east wind weather, which closes diving in Gorontalo until the winds shift back to the west. Dive season in Gorontalo runs November to April.

Our last day of diving (in the ocean) today was great. Visibility was 30 meters and water temperatures remain 30 degrees Celsius. We finished mapping and measuring Sponge Wall, an alternate dive site we use depending on the weather. It is covered with sponges and gorgonian fans. The huge trumpet-shaped sponge in this photo is our distinctive Salvador Dali sponge (Petrosia lignosa), photographed at this dive site in March.

Haunted

Because of calm seas, Miguel’s Diving has been able to take Gorontalo’s Governor Fadel diving a couple of days. Today we introduced him to a new dive site, Jinn Caves. Visibility was a very nice 25 meters. Appropriately enough, a large juvenile batfish appeared out of the gloom. The governor described the site as shadowy and unnerving, telling his wife who was relaxing on board that he saw the two large eyes of a jinn. This remains an unconfirmed sighting.

However, on the ride to the second dive site, we all saw a cetacean gently breaking the smooth surface of the water several times. Noticeably more robust than our usual dolphin and with a small, deformed-looking dorsal fin, it may have been a pilot whale or a hump-backed dolphin. Its color was more bronze than black. We are checking with the experts.

Marine Manicures Available

Diving slowly has more benefits than just conserving air. Divers see more marine life and have a chance to interact. On a lazy dive recently, our dive master found several Pyjama cardinalfish (Sphaeramia nematopera). Many divers this season have hurried past that particular stand of Acropora without noticing this wacky-patterned and highly photogenic fish. It hovers practically motionless among coral branches. It has only been found at two dive sites in Gorontalo. For attentive eyes, two Urchin clingfish (Diademichthys lineatus) in the same stand of coral swam in their distinctive, lurching manner. Nearby a small nudibranch, Chromodoris reticulata, crawled over some rubble.

The other treat was a marine manicure courtesy of a mob of Sarasvati commensal shrimp (Periclimenes sarasvati), one of our new species. Easing next to an anemone crowded with these transparent, lavender-spotted beauties, our dive master offered his hand for inspection. Bobbing and weaving, these mini manicurists jumped on top to see what needed cleaning. Only a few meters away, a large Six-banded angelfish (Pomacentrus sexstriatus) parked on the sand, while other Sarasvati shrimps provided head-to-gill treatment. The fish was oblivious to the motionless, slow breathing human.

Okay, now it’s your turn.

Leaping Dolphins

As our diving season here in Gorontalo closes, we were treated to an amazing encounter with a large pod of Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). We were still in the river mouth heading out to dive when a large dolphin leapt several meters out of the water, spinning its body. Suddenly, we noticed numerous dolphins breaking the surface on both sides of the boat. A pair of adult dolphin surfaced about three meters from us, arching their backs in perfect union as they dove. To the east a smaller dolphin raised its flukes as it went down. With so many dolphins active on the surface all around, we have no estimate as to how many individuals were involved.