Changing Spots

Miguel?s Diving staff often sees what looks like the Twinspot cardinalfish (Archamia biguttata) but without the twin spot! This particular species has a distinctive, large dark spot on its cheek. A smaller twin spot appears on its tail base. However, this twin spot can be turned on and off at will. Twinspot cardinalfish seen here in Gorontalo never have the twin spot and always have a dark angular band below the eye, which reminds us of a beard. Although our dive staff knows where to find this fish, it has yet to be photographed.

One of our fish expert friends recalls his experience of cardinalfish changing their spots. Flower cardinalfish (Apogon fleurieu) have a rounded tail spot when water temperatures are cool. In shallower, warmer waters the spot becomes larger and covers most of the tail base. Fish that look like this are called Ringtailed cardinalfish (A. aureus). Once in Bali our friend watched an entire population change when the water grew warm, hence appearing to change from one species to another. Is this confusing? We think so, especially since the Twinspot cardinalfish in Gorontalo?s warm waters don?t have the twin spot!

Viewing the Togian (Togean) Islands

When Tomini Bay receives heavy rains, especially from the southwest, humidity clears. This allows people in Gorontalo to see all the way across the huge bay to Central Sulawesi. Rains in early May gave us in eastern Gorontalo a clear look at the islands north of Pagaimana. From western Gorontalo, like the locations of Miguel’s Diving’s recent Coral Preservation Campaign, the Togian (Togean) Islands are visible in similar conditions.

Strings of Blue Jewels

Because of Tomini Bay?s geographic isolation from adjacent oceans, many fish that live here are different than ones found in adjacent waters, such as in Sulawesi?s diving hot spot, Bunaken Marine Park in North Sulawesi. When our Italian marine biologist friends visited here last year, they shot many photos of a beautiful chromis found at the top of our dramatic coral walls. Although a similar specie is found in Bunaken, this one remained a mystery until recently. Miguel?s Diving staff can now confirm the presence of the lovely Lined chromis (Chromis lineata). It is easily identified by the brilliant yellow caudal spot on its tail. This fish is only found from Indonesia and Christmas Island to the Great Barrier Reef. Those diving in Gorontalo can enjoy this fish dressed in strings of blue jewels during safety stop at the five-meter reef crest.

Predators 3

During off-season Miguel’s Diving staff are mostly confined to muck diving. This past weekend one muck dive along a mud and sand slope provided several first time sightings. This included encounters with muck predators. One surprise was finding three Ceylonese nudibranchs (Gymnodoris ceylonica). Don’t let their pallid, translucent skin and neatly ordered orange spots fool you. They are voracious predators that like to eat other nudibranchs. They are known to move to shallows en masse for mating. Since we found them among tuffs of algae at three meters, perhaps they have more than food on their minds.

At 20 meters we saw a beautiful Napoleon snake eel (Ophichthus bonaparti) swimming along the mud bottom. This eel’s white and dark banded body is only seen occasionally, since it likes to stay buried in the sand to wait for passing prey. Almost a meter long, this eel quickly decided the best way to elude divers was to enter the sand tail first, leaving only its spotted nose sticking out. Even though swimming fish seem to be its prime food source, we are not sure that the numerous thumb-sized, baby flounders we found are safe from this predator.

Not to be out done in conjuring terror was a giant mantis shrimp. It was still in its perfectly cylindrical, lined burrow. It watched us with strange eyes. The hole of its burrow was about 10 cm in diameter, which it filled. Even ordinary, small mantis shrimp species can split open shells with their pincers – or lay open a human finger to the bone with one snap. We can only imagine what damage a huge one like this could inflict. Could this creature battle alien predators in the next movie sequel? No need to wait at the box office. Search for it yourself in the equatorial waters of Gorontalo.

Gorontalo Featured in Jakarta Post

Visitors to Gorontalo are sure to want to read two articles in Sunday?s edition of the Jakarta Post, Indonesia?s English-language newspaper. One focuses on Gorontalo?s unique embroidery, called kerawang. The other is about interesting sites near Gorontalo City. Diving in Gorontalo is mentioned as well. Here are the links:
Kerawang article
Tourism & diving article
Bruce, thanks for visiting Gorontalo. We hope you can come back during dive season.

Another New Endemic Specie!

The newest edition of Indonesian Reef Fishes (Kuiter & Tonozuka 2004) includes an undescribed specie of dottyback. The Togean dottyback (Pseudochromis sp.) is thought to be confined to Tomini Bay, Sulawesi, making it endemic to these waters. Rudie Kuiter first noticed this fish during an expedition to the Togian (Togean) Islands in 1994. Photographed in Gorontalo in 2003 by Italian marine biologist Massimo Boyer, this new fish differs from its closest cousin, the Slender dottyback (P. bitaeniatus). Its distinctive features include:

Also, the eye socket appears to have blue edging and the darker band looks deep blue underwater. We have seen this fish at several of our dive sites but only in areas of dense coral growth, such as Gorontalo’s Honeycomb dive site where these pictures were taken. We consistently find it at about five meters depth. A shy fish, it likes to hide in coral crevasses with entrances on two sides, so as to make a hasty retreat.

Tomini Bay is already considered one of Indonesia’s areas of local endemism with six official species of fish considered to live only in these waters (Allen & Adrim 2003). Gorontalo forms its north shores.