Churning Waters for Specie Count

With calm conditions returning to Sulawesi?s Tomini Bay, Miguel?s Diving staff conducted a species count for one of our new dive sites, Sponge Wall. Although seas were flat, below the surface cool upwellings collided with warm surface waters, creating cloudy conditions at lower depths and numerous thermoclimes in unexpected places. Mild currents changed directions several times during the dive.

For those familiar with diving in Sulawesi, the sheer variety of fish at this site should come at no surprise. Our dive master recorded 138 species of fish during the 69-minute dive. First time discoveries included a frenetic school of distinctive wrasses (Thalassoma sp.) at the reef crest that are not in any of our books, Double-pore fangblennies (Meiacanthus ditrema) schooling in a tangle of hanging rope sponge, and a Banded snake eel (Myrichthys colubrinus) that mimics the poisonous sea krait. Among other things, Dive guide Yunis turned up a Bicolor dragon aeolid nudibranch (Flabellina bicolor) plus a very cute octopus.