70 New Fish Discoveries in Indonesian Waters

Indonesia’s position as the nation with the most biologically diverse waters on earth increased with the announcement of 70 recently discovered fish unknown to science. A month long expedition jointly conducted by Indonesian and Japanese researchers of deep water fishes off the coasts of Sumatra and Java turned up an astonishing number of undescribed fish species. These fish were captured at depths of 400 to 1,100 meters. The Department of Fisheries will be evaluating the commercial viability of fish catches in the areas studied. Two fish species among those caught are believed to have aphrodisiac properties.

The waters of Tomini Bay off Gorontalo are much deeper, dropping to under 4,000 meters. Occasionally, local fishermen will catch some strange deep-water creature like the Armored Gurnard in the photo and contact Miguel’s Diving staff for information. We suspect this particular fish only has aphrodisiac qualities to its own kind.

Killer Dolphin

The water was pink with blood. Miguel’s Diving staff were out on a run testing a new boat when we saw the large Bottlenose dolphin (Torsiops truncatus) jump a couple meters out of the water, make a tight loop in the air, and plunge straight down, making hardly a splash. We watched as the dolphin repeated the dramatic leap twice more before we passed. Although the ocean surface was perfectly calm, the place where the dolphin had been leaping was bubbling from some unseen disturbance below. What was the dolphin so vigorously killing? Or was she calving? Our cetacean expert is unsure. Local fishermen, who have witnessed this behavior before at close range in their tiny canoes, say that the water is always pink and is caused by, well, dolphin diarrhea. Hmmm….

This strange cetacean sighting took place in waters several hundred meters deep just off the Honeycomb dive site. Three days prior fishermen friends saw a school of Cuvier’s Beaked Whales (Ziphius cavirostris) about a half hour south of our Traffic Jam dive site. The whales were breaching the surface as they slowly swam. These numerous cetacean sightings indicate the beginning of an interesting season for those who venture to Gorontalo for diving.

Whale Shark Visits Again