Life under the surface of the sea

A rare wind off the deep ocean brought unusual marine life right to the edge of Gorontalo's reefs this week. During one surface interval between dives, guests watched inch-long baby barracudas, various swimming crabs and immature filefish. On a floating clump of Sargassum weed was an unusual nudibranch whose gills imitated the shape of weed bulbs. Clinging to another was a cute Sargassum frogfish. During a safety stop divers enjoyed a rarely seen 30-cm long jellyfish with beautiful lavender tentacles. This photo was taken by Kaufik of belajardiving.com using a wide-angle lens just under the surface of the sea.

New Species Found in Gorontalo

Miguel's Diving staff have discovered a striking new species of fantail goby. Named after the Japanese emperor in 2005 by Allen & Randall, the Akihito goby (Exyrias akihito) sports a dorsal fin with three majestic fin rays and a row of double brown spots on its side. Unlike the other three species of fantail gobies, it is found in clear waters around coral reefs rather than the mud bottoms preferred by the others. Its 10-centimeter length makes it quite large for a goby. All specimens for the scientific study were captured at depths below 40 meters and donated by Emperor Akihito. However, the ones available in Gorontalo live at a comfortable 15 meters. Thanks to William Tan for the first pictures! To see a larger version of William's photo complete with impressive dorsal ray, please click the thumbnail.

No Off Season for Fish

This morning Miguel's Diving staff took a much need break from above ground activities that keep us busy during off season. Even though we left the dock prior to 7 a.m. before the winds start, the swells in the river mouth were 1.5 meters and one wave entered the boat, making rinsing the boat easy since the water was already there! The goal was to clean up some crown-of-thorns at a nearby reef that we had noticed late in the diving season. During the thirty minute dive, staff only found 10, which were removed and buried on land. Despite the surface conditions, the reef was lovely. A school of yellowtail barracudas flashed in the morning light as they attacked smaller fish. A large Blue-spotted puffer with a remora attached watched from a crevasse. A few days earlier near the local marine park, a whale shark ploughed back and forth across of surface chasing minnows while mobula rays jumped in the bay.

Quick! Shoot!

Divers from Malaysia and Jakarta had some unusual if brief opportunities to shoot video and take photos this week. Two rarely seen dottybacks made brief appearances for divers to see: the endemic Togean dottyback and the undescribed Goldcap dottyback, both of whom are quite shy. Taking their photo takes great patience and a bit of luck. As predicted by Miguel's Diving staff, after a few days of overcast skies, dolphins were out with large white Risso's trying to sun while the smaller Bottlenose ones kept swimming around them. Lots of surface action and again a challenge to shoot. On request staff located a rare Bubble bee shrimp. However, instead of preparing for its close-up, it decided to jump under a rock - and right into the waiting tentacle of an octopus! Oh well, at least the cavern with the skylight at Cathedral dive site and all those Salvador Dali sponges never move about.

Pygmy Killer Whale

During the last several days, not only has another Whale shark delighted divers but a rarely seen Pygmy Killer Whale (Feresa attenuata) made an appearance. Distinguishing features include the white color of its lower lip proceeding down towards the chin, white scarring especially around the head and a rounded head without a beak. This one was about two meters in length, which is about midsize for an adult. Miguel's Diving continues to inform cetacean researchers about the many sightings in Gorontalo.

Today's Whale Shark

The whale shark that passed divers this morning off Gorontalo's Swirling Steps dive site measured an impressive 8 meters. By the various sizes of these pelagics seen over the last few days, Miguel's Diving staff have determined that there are at least three in the area at this time

Playful Dolphins

A resident pod of about 20 Risso's dolphins entertained divers this week during a surface interval between dives. Taking advantage of the bright sunlight to sun on the surface, some of the dolphins also slowly raised then lowered their tails vertically in the water. Sunlight reflected off the white foreheads of these large dolphins, which can reach almost four meters in length as adults. Besides playing within a few meters of the dive boat, the dolphins also swam under it, their ghostly white bodies shimmering to the delight of watching humans.

Alvin's Underwater Photos

A happy group of dive buddies just returned home to Singapore from five days of diving in Gorontalo. Alvin has posted some of his photos, which are available by clinking this link. Despite Gorontalo's reputation as a macro paradise, he found the wide angle opportunities bountiful including the many unique Salvador Dali sponges available only here. But his face-on portraits of a spotted Denise pygmy seahorse and a Lemon damsel make his macro shots tough to beat.

Home Sweet Home

Divers from various countries are not the only ones visiting Gorontalo these days. During a surface interval last week guests were fascinated to watch a juvenile trevally pushing a large jellyfish by nuzzling itself under the jelly’s bell. Sometimes it would dart entirely inside where it could be seen through the semi-transparent jellyfish. Shooting a picture in murky water and ocean surge was nearly impossible.

Bouncing Baby Barnacles!

After a couple days of rain that provided a break in the stiff winds, Miguel's Diving crew were able to venture out to do some reef cleanup yesterday. To our amazement billions of freckle-sized dots were in the water column. These turned out to be baby barnacles whose early life is pelagic. Some were visibly moving; others pumping water. After floating free in the open ocean, a baby barnacle will find something to which to attach and begin to form a hard protective shell. Many yesterday were being gobbled up my schools of fusiliers. Translucent blue jellyfish with long stingers were capturing some, pulling them slowly into the mouthpart. But according to our count, there remain far too many for the available space for barnacles in Gorontalo.

Anemonefish Eggs: Look Them in the Eyes

Diving in Gorontalo never ceases to amaze guests of Miguel's Diving. The other day our dive master spotted a Clark's anemonefish fanning a large patch of mature eggs in order to aerate them. Unlike the reddish eggs of Saddleback anemonefish, these are golden green. The photo shows the pair of eyes in each egg and sometimes an open mouth! Individual eggs are about the size of a pinhead. Click on the photo to see a large version of the photo.

Today, however, the highlight was on the larger size: a pod of 12 Risso's dolphin, 9 Bumphead parrotfish, 1 White-spotted eagle ray, 1 Hawksbill turtle and 3 species of tuna!

Shocking surprise

While out looking for a new muck site, Miguel's Diving staff came across a Spiny devilfish (Inimicus didactylus). Although not as venomous as the deadly stonefish, devilfish will give anything touching its venomous spines a nasty shock. Devilfish are not only camouflaged but also like to stay semi-buried in the sand. This is one more reason for good buoyancy skills and for staying off the substrate! This one started opening its pectoral fins in warning as divers approached to inspect something else. This species is identified by its spectacular banded pectoral fins. It also crawls around on pelvic fingers. With bulging eyes and pitted face, this very ugly fish was perhaps flattered by all the flashes going off. Rarely seen because of their secretive nature, this is only the third one sighted in Gorontalo in five years.

Surprise off a northern island

Last week Miguel's Diving staff took a survey trip to one of the islands off Gorontalo's northern coastline in the Sulawesi Sea. These waters are a different ocean that the one we usually dive and marine life is different. While absorbed in photographing Grape stalk tunicates that are not found in our southern dive sites, our dive master noticed some flashes of blue in some very nearby rubble: a highly agitated Blue-ring octopus. Dumping lots of nudibranch photos from the memory card, he managed several shots of the ever-moving octopus before it disappeared down a crack.

Durban hinge-beak shrimp

Durban shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis) are a favorite of divers not only because of their striking color pattern but also because of their behavior. The high rostrum (nose) is distinctive of hinge-beak shrimp. They are found in deep crevices and holes, usually living together in large numbers. When they move, they tend to hop about, which is quite humorous to watch. A patient photographer can wait until the shrimps are no longer afraid and begin to hop out of their holes and into the view finder. But don't be surprised if the shrimps keep hopping towards the camera housing as if to inspect a new addition to their home. Who is watching whom? Miguel's Diving staff knows only one spot where these funny shrimps congregate.

Baby Cuttlefish & Big Mama

Miguel's Diving staff gets a little stir crazy during off-season. This week we braved the growing swells of May to check out a new muck site. Directly below the dive boat, hiding in the shadow of a pink sea pen was the first of three baby cuttlefish we found during the dive. All were merely the size of a thumbnail and no doubt recently hatched. It was pink like the sea pen and absolutely still. Only a careful observer like Yunis our dive guide would ever spot it. Beneath its semitransparent body, you could see its cuttlebone in the camera's viewfinder, a body part only found cuttlefish. The next baby was brown and hovering among some dead leaves but too skittish to photograph. The third one lay perfectly still among Molle tunicates, only its distinctive half-moon eye slit betraying its presence. Toward the end of the dive we discovered one of the largest adult cuttlefish we have ever seen, its girth bigger than a dive tank's diameter. This Big Mama drifted unconcerned over the sand bottom for a spectacular photo. Click the thumbnail to see a larger photo of a baby cuttlefish.

Mating Sea Turtles

Yesterday's diving in Gorontalo included encounters with Green sea turtles. On the way to our first dive site, Miguel's Diving crew spotted some unusual flapping on the still blue ocean surface: a pair of turtles mating. We proceeded past the happy couple then stopped in order to watch them from a discreet distance and so not to disturb them. On the second dive at the spur-and-groove coral formations of Alleyways, we saw another couple of turtles on a deep coral point. One quickly disappeared over the wall, perhaps the jittery suitor. The other one stayed perfectly still as we made a wide arc past their location below. Miguel's Diving asks guests to swim past sea turtles, rather than straight at them, and view them from the side, so as not to frighten these gentle creatures. Turtles in Gorontalo are not accustomed to humans, although a total of six saw us yesterday.

The Big & the Bold

With no macro photographers in sight, Miguel's Diving concentrated by request on larger marine life and current diving over the last several days. From the first dive's glimpse of a Scalloped hammerhead to today's jumping marlin, Gorontalo delivered big time. We stopped counting Nap.olean wrasse and couldn't count the hundreds of Bigeye trevally spirally up the water column. Divers saw Green turtles every day, a Blacktip reef shark, a school of Queenfish, then a school of Chevron barracuda, then spooky Great barracuda, and a Spanish mackerel so big that our dive master first thought it was a tuna. Amongst the frenzied schools of plankton eaters, divers saw schools of mature batfish. We had a face-on encounter with a Giant trevally and a slow pass by a Short-finned devilray, also called pygmy manta or mobula. In the mix were sunny skies, flat blue seas, warm water, and vis approaching 30 meters.

By the Dozen

Diving in Gorontalo brings surprises every day. On the way to the second dive site this morning, we encountered several pods of Risso's dolphins, basking on the surface and shallow diving. One was even a baby! Risso's lack a protruding nose and become whiter in color with age. Distinctive scarring occurs when attacking deep-sea squid and when fighting with each other. Risso's are found in tropical and warm temperate waters worldwide but usually sighted only in deep waters near the continental shelf edge. That edge comes within a few meters of land in Gorontalo, which has resident pods of these shy cetaceans.

In addition to dozens of dolphins, by special request we went in search of boxer crabs and stopped counting after finding eleven.

Coral Maze

Manado-based marine biologist Sebastian from Germany got his first look at the biodiversity found underwater in Gorontalo yesterday. Miguel's Diving staff was able to show him some of our endemic fishes and new shrimp discoveries. What made the biggest impression on him was the dense and diverse hard coral colonies that are a hallmark of Gorontalo. With over 500 species, hard corals here come in a bewildering variety of shapes and colors, including several neon hued ones. Flat seas, sunny skies, warm water, and 25-meter vis at all dive sites visited completed the day.

Casualties of Time

Time has taken its toll on some of the largest attractions in Gorontalo. The dozens of Foxtail colonial tunicates, featured in our new book Gorontalo: Hidden Paradise, have been swept away during the half year of rough weather that hits our area during off-season. Most of these streamers were almost 1.5 meters long. New colonies are growing elsewhere.

Also hit was the largest sponge at Traffic Jam dive site. Its center cavity was over two meters long. It is pictured here in a photograph taken in March 2004. This gigantic sponge has fallen from the wall, as has a huge Salvador Dali sponge featured in our promotional ADEX and airport photos. This unusual morphology of Petrosia lignosa is only found in Gorontalo, where it is quite common.

The most surprising transformation occurred to the 50-meter long Japanese cargo wreck. It has perched mostly intact since it sank in 1942. However, sometime during the month of December the lower portion of the hull detached from its side, sending the upper surface sliding down the rocky slope. Now the interior of the main section is open, albeit slightly below 40 meters depth. The sides and top deck (up-side-down) are still in place, as is the larger stern portion. This change actually makes the wreck more interesting.

Food Fight with a Mako

Fisher friends off a point where Miguel's Diving offers some dive sites were catching large Yellowfin tuna for export early this morning. They were in the process of hauling in an 81-kilo tuna when a large shark decided it wanted breakfast. A tug of war ensued between the two fishermen and the shark. Eventually, men were able to haul their fish into their small outrigger canoe. The shark kept swimming around the boat looking for the missing tuna. It was a Shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), measuring almost three meters long. Ironically, fishermen here call it the "Tuna-tail shark" because of the distinctive shape of its tail.

Sea Pens: Wild Hosts

Sea pens are a special group of octocorals that live in sandy bottoms. A sea pen has a foot that keeps it anchored into the sand and an above ground rod that contains the feeding coral polyps. Many sea pens are beautifully branched, creating a shape reminiscent of a quill pen. Although most are nocturnal, some emerge from the sand during the day. One of Gorontalo's muck sites is home to at least four very different species of sea pens. Only one of them appears in marine life books, the large Lemon sea pen (Pteroeides sp.).

A photograph of one sea pen caught the eye of a researcher friend, its maroon axis edged with white spicules. Miguel's Diving staff knows right where a large patch of these emerge on overcast days. Of the sea pen species found here, this maroon one tends to host more marine life than others. To help our friend, we braved rough surf to locate these unusual soft corals. On the maroon ones, we found at least two species of commensal crabs hiding amongst the branches, a shrimp or two, and a very active maroon worm. With the surge being felt as deep as 20 meters, none of the pictures of the maroon beauties were in focus. Over the next two months, the winds will shift to the west, leaving calm seas and other opportunities to visit these beautiful corals.

Rare Sighting: Black-lined filefish

Yesterday Miguel's Diving staff went exploring a new location. Among the wonderful marine creatures seen during the dive was a very secretive and puzzling filefish. It turned out to be the cryptic and rarely seen Black-lined filefish (Pervagor nigrolineatus). She was hiding inside a black crinoid but soon disappeared into Gorontalo's dense coral growth. Found only in the Western Pacific, this filefish has several color phases. One is greenish with distinct black lines; another is brown with a thick irregular, mid bodyline with a white line on its nose. The one is our photo has none of these characteristics and the white on her face is actually a bit of skin she is shedding. However, her elegant nose is distinctive to this species. The fish in the photograph is female.

Uncommon Sighting: White-mouth moray

Today's dive at one of Gorontalo's multiple pinnacle dive sites turned up a number of surprises. But the most impressive was a shy White-mouth moray (Gymnothorax meleagris). Although this species can grow over a meter in length, the one today was clearly a juvenile. Found in tropical waters, this beautiful moray is uncommon in most of the Indo-Pacific area and mainly seen in northern Sulawesi, where Gorontalo is located, up to the Philippines. Nice photo!

Whale of a Season

As diving season in Gorontalo draws to a close, whales are showing up just off areas where Miguel's Diving takes guests diving. Several days ago Miguel's Diving staff thought a bomb exploded only to see a 12 to 14 meter long Bryde's Whale (Balaenoptera edeni) blowing, sending spray up almost four meters. It played on the surface for half an hour before sinking back into the deep. The next day two 10-meter long Cuvier's Beaked Whales (Ziphius cavirostris) passed, breaking the surface on their way east. This type of whale is common enough in Gorontalo that local fishermen have their own name for it. But yesterday, we decided to go diving in the other direction to find a newly discovered specie of commensal shrimp. Had we returned to the other location, we would have seen more than 100 Cuvier's Beaked Whales sunning on the surface.

Another Endemic Specie

The list of undescribed and/or endemic species found in Gorontalo continues to grow. Miguel's Diving can now show guests a recently discovered undescribed specie found only in northern Sulawesi and Tomini Bay. The Yellow crown demoiselle (Chrysiptera sp.) is commonly found in Gorontalo's coral rich reefs. It is also quite easy to photograph. Distinguishing features include the broad yellow crown, yellow pectoral spot, and tiny black ear spot. One photographer this season photographed what we thought was another Yellow crown demoiselle. However, the picture shows an amazingly beautiful blue wash around the yellow crown. According to our international fish expert, this color pattern has never before been documented. Maybe it's a Gorontalo crown demoiselle!

Hear Them Breathing

Guests from Taiwan, Japan, and Jakarta have seen multiple pods of both Bottlenose and Risso's dolphins each day. Rarely seen elsewhere, Risso's dolphins are resident in Gorontalo. They have distinctive white bodies with scaring, black dorsal fin, no nose, and are noticeably larger than Bottlenose. Today on the way to a dive site, a pod of nine Risso's was sleeping on the surface. We could hear them breathing. At sunset right before the night dive, a pod of Bottlenose were jumping and tail-slapping. The sound of their exhales carried across the still water, colored red by the sunset.

Sharp-tailed Sunfish in Gorontalo

Several days ago another sunfish showed up in the river mouth where Miguel's Diving ties the dive boat. About this time last year a similar one appeared. Both fish were caught by hook at night during the dark moon. We sent a cutting of the first one to an international Mola mola researcher. DNA testing identified it as Masturus lanceolatus, the Sharp-tailed Sunfish, which is less common that the usual Oceanic Sunfish or Mola mola. As its name implies, the one found in Gorontalo has a small sharp tail, whereas the regular Mola mola has none at all.

Sperm Whale Washes Ashore

In early May the carcass of a Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) washed onto the reef in west Gorontalo. Miguel’s Diving staff made a whirlwind trip to the remote location. We found the whale in about one meter of water, laying on its side, and barely floating on top of the reef. We estimate its length to be 12 meters. The carcass was in an advanced state of decay, giving new meaning to the phrase “bloated whale.” Evidently the current brought the carcass into shallow waters.

Although local fishermen had never seen a sperm whale, Miguel’s Diving boatman Sahir had seen one swim under his small fishing boat in the Togian Islands where he was raised. Sperm whales have a very distinctive head and jaw. The lower jaw has a row of conical teeth that can weigh up to a kilo each. Our intrepid dive master swam down to inspect the jaw and discovered that local Bajo fishermen had already removed the teeth.

We are sending a small chip of jawbone to a cetacean research center for analysis. We are told that sperm whales often die in combat with deep-sea squid, their favorite meal.

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.

Flasher Wrasses of Indonesia

Seven described flasher wrasse species (Paracheilinus) live in Indonesia waters. Sometimes flasher wrasses are called fairy wrasses, given their magical appearance. Two of the seven are considered endemic to Indonesia. One is the Togean flasher wrasse (P. togeanensis), pale white in color with outlined fin segments. The other is the iridescent Cyan flasher wrasse (P. cyaneus), found in Papua, Kalimantan, and the Togean islands. Both species were named in 1999. But several distinctive ones have been photographed but not yet described scientifically. This includes what is usually called the Hybrid flasher wrasse. This is the one we see at a few dive sites here in Gorontalo.

Photographing this undescribed flasher wrasse requires a certain strategy. Always in small schools, these wrasse stay close to loose rubble along slopes, often ducking for cover if threatened. Only one or two fish in the school will be the spectacular male with tall fins and trailing filaments, which he flashes at regular intervals. This particular specie is also highly territorial. If a patient photographer simply waits, the school of Hybrid fairy wrasse will come right back to the same place. Although we have a photograph of the females, no one has yet to capture the male on film. Since Miguel?s Diving staff knows exactly where these rare beauties live, you can get your shot when diving resumes in November.

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.

Oceanic Sunfish on Ice

One dark and starry night in January a local college professor was ready to quit fishing off the deep-water docks in Gorontalo City. As he reeled in his empty hook, suddenly he snagged something. After patiently bringing his catch to the surface, he discovered that his empty hook had snagged the eye socket of a huge, strange fish. It looked like a silvery, flattened disk with long upper and lower fins but no tail. It measured two meters long! A remora stubbornly stuck to the strange fish�s face. The catch was taken to Gorontalo Provincial Fisheries Department. No one had ever seen such a creature, so they decided to preserve it in a local cold storage facility.

Last week during the Coral Preservation Campaign, local fishermen told Miguel�s Diving staff about the strange catch. After seeing its picture in the Fisheries Department office, we immediately realized it was an Oceanic sunfish (Mola mola). Seen in the oceans since the time of ancient Troy, its Latin name means millstone, since it looks like the flat round stone used for grinding grain into flour. The Oceanic sunfish is the largest bony fish in the ocean, measuring up to three meters and weighing up to two tons. It swims by flapping its long dorsal and ventral fins from side to side. Although pelagic, it is often near the surface. It is most often observed in the wild while floating motionless on its side, basking in the sun.

Its huge surface area is an ecosystem for thousands of parasites. Mola molas will come close to coral reefs for cleaning by tropical fish, including bannerfish. Once observers saw a huge sunfish floating on the surface, so that seagulls could pick it clean. The huge fish then flipped over, giving the gulls its other cheek. Mola molas mainly feed on jellyfish and plankton but can blow water to search for food along the substrate. Its hide is up to 15 centimeters thick! Causes of its eventual death are parasites, nets, and great white sharks. It is found in all oceans both tropical and temperate. One of the best places in the world to see this unusual fish is off Nusa Penida in Bali during the summer months. Click this link for great photos of this swimming millstone.

Blue Chip Plankton

An unpredictable but annual visitor to Gorontalo is what we affectionately call the Blue chip plankton. Seen only in the first couple meters of the water column, this marine creature looks like a chip of iridescent blue paint. It measures about five millimeters. If you approach one with your finger, it will swim away a bit before extinguishing its color and disappearing into transparency.

Gorontalo Exclusive: White Foxtail Colonial Tunicates

Gorontalo is close to Sulawesi diving hot spots of Bunaken Marine Park, Lembeh, and the Togian (Togean) Islands. However, we are often finding things unknown to those familiar with diving in these adjacent locations. One striking example is what Phuket?s dive guru calls White foxtails after a recent visit. These are colonial tunicates whose translucent white members grow from a central basal stalk. These foxtails are found in Gorontalo hanging from sheltered overhangs and deep pinnacles where they are protected from the current. Some colonies are almost a meter in length.

Tunicates are marine animals that have an incurrent and an excurrent siphon for pulling in food and releasing waste. Tunicates are also called ascidians or sea squirts. Most of our marine biologist buddies had never seen these until diving here. You are only likely to see these beautiful foxtails by diving in Gorontalo, Sulawesi?s newest location for finding unusual marine life.

Get the Signal? It's a Goby!

One of Gorontalo?s cuter residents is the Signalfin goby. Growing up to three centimeters in length, this translucent fish has tiny dark spots sprinkled over its body. Its iris is red-brown and a green light shines from its pupil. Its first dorsal fin has matching red-brown markings. Although it sits motionless on the sand near clumps of coral, it is easily noticed because it flicks its dorsal fin up and down. Found in the Western Pacific from Indonesia to Australia, it is quite common on the sandy slopes of our Sentinels dive site where this picture was taken. The Signalfin goby is only profiled in one fish book, the new Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific (Allen, Steene, Humann, Deloach). Although only named in 1988, the scientific community seems split as whether it should be called Coryphopterus signipinnis or Fusigobius signipinnis.

Fishermen Rescue Pilot Whales

Sulawesi waters teem with life of all sizes, including cetaceans. Last week a pod of 18 whales beached near the border of Gorontalo and North Sulawesi provinces, only a few hours east of diving sites. Miguel’s Diving staff confirmed with fishermen friends that these were Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). For some reason the pod entered a small cove that only has a narrow outlet to the sea and beached. Using only their small outrigger canoes powered by tiny motors, local fishermen were able to tow the whales outside the inlet to the open sea. Fifteen were saved. The huge carcasses of the three that died were also towed out to sea away from homes. We have reported the incident to the biologist at North Sulawesi’s Bunaken Marine Park.

More Manta Tales

Right before sunset on February 29th, more than ten Shortfin devil rays (Mobula kuhlii) were jumping in the small bay where the Sentinels dive site is located. Large schools of tiny fish also filled these waters. In fact, local fishermen had just netted many bucketfuls for sale in the local market. Not only were the devil rays jumping, but they also grabbed the anchor line of a midsize wooden fishing boat. Three times residents in the tiny fishing village had to pull back on the land line to prevent the devil rays from pulling the boat out to sea. The rays had already pulled a mooring buoy away.

Fishermen here are very familiar with this particular ray and can describe it in detail. It is about one meter across and colored dark brown above and white below. Its tiny doral fin is white-tipped. Its small tail has no stinger. It is called bumengo in Gorontalo language.

Manta Tales

Perhaps for Leap Day (February 29th) a meter-long Devil ray (probably Mobula kuhlii) leapt on the tranquil waters of Tomini Bay to the delight of the boat crew. Its booming splash was heard underwater. These rays are smaller than the giant Manta ray (Manta birostris) but have the distinctive ?horns? and no noticeable tail.

One of Miguel?s Diving staff had an unforgettable encounter with a group of at least five of these rays. A couple of years ago here in Gorontalo, he and his uncle were using a pair of lanterns to fish at night. Their traditional canoe is just wide enough to sit in. A type of small fish that evidently these rays like was in dense schools, attracted by the light. The two men could see rays passing below them and heard the splashes all around. When the rays were no longer visible below, they lowered the anchor. Suddenly, a ray caught the anchor, towing the tiny wooden canoe. It was like being tied to a speedboat going full throttle. As they were zigzagging back and forth, the uncle yelled, ?Get the knife! Cut the rope!? They were able to cut the anchor line before being pulled underwater.

Let?s hope these beautiful creatures don?t wait another four years for their next leap!

Whales Here Have a Taste for Tuna

Cuvier�s Beaked Whales (Ziphius cavirostris) have been sighted five days in a row off the point where Miguel�s Diving takes guests for diving. Our staff and local fishermen report seeing one, three, and over five whales at a time. These whales appear when schools of yellowfin tuna run along this section of the vast Tomini Bay. Fishermen say that when a whale finds the school of deep-water tuna, it signals others with a �voice� that sounds like blowing through a pipe. In the days that follow the first sighting, more whales appear. The tuna then start fleeing to the point that some even beach themselves, trying to avoid being eaten.

In Gorontalo local fishermen catch one tuna at a time by hand line. But when Cuvier�s Beaked Whales are around, many times the only thing a fisherman pulls in is the tuna�s head and a few bones. Even the eyes have been eaten! Two days ago a fisherman landed half a tuna weighing 40 kilos; a whale had eaten the rest.

Cuvier�s Beaked Whales in Indo-Pacific waters are distinctly brown. They have an under slung, goose-like mouth with two teeth protruding from the bottom lip. Adults are about six to seven meters in length. Before diving, they will arch their backs steeply. Dives last between 20 and 40 minutes and are very deep. They are only seen close to land where the continental shelf is narrow and coastal waters deep. Tomini Bay certainly qualifies with depths of over 4,000 meters. These whales typically eat deep-sea squid. And obviously tuna, fillet-style!

We Stop for Dolphins and Whales

Miguel?s Diving has been drafted into the Indonesia Oceanic Cetacean Program. Program Director and cetacean expert Benjamin Kahn notes that Indonesia is located uniquely in the Indian/Pacific Ocean access for migratory whales. The program is run by APEX Environmental with its main goal to fill in the gaps in knowledge of Indonesia's whales and assist with marine mammal conservation. APEX is especially active in eastern Indonesia with projects from Komodo to Alor to Sangihe-Talaud. Benjamin is particularly interested in baleen, sperm, beaked and killer whales (Orcas), since very little is known about them from Indonesian waters.

The Sulawesi diving locations that Miguel?s Diving offers in the equatorial waters of Tomini Bay provide opportunities for cetacean sightings. We see whales annually and dolphins regularly, often during surface interval or on the trip back to town. Miguel?s Diving intends to follow the responsible code of conduct that APEX promotes, so that wild whales and dolphins are watched with minimal disturbance.

Our first report on the standard data sheet provided by APEX is about the sighting of two pods of Risso?s Dolphin (Grampus griseus) just a few meters from the wall where we dive. Over 25 dolphins in all were playing on the surface of the water one morning a few days ago. Some were even doing the ?head-stand? characteristic of this species.

It?s no wonder that Gorontalo is a prime location for Sulawesi diving.

Salvador Dali sponge identified

The strikingly beautiful sponge we here at Miguel�s Diving call the �Salvador Dali� sponge is Petrosia lignosa. Samples from two sponges were sent to Nicole J. de Voogd of the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Zoological Museum, University of Amsterdam. After looking at the maze of spicules under a microscope, she was able to identify it. Nicole says that the genus name Petrosia actually means �stony hard.� When compared with other sponges, all Petrosid sponges are hard and rock-like. So far, this sponge is known only from vertical walls in Indonesia. Friends say that this sponge does not occur in Bunaken (North Sulawesi). Nicole, however, disputes this. We at Miguel's Diving suspect this means that it is not present in the most common Bunaken dive sites. Its presence in most current dive sites in the Togian (Togean) Islands remains uncertain. But it is often seen here in Gorontalo on walls in Tomini Bay. This unforgettable sponge was first described in 1925 from the Togians.

The extensive vertical walls of Gorontalo host many fine examples. The samples Nicole saw were taken from the Traffic Jam dive site. Both sponges live at 20 meters on a wall exposed to the open ocean. The smaller sponge is shaped like a squashed vase, measures about 40 cm tall, and has light colored skin. The other one forms a long tube or funnel and is almost one meter long with dark skin. Advanced divers can see a huge one at about 40 m at the Jinn Caves dive site. Sponge samples were taken in such a way as not to be noticed by passing divers.

Divers in Gorontalo can be sure to see this surrealistically carved sponge. Thanks, Nicole, for your help. And our prayers for the safe delivery of your baby!

New Specie!

The commensal shrimp that we typically see diving here in Gorontalo turns out to be a new specie!

Named after the Hindu goddess of the arts by Okuno in 2002, the Sarasvati anemone shrimp (Periclimenes sarasvati) has purple-edged white spots on its transparent body. Its antennae are white and its claws are white with purple stripes. As with some other commensal shrimp species, it has a red band across each eye.

Not all anemones in Gorontalo host this shrimp. Instead, we usually see it on mushroom corals (Heliofungia) and also bubble coral (Plerogyra sinuosa). Come dive with us to see this goddess of artful beauty.

Look at a beautiful picture of a pair of these shrimp on bubble coral taken in Gorontalo on our Honeycomb dive site page. Another photo is on the Hole-in-the-Rock Wall dive site page. These pictures as well as others appear on the Edge-of-reef.com.