I’ve recently returned from another briliant trip to Lembeh Strait in north Sulawesi, Indonesia. We stayed at Lembeh Resort and dived with Critters@Lembeh. They were a really great bunch and we had an amazing time diving with them. Some of the underwater highlights for me during this trip were my first ever zebra seahorse (a colour form of Hippocampus trimaculatus), a mototi octopus (Amphioctopus siamensis) (which advertises it’s venomous bite with a pair of bright blue rings either side of the body and occasional flashing of a startling dark and light banding down the body), also my first Kalinga ornata nudibranch and another first for me which was a mating pair of Ambon scorpionfish. I didn’t take any of the Ambons mating but it was a real priviledge to see in any case!
I also did a couple of presentations about my work on pygmy seahorses whilst at the resort: one for the guides and one for guests. The presentation to the guides focused on the Code of Conduct for diving with and photographing pygmy seahorses, which I created based on my PhD research. The dive managers at the resort we keen for me to speak with their guides on the subject and it was great for me to be able to explain the Code to the guides directly including the rationale and research behind it. I also did a talk to the guests on both the biology and conservation of pygmy seahorses that had plenty of positive feedback, which was great.
The images from this trip can be seen by following this link.