It’s alway good to feel that you might be ahead of the pack – we often hear about Bali and Lombok on one hand, and Komodo and Flores on the other, but what lies in between? JOHN LIDDIARD finds out.
AFTER POINTING OUT
A sizeable nudibranch with six clumps of bubblegum-pink broccoli growing from its back, dive-guide Semuel surfaces from the dive and tells us he has never seen that species before.
Let’s put this into context. Semuel was one of the first Indonesians to train as a dive-guide in Lembeh. He has subsequently worked in all the locations on any diver’s Indonesian bucket-list. He is an expert at finding weird and wonderful macro critters.
You could put him in the middle of the underwater equivalent of an empty concrete car-park, and he would find a loose chip with something small and interesting underneath it to look at through a macro lens.
And he has just seen a slug that is new to him. Just slugging along on the shallow sand. It was definitely new to the rest of us.
Back ashore, I ask our Canadian host Eric McAskill, a self-confessed obsessive nudi-nut and not diving today. Eric has even published books about nudibranchs. I show him on my camera screen. “Allen’s Ceratosoma!” exclaims Eric. “It’s rare and number 3 on my want-to-see list.”
I ask Eric about numbers 1 and 2, but don’t take notes. Those Latin names go in one ear and out the other.
I look up Allen’s Ceratosoma in Paul Humann’s book and it is “known from Indonesia and Philippines”.
A bit of Googling and I discover that it is camouflaged to hide among soft coral, so sand is not its usual habitat. It is the only species of nudibranch with such long broccoli extensions.
Discovered in Mindanao in 1993, it has since been reported in West Papua and Timor. This is likely the point at which a reader writes to the Editor and tells us that it can be seen all over the place in Wotsit Unpronounceable, and there are 13 similar varieties, but it’s new for me, new for Semuel, and the kind of sighting that makes a trip.
Bu hikaye Diver dergisinin September 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Diver dergisinin September 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Appointment with Dr Anemone
It seems that marine-life could hold the key to improving many aspects of human health. Which is fine as long as the creatures we dive to see don’t have to be sacrificed in the process, says LISA COLLINS. They might not have to be
The Wreck Of The Zenobia: Disneyland For Divers
The Zenobia is one of those wrecks most divers have heard of, even if they haven’t dived it, but what is that makes some return to Cyprus year after year to revisit the site? DAVID BAKER, Chairman of Richmond Sub Aqua Club, has been asking around
Well And Truly Tested
MIKE WARD does the honours as a new Apeks regulator hoves into view – and for the rest, it’s all a matter of shedding light, with new products from Mares and Weefine
Man Jailed For First- Time Diver's Lake Death
THE OWNER OF A WELSH online company that sold golf balls retrieved from lakes has been jailed for 32 months for manslaughter, following the diving death of an employee.
God's Pocket
This coldwater Pacific classic can create dilemmas for photographers, says MARK B HATTER, torn between tiny rockfish and huge ‘GPOs’ in British Columbia.
In The Glassy Ripples
Tonga is a place of myths and traditions, and until 1978 whales were welcomed there only as food. Now things have taken a very different turn, as JENNY STOCK, only slightly hampered by her wetsuit, relates.
Baby Diver
Father-to-be HENLEY SPIERS decided that he needed a better understanding of diving and pregnancy.
Sumbawa
It’s alway good to feel that you might be ahead of the pack – we often hear about Bali and Lombok on one hand, and Komodo and Flores on the other, but what lies in between? JOHN LIDDIARD finds out.
Nudi GB
When you get your eye in you realise that colourful sea-slugs are not confined to the tropics – southeastern Scotland, for example, can also be a happy hunting-ground for macro enthusiasts. RICHARD ASPINALL drops into the Scottish Nudibranch Festival
Early Learning With Alligators-That's So Sick
The arrival of children can change divers’ lives – you don’t know if they will share your passion as they grow up or – inadvertently – stifle yours. So CHARLIE OLDFIELD went through a range of emotions when son Dylan announced that he wanted to dive…