North Sulawesi, Manado - Part 3 : Of Wreck, Walls, Pygmies and Mandarins

Scenic view of Molas Beach on Manado Bay

Manado Dive Travel - 11 to 15 November 2006

Partie Trois de Six

Jour Deux : Sunday, 12 November 2006

Waking up to a full day of adventures...
Our dives were pre-planned before we started the day. We told Noldi what we wanted to see and discussed the dive plan with him. The 1st dive of the day was to be a deep dive at the only wreck around Manado Bay. Michelle was thrilled. She loved wreck diving. The convenient thing was that this wreck is just lying on the sandy bottom off Molas beach, just a short boat ride out from the jetty. We rented a dive computer from Noldi to gauge our limit underwater. It was the Uwatec Aladin. I shall review this dive computer at a later time... Alex was the one using the computer so we left him to guide us on the dive specific.



After breakfast, we head out to explore this World War 2 wreck. The weather was extremely good with the sun blazing its hot and furious rays upon us. It's time for a good tan that's long overdue for me!

Deep diving into the sunken remnants of WW2
This wreck is a steel hulled Dutch merchant ship that was sunk by torpedoes during WW2. It was very nicely covered with corals and the wreck goes down to 40m at the bottom with its bow being the shallowest at about 20m. We descended down to the stern of the ship at the bottom and did a multilevel to finish the wreck and the bow. We continued further across the open waters to reach the nearby reef.

Dive Site: Molas Wreck
Location: Manado Bay
Visibilty: 12 m
Temperature: 27°C
Maximum Depth: 39.3 m

The water was really cold at the bottom and we went beyond the recreational depth of 30m. That's where the big stuffs were. I was busy photographing macro and forgot to occassionally check out the open sea. There, I missed a big Napolean Wrasse that Noldi and Alex claimed to have seen. The wreck was badly damaged at the hull with several depressions believed to have been caused by the explosion of the attack. The other only "huge" stuff I saw was an over grown solitary trumpet fish.

Big stuffs like Michellea and Alexus were encountered at the wreck

Red-lined Flabellina (Flabellina rubrolineata)

This nudibranch is of suborder, Aeolidina and family is Flabellinidae. This animal is a colour variation of the original specimen as described by O'Donoghue, 1929. This is the lined form as shown in my photograph. In this species, the rhinophore club is papillated but there are papillae only on the posterior side of the rhinophores, as my photo nicely depicts. It feeds on hydroids.

Polycad Flatworm (Pseudobiceros sp.)

This flatworm is of the order, Polycadida and family is Pseudocerotidae. It is still an undescribed species. It has an undulating edge, bi-margined by black and yellow. It can be seen feeding on the ascidians in the photo.

En route to Bunaken Island

The majestic cone of Manado Tua

Left: Michelle and Alex displaying Uwatec's Aladin; Right: Alex, me and Manado Tua

We reached Bunaken island early and while waiting for our minimum Surface Interval of 1 hour, Alex and I jumped into the pristine clear waters of Lekuan for some free diving experience.

The reef was too shallow and Alex accidentally kicked some corals resulting in a bloodied foot.

The Great Walls of Bunaken!
Dive Site: Lekuan 2
Location: Bunaken Island
Visibilty: 20 m
Temperature: 26°C
Maximum Depth: 31.7 m

This is a site that plunges vertically down along its wall to some 60 metres. The visibility reaching more than 20 m. The coral life was abundant, varied and pristine. These were some of the most beautiful coral walls in the world, which in good sunlight through clear water made amazing living tapestries. There were varieties of hard and soft coral and bright pink and red coral fans on a reef supporting a large variety of reef fish. There were butterfly and batfish, puffers, Moorish idols, unicorn fish, bannerfish, wrasses, schooling mullets and Fusiliers of all colours. There were also morays and feathery crinoids of many different hues. The current here is considered moderate... we changed direction twice as the current changed unpredictably and it made a comfortable drift dive!

"Climbers" of the Wall....

Me, Alex( the Green Ass Monster) and Michelle

The walls of Bunaken were teeming with life. World renowned true blue diving!

A large shoal of pelagic fish schooling by.... filter feeding with their gaping mouths. A sight to behold!

Striped Catfish (Plotosus lineatus)

A marauding school of juveniles. Juveniles appear darker and their white stripes fade into a yellowish brown as they age. Their schooling size also decrease with age. The Plotosids are number one in the hurt department. Has got 3 sets of nasty stings and are extremely venomous. They look so beautiful and unassuming, but these cats are to be reckoned with. Their venom are bound to cause cardiac arrest and known to cause fatality in humans! The eel-tail, coral, stinging or Tandan catfishes, family Plotosidae ("ploh-toe-sih-dee") are aptly named ("plotos" means swimmers). Their tapered bodies with pointed or bluntly rounded tails are almost in constant undulating motion. One other interesting behaviour to mention: their sound production. These cats hum or buzz loud enough to be heard underwater. Listen closely (but not to close to be stung!)while holding your breath.

Soft Coral Crab (Hoplophrs oatesii)

A beautiful and very small commensal of Dendronepthya soft corals, which it mimics to perfection. Body is covered with spines, colour is depended on the polyps of the soft coral which it lives on. It feeds on the polyps of its host, thereby obtaining the exact same colour pigment which it cleverly camouflage itself.

Porcelain Crab (Neopetrolisthes oshimai)

Almost always in pairs, this species is easily recognised by its broad, paddle-like chelipeds. Only found in commensalistic association with several large anemones like Stichodactyla, Heteractis sp. and Cryptodendrum. This particular species can be distingushed from many other species of Porcelains by its bigger, less numerous red spots on a bright white background.

Clown Anemone Shrimp (Periclemenes brevicarpalis)

A very large and exceedingly beautiful species, usually living in pairs on carpet anemones. It can be immediately recognised by its exquiste livery: the transparent body is marked with several bright white spots, whole the bright white tail is decorated with five black and orange ocelli. Legs and chelipeds are transparent with blue-purple bands. The larger of the pair is always the female.

Bubble Coral Shrimp (Vir philippinensis)

As its name suggest, this species live exclusively on grape or bubble coral Pleurogyra sinuosa. The usually appear bodly in pairs. They make very photogenic and compliant subjects. Their body is transparent with thin purple lines on antennae, legs and chelipeds.

Crinoid Shrimp (Periclemenes cornutus)

Criniod shrimps of the genus Periclemenes are exclusively found in association with feather stars and filter-feeding echinoderms. The shrimp's colour usually matches with great accuracy to that of it's crinoid host.

Paying dues for a part in conservation

The Bunaken National Marine Park was formally established in 1991 and is among the first of Indonesia's growing system of marine parks. The park covers a total surface area of 89,065 hectares, 97% of which is overlain by sparkling clear, warm tropical water. The remaining 3% of the park is terrestrial, including the five islands of Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen. Although each of these islands has a special character, it is the aquatic ecosystem that attracts most naturalists.

The 2006 Bunaken entrance fees for foreign visitors are Rp 50,000 per daily ticket (approximately US$6) or Rp 150,000 (approximately US$17) for a waterproof plastic entrance tag valid for the full calendar year. Tags (or tickets) must be carried at all times the guest is within park boundaries and can easily be affixed to guests’ diving or snorkeling gear or on backpacks. The entrance fee system has been adapted from the well-known Bonaire Marine Park system and was successful in raising over $420,000 for conservation programs in Bunaken during the period from 2001- 2004.

Entrance tags and tickets can be purchased through marine tourism operators based in Manado and in the Bunaken National Park, or can be purchased from one of three ticket counters in Bunaken and Liang villages on Bunaken Island and on Siladen Island. Enforcement of the entrance fee system is conducted via spot checks by park rangers on land and at sea.

General information source: NSWA website


We spent our Surface Interval on Bunaken Island viewing the Exhibits at the Marine Park Information Centre and paying the park fees at the Park office. We bought the 2006 calendar year passes before we realised we should have taken the daily pass instead. Anyway, after paying our dues, we went to visit the information centre nearby to learn about what kinds of marine life the park has to offer. There were several hawkers by the beach in Liang village selling Minahasan handicrafts and t-shirts. I'm so tempted to do some shopping but we forgot to bring extra cash.

The Pygmies of Swallow's Cape
Dive Site: Tanjung Pisok
Location: Manado Bay
Visibilty: 20 m
Temperature: 25°C
Maximum Depth: 22.2 m

Tanjung Pisok means "Cape of the Swallows" in Minahasa tongue and in the late afternoon you can see these birds flying over the sea, trying to catch insects that come from the Mangroves close by. Diving at this site begins with a gentle slope and ends after that, either way, in a wall. During the Monsoon storms, waves hit Tanjung Pisok hard and that is clearly visible with what you'll see. The top layers are less abundant with Coral and Marine life. Deeper, however, there's plenty to see. Being on a "corner", current conditions can vary drastically, but it's also responsible for many unexpected encounters. During rainy times, visibility is heavily affected by outflushing from the river delta.

We were brought to this site to find something special. They are residents here and Noldi was very confident that they can be found. We were hit by the coldest of thermocline and accompanying the icy cold water was the constant current that would make a very nice drift dive. But due to me trying to photograph the tiniest of critters here, we refuse to drift with the current. It was a very tiring experience to fight the drift as well as to withstand the cold while looking for these small chaps.... The experience was well worth!

The Weedy Pygmy Seahorse (Hippocampus pontohi)

This species was first discovered by a local Indonesian guide named Hence Pontoh only recently in 2003. This seahorse was officially described and named Hippocampus pontohi, after him.

What really is surprising, observing this pygmy seahorse, is its great diversity compared to other species of pygmy seahorses living in North Sulawesi's waters, like Hippocampus bargibanti and Hippocampus denise. These are its main morphological characteristics:

1. It is very small. The 2 specimens I've came across on this same patch of hyroids had a size of about 8mm to 1 cm only!!
2. Body is flat and thin: from a front view he's almost invisible;
3. It's red-orange on his back, with a nearly white belly. Snout is pale pink, while the tail is brown-yellow with red weedy veins;
4. This species has two typical red spines, with branches, on his back, similar to small wings and one on its high coronet. For this reason it has been named the 'Weedy' Pygmy Seahorse.
5. Has a prehensile tail that enables it to "hop" from one hydroid branch to another.
6. It is a very active and mobile species by day.
7. Has several colour variations, from complete white to yellow or brown, often with red markings.
   

Habitat:
Unlike its better known 'cousins' H. bargibanti and H. denise, it prefers to live at shallow depths: all of the photographed specimens were at about 10 meters, on a big coral head among the sandy slopes at the Cape.

As expected, it is associated with the hydroid Sertularella sp., which grows on short coral branches between small sponges and ascidian colonies. My photos can better describe this habitat, where this seahorse hides and camouflages.

Tanjung Pisok's slopes are swept by wild currents and for this reason this species prefers small recesses or hydroid colonies sheltered by big sponges or other organisms which can offer some kind of protection.

Behaviour:
Very little is known about this species. My impression is that it is very active and mobile: Both specimens seemingly never stop moving, always jumping and swimming from one hydroid to another. Taking a good photo is extremely difficult.

The Black Beauty (Hippocampus sp.)

This lone specimen was found separately on another coral head also among hyroids, ascidians and tunicates. It has a distinct orange mane, jet black body and is speckled with small white dots(especially through the length of its prehensile tail). This pygmy is even smaller than the 2 yellow-white specimens of Hippocampus pontohi. It is only about 5mm! It was beyond the focussing power of my camera's super macro mode...... This species is still undescribed by scientists.

Decorated Flabellina (Flabellina bilas)

Has a pair of paddle-shaped or spatulate oral tentacles. It was a remarkable sight to see the animal paddling with its oral tentacles against the substrate as it crawled along. It feeds on hydroids and stores undigested stinging nematocysts in its cerata for protection.

Anna's Chromodoris (Chromodoris annae)

This is another of the Chromodoris quadricolor colour group of species characterised by black longitudinal lines, bluish backgrounds and orange borders. Chromodoris annae is characterised by the dark specks in the blue areas known as the punctate notum.

Reticulated Chromodoris (Chromodoris tinctoria)

Bohol Discodoris (Discodoris boholiensis)

This species is characterised by the narrow visceral hump, (which forms a narrow median ridge from the rhinophores to the gills), and wide mantle skirt, often autotomised(dropping off part of the mantle skirt as a form of defence) when disturbed. It is named after Bohol Island, in the Philippines, where it was first found. It can grow quite large like this specimen of about 20cm in diameter. These dorids are usually hidden during the day. It is photokinetic - that is they move quite fast when they are in the light, and stop or slow down considerably when they are in the dark. This helps to get them to a dark place, which ususally means a shaded overhang or crevice where they can hide. The mantle of Discodoris boholiensis is very thin and flexible, which allows it to curl up into some very weird shapes so that it can nestle into crevices in rocks and coral colonies away from potential predators.

Clown Anemone Shrimp (Periclemenes brevicarpalis)

Ghost Shrimp (Pliopontonia furtiva)

A commensal shrimp on corallimorpharians, Discosoma sp. and Rhodactis sp. . It is a queer, slow moving and spider-like shrimp, with a transparent body marked by white bands and spotted with yellow and white. The only species in its genus and living in association with the disc anemones. They like to hide in the slit-like opening or under the rim of the disc anemones.

Day Octopus (Octopus cyanea)

It is quite active and bold during daytime. A master of disguise, it can instantaneously change its body colour and even its texture to fit in its surrounding. This octopus sat boldly in the sand, confident that it looked like a piece of rock encrusted with corals. I approached too close and my sudden movement spooked it such that, it changed to a smooth body of brown before it scuffled into a crevice having its cover blown.....

Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicus)

The Yellow Boxfish can be recognised by its box-shaped body, bright yellow colouration and black spots. Juveniles have black spots about the size of the pupil. As the fish grows, the spots become smaller and brownish, sometimes even changing to white spots with a black margin. This species grows to 45 cm in length. The Yellow Boxfish inhabits coral and rocky reefs. Larval fish generally settle on sheltered rocky and coral reefs. Adult Yellow Boxfish are often solitary and occur on deeper coastal slopes, lagoons and areas where there are crevices and ledges for shelter.

The Harem of the Erotic Mandarins
Dive Site: Barracuda House Reef
Location: Manado Bay
Visibilty: 20 m
Temperature: 25°C
Maximum Depth: 22.2 m

Picturesque Sunset at Dusk...

One of the most interesting but elusive fish on the reef is Synchiropus splendidus commonly known as the Mandarin Fish. They have intrigued many Marine Photographers because of their striking beauty while frustrating us because of the difficulty in capturing good images. This fish, a member of the family Callionymidae (dragonets), is a highly sought after photographic subject due to its exceptional coloration and interesting habits. It is an extremely small and shy fish. Any slight movement or heavy breathing will spook them and have them zipping back into the crannies and nooks.

Mandarin Fish (Synchiropus splendidus)

This rarely seen fish occurs on fringing reefs around continental islands and adjacent offshore barrier reefs in both the Indian Ocean and Pacific waters. It lives in sheltered lagoons and generally occurs in groups. Mandarin fish inhabit broken coral bottoms and hence operate mostly under cover. They move in jerky movements pausing occasionally in open spaces but rarely for very long. They ingest small copepods for which they are constantly hunting. The male is larger than the female and has a spiked dorsal fin which will erect when another male is encountered.

Male Mandarin Fish displaying its erected spiked dorsal fin when another male is encountered

Female Mandarin Fish, as females in other species, get along, whereas males do not. When males encounter each other they "display" by raising their spiked dorsal fin, hoping to frighten off the other male; but if neither backs off they fight, sometimes to the death. Encounters that result in fights occur more often just prior to the daily mating ritual at dusk. Mandarin fish have a complex social structure and mating system.

The dragonets congregate around the coral rubble at dusk to commence their daily sex ritual

Daily, at dusk (exactly at dusk!), for about 10 minutes Mandarin Fish mate. During this mating period, Mandarins are almost, but not quite oblivious to what is going on around them. As long as one exercises reasonable discretion about movement and use of lights, close approach is not difficult. Groups of Mandarins gather together and a male and female pair off, rising into the water column together until the magic moment occurs when the female releases eggs and the male fertilizes them. It seemed that the larger males are more successful than the smaller males in capturing the interest of a female. I guess for Mandarins that "size does matter". I read that smaller males have developed a compensating technique of rushing up to mating pairs and releasing sperm hoping for a random fertilization to occur. During mating, Mandarin fish are more vulnerable to predators as they rise into the water column.

Rising up the water column in a passionate embrace

At the magic moment, the male and female quickly releases their embrace leaving the eggs in the water column for dispersion. From beginning their embrace until egg release takes anywhere from 5 to 8 seconds. The unique mating ritual of the Mandarins is definitely a must-watch for any marine enthusiast!

Sex marathon... The females wait for their turns.... What a lucky male!

Final stages of Courtship

The males and females engaged in erotic endearment!

This Mandarin Special is definitely one of my most memorable and best dusk-night dive ever!

Saddle-back Toby (Canthigaster valentini)

The Saddle Valentini Puffer, also known as the Black Saddle Pufferfish, Blacksaddled Toby, Valentini Toby, or Saddled-back Toby. Members of the Canthigaster genus are called Sharp-nosed Puffers or Tobies. The Saddle Valentini Puffer is a bright and colorful fish with dark brown bands across the midsection, brownish-orange spotting on the lower half, yellow fins, and blue striping running along the back. It lacks pelvic fins, but use the pectoral fins to move about. Its teeth are actually a fused beak-like structure. Parts of its flesh are poisonous. It has the ability, when threatened or alarmed, to inflate its body to almost twice its normal size.

Fu Manchu Lionfish (Dendrochirus biocellatus)

Found at "Alex's" Rock.

Reef Scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis cirrhosa)

An extremely well camouflaged ambush predator. It will usually lay still even when detected and closely approached. As its name implies, one must never touch this or any other species of Scorpionfish as they can inflict very painful wounds with their venomous fin spines. This Scorpionfish was found by Alex who was good at finding well camouflaged creatures.

Harlequin Sweetlips (Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides)

Elegant Squat Lobster (Allogalathea elegans)

Members of the Galatheidae have flattened, oval, and elongated bodies with a pointed, sharp rostum. They are a cross between shrimps and crabs and resmbles true lobsters because they have characteristic long chelipeds. This commensal species is regularly observed among the arms of feather stars(its only host), sometimes alone but more often in pairs. Females are larger than males. Their colour is bright and highly variable, usually with longitudinal bands running down the length of the carapace and along the chelipeds: it usually follows very closely to the colour of its crinoid host with a surprising good camouflaging effect.

Holoturian Harlequin Crab (Lissocarcinus orbicularis)

A small swimmer crab, the last pair of legs is modified in fins. Colour is variable(dependant on its cucumber host), usually white, brown and cream orange. The colour pattern can be reversed(brown with white spots or white with brown spots). Carapace edge almost smooth, the space between the eyes slightly pointed(pointed rostum). Carapace length is about 3 cm across. The legs and Chelipeds are striped. They are always found alone in association with holoturians (gen. Bohadschia), on which it lives as a commensal. When threatened it can enter the cucumber host's anus.

Imperial Partner Shrimp (Periclemenes imperator)

Found on the same cucumber host as the Harlequin crab above. They can live on a variety of hosts, mainly large sea cucumbers, large nudibranchs and seastars. A really gorgeous commensal shrimp with a broad, duck-billed like rostum and a generally bright orange body finely ornamented in white saddles and purple accents. They are usually found in pairs. Look out for them on the Bohadschia sp. and Stihopus sp. sea cucumbers, as well as on Nudibranchs like Spanish Dancer(Hexabranchus sanguiness) and seastars of the genus Gomophia. They are fairly easy to approach and won't spook if the photographer/ diver is careful in his/her advance.

Berry's Bobtail Squid (Euprymna berryi)

Bobtail squid are a group of cephalopods closely related to cuttlefish. Bobtail squid tend to have a rounder mantle than cuttlefish and have no cuttlebone. This species is a small( about only 3cm max), spherical body, 2 large rounded fins at the poterior end. They have eight suckered arms, two tentacles(Four rows of suckers on the tentacles) and a pair of large green eyes. They live in shallow coastal waters of the Pacific and a small part of the Indian oceans. Like cuttlefish they can swim by either using the fins on their mantle or by jet propulsion. They are also known as Dumpling squid (owing to their rounded mantle) or Stubby squid. Bobtail squid have a symbiotic relationship with bioluminescent bacteria which inhabit a special light organ in the squid's mantle. The bacteria are fed a sugar solution and amino acids by the squid and in return hide the squid's silhouette when viewed from below by matching the amount of light hitting the top of the mantle. A layer of iridescent cells gives to the animal a typical blue green, changing colour. When the chromatophores (the cells with the brown pigment) expand, the iridescence is concealed.

Berry's Bobtail Squid (Euprymna berryi)

Encountered on sandy bottoms, usually in lagoon or bay. Buried under the sand in the day, it can glue sand on its back using glue glands. It swims at night, using the light organs under its belly for camouflage when approaching the preys(normally benthic crustaceans) and to avoid predators as well. They will bury themselves in the sands when threatened. This little guy was desperately scooping sand over its head and body with its pair of tentacles. A cute and funny scene.

Korch's Bobtail Squid (Sepiadarium kochii)

Another rarely encountered species of Bobtail Squid. It is small and its mantle is dome-shaped. Dorsal mantle fused to head; length of fused portion approximately 1/4 mantle length. Mantle cavity divided by thin septum. Ventral mantle fused to each side of proximal end of funnel. Fins narrow; oblong; short, do not exceed length of mantle anteriorly or posteriorly; posteriorly with wide gap between them; attached along posterior half of mantle. Male and female arms subequal in length. Non-hectocotylized arm sucker arrangement same in both sexes. Club with 8 suckers in transverse rows; all suckers of similar minute size; very densely set. Colour of the Korch's Bobtail Squid: Dorsal mantle surface covered with large, white leucophores surrounded by smaller red brown chromatophores.
Size: Up to 3 cm mantle length.

Korch's Bobtail Squid (Sepiadarium kochii)

Similar to Euprymna berryi it spends its day buried in sand and emerges at night to feed on small crustacea. This species is not recorded in Manado. They are more widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region: throughout Indo-Malayan waters from Japan (Tokyo Bay, Pacific side and Toyama Bay (Japan Sea side)), Taiwan, Province of China and the South China Sea to India; southern Indonesia to New Guinea and northern Australia. A rare find for us indeed.

An Olive Whelk crawling at Alex's Rock

You'll know who is most satisfied about the day's diving from the magnitude of the smiles....

To be continued....