This week I was lucky enough to see a pretty rare critter with another lovely name, a Brown-Lined Paperbubble.

This has to be one of the most beautiful molluscs we get. It is circumtropical, but this is the first one I’ve seen in Lembeh. It is about 5cm long and it was a pleasure to watch this wonderful creature.

I found this on a night dive, moving around on the sand. The Paperbubbles are a type of marine snail and feed on small segmented worms. Their shell is very delicate, from where they get their ‘paper’ name from. As you can see they have a large foot/mantle, which cannot be completely retracted into the shell. The glide around looking for food before burying themselves into the sand.

When they burrow into the sand they completely disappear, which probably explains why we do not see them that often. Liberty told me the last one he had seen here was over four years ago, so it was a great find…

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And big big congratulations go out to three of our Dive Guides, Jony, Risman and Amba. We always like to train our own guides wherever possible at KBR. Jony, Risman and Amba first started work here as tank fillers and boat captains, but have been trained, as many of you know, as fantastic Dive Guides. We also always make sure that we keep continuing their diving education. While they have now been Dive Guides for many years, they finally all passed their PADI Divemaster Course this week!!! Rescue evaluation complete!!!!

It’s not easy, as the course material is all in English, but they persevered and Barb and I were proud to finally sign them off. All of our Dive Guides (expect Ungke who only joined us last month and is presently working hard to do his too) are now full PADI Divemasters which makes us unique in Lembeh. So well done guys!!! Great job and all the hard work paid off…

This week’s diving has been fab. I saw two Devil Rays, which was a real treat, especially as the water has been clear, but everyone had their macro lens on, so no photos…we’ve also seen more Harlequin Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Harlequin Crabs, Tozeuma Shrimp, Candy Crabs, Carry Crabs, Skeleton Shrimp, Decorator Crabs, Mantis Shrimp, Squat Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobster, Elegant Squat Lobster, juvenile Painted Lobster, Xeno Crabs, Xenia Crabs, Crinoid Shrimp, Dragon Shrimp, Porcelain Crabs, Emperor Shrimp, Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp and many more. There have been Flamboyant Cuttlefish (including births), Broadclub and Pygmy Cuttlefish and Hairy, Wonderpus, Mimic, Coconut and Reef Octopus. There have been pink and yellow Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorse, Severn’s Pygmy Seahorses, Common, Thorny, Estuary and Moluccas Seahorses, Lembeh Seadragons, Mushroom Coral Pipefish, Winged Pipefish and Pygmy Pipehorses, as well as Robust, Ornate and Velvet Ghost Pipefish. There seem to be a lot of bright orange Painted Frogfish at the moment, plus some Hairy, Giant, Occellated and Warty Frogfish. And we’ve seen Ambon Scorpionfish, Waspfish, Cockatoo Flounder, Leaf Scorpionfish, juvenile Fingered Dragonets, Napoleon Snake Eels, Comets, Bobbit Worms, Pegasus Sea Moths, Solar Powered Nudis and even a Spotted Eagle Ray.

So thanks to all our great guests from the States, Russian and South Africa. It’s been a wonderful week,

Enjoy all of Barb’s photos from this week. Just click on the photo strip at the top or bottom of this blog to see them all.

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We’ve been having a great time over the last week, with some wonderful diving. But we were all very saddened to hear of Neville Coleman’s peaceful passing.

He was one of the main reasons I started loving ‘muck’ diving and searching for small critters. His books on nudibranch ID were an inspiration and introduced me (and many others) to the incredible macro world and our obsession with finding these wonderful creatures.

He was not only about nudis, but everything in the oceans and had two wonderful creatures names after him, the Coleman Shrimp and the Coleman Pygmy Seahorse. May you rest in peace.

So my clip this week is, of course, of a nudi. Well two nudis to be precise, but one comes to rather an unfortunate end…

The Red Bumpy Gymnodoris is a beautiful nudibranch. But harbour an evil secret….they eat other nudibranchs alive!!!

While most other nudis munch on algae, hydroids and other such stuff, these ones make a meal out of other nudis. They find the slime trail left by another nudi then follow it from behind, catch it’s tail in their mouth then proceed to swallow it’s entire prey whole.

It was quite fascinating to watch and at the same time there was something quite disquieting about looking at the hypselodoris being enveloped but it was impossible to look away. The The entire process took about 16 minutes and i filmed it all. At the end of the video I have sped up the entire clip into 30 seconds, so you can (quickly) watch the whole process there.

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Barb (and I) were very excited too this week about finding many Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp. These are a tiny shrimp that live exclusively on the spines on Cake Urchins. The are usually very rare to find, possible because they are so small.

However on one dive this week we found three urchins, one with one Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, one with three and and with four on it!! What a treat and Barb took these wonderful photos of the extremely small shrimp. There are only about 5mm to 7mm long.

The rest of the week has been great too. We’ve seen Mimics, Wonderpus, Long Arm, Coconut, Algae and Starry Night Octopus. There have been Flamboyant, Pygmy and Broadclub Cuttlefish and lots of tiny tiny Pygmy Squid and some Bob Tail Squid too. Crustaceans have included Harlequin Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, Bumblebee Shrimp, Saron Shrimp, Paron Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Xenia Crabs, Decorator Crabs, Carry Crabs, Candy Crabs, Porcelain Crabs, Snapping Shrimp, Crinoid Shrimp, Commensal Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Tozeuma Shrimp, Orang Utan Crabs, Zebra Crabs, Skeleton Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobster, Squat Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Whip Coral Shrimp, Xeno Crabs, Spider Crabs and many more. We’ve seen Hairy, Giant, Painted and Warty Frogfish. And there have been Stargazers, Spiny Devilfish, Cockatoo Waspfish, Cockatoo Flounder, Spikefin Gobies, Leaf Scorpionfish, Ambon Scorpionfish, juvenile Barramundi Cod, Pegasus Sea Moths, Ribbon Eels, Fingered Dragonets, Mandarinfish, juvenile Golden Batfish, juvenile Rock Mover Wrasse and more. There have also been pink and yellow Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorses, Pygmy Lembeh Seadragons, Thorny Seahorses, Mushroom Coral Pipefish, Robust and Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Common and Estuary Seahorses….a great great week.

Thanks to all our great guests from South Africa, the UK, Australia, Japan, France and Switzerland.

Click on the top or bottom photo strip to see all Barb’s fantastic photos from this week.

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April is over!! Wow, another month slips by and April marked Barb and my second year at KBR. What a wonderful two years!! We’ve seen so many amazing creatures underwater, met so many great new friends and loved being at such a wonderful resort, KBR.

April was pretty busy for us. We haven’t written a blog for the last few weeks as we went to Singapore for ADEX, the Asian Dive Expo. We had our own stand for the three day event at the Marina Bay Convention Center. It was wonderful to see so many of our guests at the show and to meet so many new friends too. Thank you so much for stopping by.

We also got a couple of new members of the dive team in April.

The first is Mika Momota, our new Japanese Liaison Instructor. Mika has spent many years working in Sipadan and the Maldives before she came here. Mika loves small weird creatures and is already loving being in ‘critter heaven’ at KBR. As well as perfect English and Japanese (of course) Mika also speaks a fair bit of Bahasa Indonesia too. Mika is a PADI MSDT Instructor and it’s great to have her here.

We also have a new guide, well new to KBR at least. Ungke has worked as a guide in Lembeh for over six years and joined our team of guides this month. Ungke knows all our sites really well and even has shown us a few new places that we didn’t know about!! He has a great personality, great eyes and he looks forward to showing you Lembeh’s underwater treasures.

We’ve had a great week’s diving this week. Some of you may remember a post I made about Melibe nudibranchs, a very large nudi that we get here, usually living on the sand. I had filmed it before and it’s fascinating to watch it’s head expand and then get thrown forwards over the sand. The head then has cilia around it’s mouth and it seems to sift through the sand.

I thought when I first saw it doing this, that is was a filter feeder and was scooping up sand and particles that it would then digest. Well this week we found some more and one of the guests was telling me that they were, in fact, carnivorous….

This tweaked my curiosity and I had a look at the Melibe I had filmed this week. Turns out he was right and I was very lucky, as I had managed to film the Melibe scooping up a small shrimp.

If you watch this week’s video (full screen to help see) you can clearly see, about two thirds the way through, the Melibe catch a shrimp. You can see the shrimp through it’s semi-transparent ‘hood’ after it has captured it. The Melibe than holds it’s mouth shut and you can see the shrimp bouncing around inside until it, presumably’, gets devoured. At that point the Melibe then keeps feeding. Great stuff!!!!

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The other highlight was seeing three Geographic Sea Hares together!!!! These are by far my favourite Sea Hare and I’ve only seen one before, and that was a small one, about 2cm long. These three were each about 12cm long and there were three of them!!! (Have i already said that?) It was very exciting. The patterns on them defy belief….

And now it’s time for the monthly Critter List.

And this week we’ve also seen more Harlequin Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, Banded Tozeuma Shrimp, Paron Shrimp, Zebra Crabs, Halimeda Crabs, Carry Crabs, Candy Crabs, Decorator Crabs, Emperor Shrimp, Dragon Shrimp Donald Duck Shrimp, Peacock Mantis Shrimp, Porcelain Crabs, Orang Utan Crabs, Snapping Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Xeno Crabs, Whip Coral Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Squat Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Hairy Squat Lobster, Bubble Coral Shrimp, Skeleton Shrimp, Spider Crabs, Sea Spiders, Xenia Crabs and many more. There have also been Algae Octopus, Mimics, Wonderpus, Coconut and Long Arm Octopus. There have also been Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Pygmy Cuttlefish, Pygmy Squid and Bob Tail Squid. As well as the Melibe and Geographic Sea Hares there have also been some Pikachu, Solar Powered, Hairy Norse God and many many other types of nudi. There have been Giant, Warty, Painted and Occellated Frogfish. And we’ve seen Ambon Scorpionfish, Flying Gurnards, Fingered Dragonets, Mandarinfish, Stonefish, Pegasus Sea Moths, Randal’s Goby, Stargazers, Waspfish, juvenile Sweetlips, Spiny Devilfish, juvenile Barramundi Cod, Threadfin Sand Divers and yellow, blue and black Ribbon Eels. And seahorses and their relatives have included yellow and pink Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorse, Lembeh Seadragons, Winged Pipefish, Mushroom Coral Pipefish, Common and Thorny Seahorse, Pipehorses, Robust and Ornate Ghost Pipefish….yes, a great week…

And thanks to all our lovely guests, from South Africa, Japan, the States, Italy and Hong Kong.

Enjoy Barb’s great photos from this week. Just click on the photo strip at the top or bottom of this blog to see them all.

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I wish I could do every dive that we send out everyday…

I do manage to get out one or two times a day, but there is nothing worse than being back at the dive center when everyone gets back from the dive and you hear them talking about all the wonderful things they saw on that dive..this was really brought home on a couple of dives this week.

The first instance was when Barb came back from Jahir. I love Jahir, a great muck site and there always seems to be a lot of different things to see, from Frogfish to Mimics, Tiger Shrimp to Velvetfish and much more. I had stayed back at the Dive Center and went out to meet everyone when they came back. Barb had a rather big smile on her face..

It turns out that they had seen one of our rarest shrimps on a very unusual location. Bumble Bee Shrimp are one of our rarest critters. They are, of course, very small and are usually found at the bottom of sponge complexes or under old half-buried ropes. Where we have never found them before is on the back of a sea cucumber in the middle of a much site!!

Apparently (as I wasn’t there to confirm) the little guy was quite happy sitting on the cucumber, posing for everyone!! And, as you can see form Barb’s photos, it made a beautiful background to take some wonderful photographs.

The second instance was a dive that neither Barb or I were on. Again, it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Some of the guests managed to see Coconut Octopus being born!!! They sat there and watched tiny little octopus babies squirting out of their eggs held in their mum’s arms!! Amazing and a truly one-off sight…

One things we did both managed to see, that we hadn’t seen before was five small (2ft/60cm) Black Tip Sharks swimming around under our over-the-water restaurant at lunch!! The water saw extremely shallow and there was no way to get there to take photos, but it was a very cool thing to see.

And this is why Lembeh is such a fabulous place to dive. Everyday, every dive there is something new, something different to see. I always go out expecting the unexpected, never knowing what it will be and always seeing something new and never being disappointed….

This week’s video is of another great crustacean. This one is very topical for us, as it’s the Orangutan Crab.

Orangutan (Orang Utan) literally means ‘man of the forest’ in Indonesian, and these crabs really seem to look like their land-based namesakes.

Orangutan Crabs are covered in ‘hair’, which I presume is some sort of algae. They can be nearly hairless to very shaggy indeed, as these two are. We find them in many places, including Bubble coral, sand and sponges.
Not only do they resemble Orang-utans with their hair, but they also seem to sway their front legs from side to side in a very good imitation of an ape!!

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The rest of this week’s diving has been great.

We’ve seen Mimics, Wonderpus, Hairy, Algae, Coconut, Reef and Long Arm Octopus. There have also been plenty of Flamboyant Cuttlefish, as well as Broadclub, Pygmy and Giant. And there have been Giant Squid, Pygmy Squid and Bobtail Squid. Crustaceans include Harlequin Shrimp, Harlequin Crabs, Bumble Bee Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Saron Shrimp, Paron Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Skeleton Shrimp, Zebra Crabs, Emperor Shrimp, Decorator Crabs, Commensal Shrimp, Bubble Coral Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Peacock Mantis Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobster, Hairy Shrimp, Squat Shrimp, Snapping Shrimp, Orang Utan Crabs, Blue Boxer Shrimp, Xeno Crabs, Tozeuma Shrimp, Xenia Shrimp, Xenia Crabs and many more. There have been pink and yellow Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorses, as well as Pontohi Pygmy Seahorses. And there have been Common, Thorny, Estuary and Long Snout Seahorses. Ghost Pipefish include Robust, Ornate and Velvet. We are still seeing many Winged Pipefish, as well as Network, Bent-Stick, Double Ended, Ringed and Mushroom Coral Pipefish, And there have been Lembeh Seadragons and Pygmy Pipehorses. Fish sighting have included Snake Blennies, Stonefish, Lembeh Velvetfish, Spiny Devilfish, Flasher Scorpionfish, Stargazers, Pegasus Sea Moths, Banggai Cardinalfish, Jawfish, Snake Eels, Waspfish, juvenile Dragonets, juvenile Pinnate and Circular Batfish, juvenile Sweetlips, juvenile Barramundi Cod, yellow, blue and black Ribbon Eels, Leaf Scorpionfish and Cockatoo Flounder. And there have been Warty, Hairy, Giant, Painted and Occellated (Coin Bearing) Frogfish.

Thanks to all our great guests here over Easter, from Hong Kong, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the States and Australia.

Barb and I will be at ADEX in Singapore this coming weekend. If you are around, please stop by to say hello.

Enjoy Barb’s great photos this week. just click on the photo strip at the top or bottom of this blog.

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This week I finally managed to get some nice video of a rarely seen shrimp, Stimpson’s Snapping Shrimp.

Now I said that they are rarely seen, but they may not be that rare (at least here in Lembeh). They are rarely seen as they live out of sight, on the under-side of crinoids.

Crinoids, or Feather Stars (as they are also known) are echinoderms. There are many of them in Lembeh, but these shrimp seem mainly to live under the orange coloured ones.

You (or rather the guides who can do this without harming the crinoid) can very carefully turn the crinoids upside-down to see these wonderful critters.

They are called ‘snapping’ Shrimp, as they can ‘snap’ their large pincers to create a loud noise. As you can see, one pincer is always much larger than the other. You can also see that it can be either the left or right pincer that is the large one. This pair has one partner with a larger left pincer and the other with a large right pincer. Why this is the case, I have no idea.

When the claw snaps shut, a jet of water shoots out from a special hole, apparently at speeds up to 62mph (100kph), which generates a low-pressure bubble in it’s wake. As the pressure stabilizes, the bubble collapses and creates the loud bang. This stuns it’s prey. Now these shrimp in Lembeh do not seem to ‘snap’ very much, probably as they have such an abundant source of free nutrition floating past them in the water at all times.

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Another month ends, so it’s time for the monthly Critter List

As usual, another fantastic month. Particularly good to see a lot of Harlequin Shrimp, as well as many Mimics, Wonderpus, Hairy Octopus, Frogfish of all types and lots of Seahorses!!!! Thanks March, it’s been great!!

Barb has recovered from her head cold and so has been back in the water this week. And she’s taken some more fantastic pictures.

And this week has been pretty great too. We seen Hairy Octopus, Mimics, Wonderpus, Coconut, Long Arm and Starry Night Octopus, as well as Broadclub, Pygmy, Giant and Flamboyant Cuttlefish, and there have been Pygmy and Bob Tail Squid. We’ve seen more Harlequin Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Urchin Bumble Bee Shrimp, Snapping Shrimp, Porcelain Carbs, Peacock Mantis, Golden Mantis, Skeleton Shrimp, Candy Crabs, Carry Crabs, Decorator Crabs, Sponge Leg Crabs, Harlequin Crabs, Squat Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobster, Hidden Corallimorph Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Hairy Shrimp, Zebra Crabs, Xenia Shrimp, Xeno Crabs, Dragon Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Mushroom Coral Shrimp, Tozeuma Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, Halimeda Crabs and many more. There have been Pegasus Sea Moths, Ambon Scorpionfish, Cockatoo Waspfish, Cockatoo Flounder, Leaf Scorpionfish, Crocodile Flatheads, Solar Powered Nudis, Melibe Nudis, Mandarinfish, Fingered and Orange and Black Dragonets, Long Horned Cowfish, Ribbon Eels, Sea Snakes, juvenile Barramundi Cod, juvenile Sweetlips, juvenile Circular Batfish and Electric Disco Clams. And there have been Yellow and Pink Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorses, Velvet, Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish, Lembeh Seadragons, Mushroom Coral Pipefish, Winged Pipefish, Thorny, Common and Estuary Seahorses and many Pipefish. And the frogfish have included Hairy, Giant, Painted, Warty and Occellated (Coin Bearing). Another good week.

Thanks to all our great guests from Canada, Australia, the States, Japan, Malaysia, the UK and New Zealand. We’ve had a great time.

And finally, thanks to Todd Winner who had his first trip to Lembeh and took some lovely photos of Neo, our  swimming cat…

To see all of Barb’s great photos this week, just click on the photo strip at the top or bottom of this blog

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Last week I wrote about a wonderful family of Harlequin Shrimp we found. They really are beautiful, so this week I thought I would write a little more about them.

I said that the female Harlequin was pregnant, but how do we know this? And how can we tell the sexes apart?

These questions are hopefully easily answered with this weeks video. The video starts off with some shots of Junior, first giving you an idea of how big the adults are compared to the juvenile and secondly, as Junior was pretty hungry, you can watch him attack the open leg of the starfish and rip a tasty bit of flesh out. He’s not taking no for an answer, as you can see from his determination to get his tucker!!

When you see the two adult Harlequins standing on the starfish arm, the one on the left is the male and the right the female. You can see the female stroke her abdomen and then fan her eggs, which she keeps under her abdomen. As the male moves in front of her you can clearly see that his tail section is empty compared to hers and doesn’t have the flared bits that come out of the side.

The female has to ‘fan’ her eggs for two reasons. She needs to make sure that freshly oxygenated water is kept moving around her eggs, and she also shuffles the eggs around so that all the eggs have time on the outside of the clutch, giving them all an access to the surrounding water.

So the fanning action was how we instantly knew she was pregnant. Generally another give away is the size, the female are usually slightly bigger and have wider abdomens to carry the eggs. So yes, it definitely shows when a Harlequin Shrimp is pregnant…

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Unfortunately Barb has had a cold this week, lots of congestion and so hasn’t been able to dive and therefore no photos…. I’ve pulled a few stills of my video to give you something, hopefully, nice to look at.

And it’s been a good week. We have found plenty of Harlequin Shrimp and there have been Tiger Shrimp, Hairy Shrimp, Harlequin Crabs, Squat Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobsters, Porcelain Crabs, Candy Crabs, Carry Crabs, Orang Utan Crabs, Donald Duck Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp (some with eggs), Skelton Shrimp, Hidden Corallimorph Shrimp, Decorator Crabs, Crinoid Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Paron Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Commensal Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, Snapping Shrimp and many more. There have been yellow and pink Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorses, along with Pontohi Pygmy Seahorses. There have also been Common, Estuary and Thorny Seahorses, Liberty’s Pipefish, Winged Pipefish, Lembeh Seadragons, Pygmy Pipehorses and Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish. Frogfish include Hairy, Giant, Painted, Crimson, Warty and Painted. Cephalopods include Mimics, Wonderpus, Coconut, Hairy, Long Arm and Reef (Day) Octopus, Flamboyant, Broadclub and Pygmy Cuttlefish and Pygmy and Bob Tail Squid. And there have been Stonefish, Pegasus Sea Moths, Stargazer Snake Eels, Madonna’s Bra, Long Horn Cowfish, Crocodile Flatheads, Hairy Filefish, Spiny Devilfish, Electric Clams, Banded Sea Kraits, Ambon Scorpionfish, Fingered Dragonets, Helmut Gurnards and Waspfish.

Thanks to all our lovely guests from the States, the UK and Turkey. It’s been a little rainy, but fab diving…

..and I’m not talking about Brangelina.

We were extremely lucky this week and saw seven different Harlequin Shrimp. Harlequin Shrimp are arguably the most desired critter that divers want to see/photograph/video. It’s easy to understand why. They are fairly large, have a wonderful colour and pattern, have an amazing shape and are rather rare.

They seem to come in several shades of blue to red and are usually in the 3cm to 4cm range. We often find them in pairs, and like many of the beautiful shrimp here (Bumblebee and Tiger) they mate for life and will raise one or two offspring ‘at home’. We find the Harlequins by starfish, and they will usually hang out in that area for for a few days, sometimes a week, before they move on. It makes any encounter very special.

So we were ecstatic to find the most beautiful Harlequin family I have yet to see. The first thing we noticed was that they were huge!!! The adults were at least 5cm (nearly 2 inches) long. The female is slightly larger than the male, both length-wise and width. The next thing that really stood out was their colour, a brash smalt deep blue colour I had never seen on a Harlequin before.

(you can click on the photos above to see them in a bigger size)

And it kept getting better as we noticed that there was a junior too. The tiny little guy really gave you an idea of just how big it’s parents were. It was wonderful to see this family together. And soon they may be more. Mum was pregnant. You could watch her rear legs fan her eggs, which are held under her tail. It was a very special dive.

We also, on the same site, found six Tiger Shrimp, a Wonderpus, many big unknown shrimp and several Blunt-End Sea Hares, which were around 40cm (over a foot) long!!!

So Barb had a photo field week. As well as the Harlequins and Tiger Shrimp, there were the rare Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, more Hairy Norse Gods, huge Winged Pipefish, and a Coconut Octopus with eggs. Enjoy all her photos. Just click the photo-strip at the top and bottom of this blog.

Last week I mentioned the Green Mood Shrimp. These have become the latest ‘thing’ to find here. They are an un-described shrimp, possibly a variation of Phycocaris sp. or a new species.

One resort found them about 6 months ago in Lembeh and (quite rightly) had been guarding their location. Obviously we wanted to see them too, but knew we would have to wait.

So last week we were underwater and a diver was photographing something and when Liberty (one mf my Dive Supervisors) swam nearby, he manoeuvred his body so Liberty couldn’t see what he was photographing. No problem, Liberty moved on and thought nothing more about it.

That evening I was having a drink with this diver (we are good friends with the dive resort who discovered the shrimp) and he was telling me about how he hid the green shrimp from my dive guide that afternoon….’ah ha’ I thought. The next day I went out with Liberty and told him to show me were the diver with the camera was who was acting strangely the day before. We went straight to the rock and 40 seconds later I had found my first Little Green Shrimp. And in honour of the diver, whose name was Mood, we call it the Green Mood Shrimp!!

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So my video this week is of the hardly seen Green Mood Shrimp. It is a lovely little guy (even if he does poo on camera) and this is some of the first video ever captured of this critter.

The rest of the week has been fantastic. There have been Mimics, Wonderpus, Blue Rings, Hairy and Coconut Octopus. We have seen Flamboyant Cuttlefish and their eggs. Crustaceans include Harlequin Shrimp, Harlequin Crabs, Tiger Shrimp, Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, Green Mood Shrimp, Xeno Crabs, Decorator Crabs, Crinoid Shrimp, Orang Utan Crabs, Candy Crabs, Boxing Crabs, Mantis Shrimp (including Peacock Mantis Shrimp with eggs), Hairy Shrimp, Whip Coral Shrimp, Xenia Crabs, Xenia Shrimp, Snapping Shrimp, Amphipods, Carry Crabs, Hairy Squat Lobster, Elegant Squat Lobster, Squat Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Skeleton Shrimp and many more. there have been Pontohi and Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorses, Common, estuary and Thorny Seahorses, Pipehorses, Pipefish, including several different and very beautiful Winged Pipefish. we seen Ambon Scorpionfish, Napoleon Wrasse, Electric Clams, Pegasus Sea Moths, several different types of Snake Eel, Ribbon Eels, Spiny Devilfish, Leaf Scorpionfish, Waspfish, Cockatoo Flounder, Helmut Gurnards, Comets, juvenile Pinnate Batfish and Stonefish. there have been Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish. Frogfish include Hairy, Giant, Painted and Warty. We even saw a big Devil Ray!! A fabulous week.

Thanks to all our guests from Russia, the States and the UK. Rose, we miss you already!!!!!

Enjoy Barb’s photos. Click on the top or bottom photo strip to see them all.

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It has been one of those weeks. One of those very special Lembeh weeks when you see things you’ve never seen (or heard of) before. And this is after nearly two years of diving here practically every day.

So, starting with the Hairy Norse God. I was pottering around at Nudi Falls, looking for interesting critters, when I happened to glance at a white bit of coral/sponge half hidden under a rock. I thought I saw some colour and had a closer look and, sure enough, there was a nudibranch I hadn’t seen before.

It was pretty distinctive, as it was a very pretty nudibranch. A white body, thin black lines and purple and yellow tipped lumpy protrusions coming out along it’s body (having a super macro lens on my video camera and a monitor on the back makes it much easy to see these tiny things!!!). Barb had a look too and took these lovely photos.

When we got back to KBR I looked it up and was delighted to find that it was called a Hairy Norse God!! Surely one of the coolest names of any critter!!!

The next amazing find was of this Zebra-stripped Seahorse. I must say that this is perhaps the most beautiful seahorse I have ever seen. And it’s easy to see with your naked eye!!

Apparently the last time one of these was seen was about 15 years ago, so it is very special. The guides call it a Zebra Seahorse, but after a bit of research, as it’s important to name these things correctly, it seems that Zebra Seahorses are endemic to Australia, and though similar to this one, are a bit different. This one turns out to be a zebra-stripped variation of a Longnose Seahorse (Hippocampus trimaculatus).

Whatever it’s true name it is undeniable that it is a truly stunning seahorse and a wonderful find.

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The last critter I have rather presumptuously named the Green Mood Shrimp. They are an unknown shrimp that has been seen here in Lembeh for the last six months or so, but we had never seen one. Nothing is known about them and they might be common, but they camouflage themselves very well.

I’ll go into more detail next week, as I’ll have some great video of these little guys then. I’ll also explain why we came up with the name Green Mood Shrimp!! Until then enjoy Barb’s photos of them.

The rest of the week has been fantastic. We seen Harlequin Shrimp, Harlequin Crabs, Candy Crabs, Hairy Shrimp, elegant Squat Lobster, Hairy Squat Lobster, Squat Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Donald Duck Shrimp, Hidden Corallimorph Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Mantis Shrimp with eggs, Bubble Coral Shrimp, Halimeda Crabs, Tiger Shrimp, Urchin Bumblebee Shrimp, Crinoid Shrimp, Snapping Shrimp, Skeleton Shrimp, Commensal Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, Marble Shrimp, Decorator Crabs and many more. There have been Wonderpus, Mimic, Long Arm, Coconut and Reef Octopus, as well as Flamboyant, Pygmy, Giant and Broadclub Cuttlefish and Bobtail Squid. As well as the lovely Zebra Seahorse, there have been Thorny, Common and Estuary Seahorses, and there have been pink and yellow Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorses and Pontohi and Severn’s Pygmy Seahorses. We’ve also seen Ornate, Robust and Velvet Ghost Pipefish, and Winged, Orange Lined and Network Pipefish. And Lembeh Pygmy Seadragon and Pygmy Pipehorses. Frogfish have been good, with more Hairy, Painted, Warty, Coin Bearing (Occellated) and Crimson varieties. And there have been Ambon Scorpionfish, Stonefish, juvenile Pinnate and Zebra Batfish, Ribbon Eels, Pegasus Sea Moths, Bobbit Worms, Leaf Scorpionfish, Stargazers, Mandarinfish, Spiny Devilfish, Electric Clams and a Six Lined Soapfish.

Thanks to all our lovely guests from the UK, France, Russia and Italy.

Enjoy all of Barb’s photos this week. Just click on the top or bottom photo strip.

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Well, maybe that’s not quite true, as I’m still not sure exactly what I filmed this week…but maybe someone reading this has the answer…..

These particular shrimp are often overlooked, as to the casual eye or photographer they are perhaps deemed ‘boring’. They are almost transparent and do not seem to have another very interesting ‘feature’. This one is called, I think, a Cuapetes sp.5. They are found only in Indonesia and are not uncommon, but for the reasons above, hardly ever looked at.

However, while shooting macro video, you start to see something fascinating, something that a photograph cannot reproduce and something that you cannot see with your naked eye…..

I was filming this shrimp this week and as I was filming an extreme close-up of it’s head I started to see some amazing images. These shrimp are small, their body length about 3cm long, so you cannot see very much detail with your naked eye. And what made my discovery possible was the fact that it is mostly transparent. As I was watching my monitor I noticed an organ inside it’s body, just behind it’s eyes, that was pulsating.

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It was mesmerising, watching this little organ, inside a living body, in action. I had never noticed this before. And something that only video can show. I love Barb’s photos, but it’s good to show that video can show things no still image can…

I think that it is either it’s heart or it’s stomach. If someone knows, please can they let me know. I borrowed a friends Crustacean Anatomy book and it was inconclusive as to what it may be.

February ended, and that means it’s time for our monthly critter graph. It’s been another great month with plenty of fantastic critters on display.

And this week has been fantastic too. We saw another transparent larval-stage Moray Eel!!!! And this time Barb was on hand to get some photos. We also saw Ambon Scorpionfish, Leaf Scorpionfish, Spiny Devilfish, Raggy Scorpionfish, Stonefish, Pegasus Sea Moths, Helmut Gurnards, Cockatoo Flounder, Cockatoo Waspfish, Fingered Dragonets, Comets, Crocodile Flatheads, Zebra and Pinnate Batfish and Mandarinfish. There were Mimics, Wonderpus, Long Arm, Coconut and Day Octopus, as well as Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Broadclub Cuttlefish, Bob-Tail Squid, Pygmy Cuttlefish and Pygmy Squid. My list of crustaceans grows ever larger, with Rough-Tail Sponge Shrimp added, and there were Coleman Shrimp, Harlequin Crabs, Tiger Shrimp, Saron Shrimp, Donald Duck Shrimp, Zebra Crabs, Candy Crabs, Orang Utan Crabs, Crinoid Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobster, Squat Shrimp, Elegant Squat Lobster, Whip Coral Shrimp, Xeno Crabs, Xenia Crabs, Hairy Shrimp, Emperor Shrimp, Decorator Crabs, Snapping Shrimp, Paron Shrimp, Banded Coral Shrimp, Rock Shrimp and Porcelain Crabs. Seahorses included Pontohi, Severn’s and Pink and Yellow Bargabanti Pygmy Seahorses, Common, Estuary and Thorny Seahorses, Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish, Winged Pipefish, Double Ended Pipefish, Lembeh Pygmy Seadragons and several types of Pygmy Pipehorses. We also saw Painted, Giant, Crimson (Scarlet), Occellated (Coin Bearing), Warty and Hairy Frogfish. And lots of nudibranches and Sea Hares….a very good week…

Thanks to all our great guests from the UK (including Scotland – good to see you Jim), the States, France, Germany and Austria.

Click on the top or bottom photo-strip to see ALL of Barb’s great photos from this week.

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Yes, Barb and I are now both back at KBR. It has been a little while since I last wrote, and quite a bit has gone on…

After finishing our vacation, we both (and Neo, our cat, who came with us on holiday) came back to KBR.

Mark, KBR’s owner, had been at the resort while we had been away and he was starting on a big facelift for our over-the-water restaurant and Captain Billy’s Bar. As it had been a long time since anything major had happened, it was time to re-tile the restaurant and think about a slight re-adjustment of the space.

All the resort got involved, with the dive team helping the construction team in ripping up the old floor and preparing it for the new….

…now I was only there for a few days, as just a couple of days after getting back form vacation, I was off to Moscow for the Golden Dolphin Dive Show, the big dive expo in Russia. This was our 2nd year there and it was great to be back there, though it was disappointingly warm, only –10C to –15C.. last year it was –20C!!! Particular thanks go to Leonid and Elena, two of our guests from earlier this year, who took me out for a lovely Ukrainian meal. I never thought I would eat, let alone enjoy, cow tongue, but it was delicious… maybe helped by the copious amounts of vodka I accidently managed to imbibe..

So after a very cold 6 days in Moscow, I returned to KBR and it was great to see how much had gone on in my absence. Our restaurant is really rather large, so it takes time to completely re-tile everything. We also have three new chandeliers, an enclosed central section, and eventually we will have another restaurant upstairs in Capt. Billy’s Bar, where we will serve pizzas, burgers and more bar orientated food.

I haven’t managed to do a lot of diving since I got back, as I did bring the Russian Flu with me, and have also taught an Open Water Course, but Barb has been diving, so please enjoy her photos. Normal video service will be resumed next week.

The last week’s diving had been great. The undoubted highlight was Jony finding another transparent larval Moray Eel!! (Click here for the video of the previous one we saw). We also saw Blue Rings, Mimics, Wonderpus, Coconut and Long Arm Octopus. There are still plenty of Flamboyant Cuttlefish, as well as Pygmy and Broadclub Cuttlefish. Crustaceans have been fab with Urchin Bumble Bee Shrimp, Tiger Shrimp, Donald Duck Shrimp, Boxing Crabs, Tozeuma Shrimp, Carry Crabs, Candy Crabs, Emperor Shrimp, Snapping Shrimp, Whip Coral Shrimp, Xenia Crabs, Xeno Crabs, Orang Utan Crabs, Cleaner Shrimp, Porcelain Crabs, Mantis Shrimp, Decorator Crabs, Squat Shrimp, Hairy Squat Lobster, Hairy Shrimp, Crinoid Shrimp and many more. Frogfish have been varied, with Hairy, Crimson, Painted, Warty Occellated (Coin Bearing) and Randal’s. Seahorses have included Pontohi, Bargabanti and Denise Pygmy Seahorses, and Common, Estuary and Thorny Seahorses. There have also been lots of Pipefish, including some Winged and Mushroom Coral Pipefish, and we’ve seen Robust, Rough Snout, Halimeda and Ornate Ghost Pipefish. Lots of nudis, of course, with some more Solar Powered Nudis being seem. And there have been Ambon Scorpionfish, Pegasus Sea Moths, Leaf Scorpionfish, Waspfish, Spiny Devilfish, Zebra Batfish, Stargazers, Ribbon Eels, Fingered Dragonets, Stonefish, Flounders, Soles and many more…

Thanks to all our lovely guests from the UK, Germany, Japan and France. It’s been a great week, lovely weather and fantastic diving.

Enjoy all Barb’s photos from this week. Just click on the photo strip at the top all bottom of this blog to see them all.

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