18 new fish species in 1 day

2nd July 2008 proved an amazing phenomenon. Whatever happened (I only visited familiar dive sites - although the visibility was unusually good), it was a bumper day for new species to add to my checklist - over 5% of my total list added in three dives, 2 years after starting the initiative (now standing at a total of 329 species). This guy was one of them - Pomacentrus nagasakiensis, a plain little damselfish with an unique tail pattern, seen on Hanging Gardens off Gaya island.

The others were: the Cardinalfish Apogon sealei (apparently generally rare); Damselfishes Cheiloprion labiatus (puckered lips), Chrysiptera springeri (dazzlingly blue), Pomacentrus amboinensis (unobtrusive); Parrotfishes Chlorurus bleekeri (an Initial Phase morph), Chlorurus capistratoides (apparently unusually far north), Scarus dimidiatus (another Initial Phase fish); the Dartfish Ptereleotris evides (a gorgeous pair circling high above the reef); the Blenny Salarias obscurus (supposedly localised to the Philippines); my first Wormfish Gunnellichthys viridescens; Wrasses Halichoeres prosopeion (a Juvenile wildly different from its Adult morph), Hemigymnus fasciatus (a Juvenile, barred and buzzing round like a bumblebee), Labrichthys unilineatus (both Adult morphs with their tube-forming lips); Goatfish Mulloidichthys flavolineatus (not uncommon but always previously fleeing as my camera turned towards it); the Goby Oplopomus caninoides (the real one); Ghost pipefish Solenostomus cyanopterus (looking like a dead leaf); last but not least the Triggerfish Sufflamen chrysopterum (it's silhouette an angular mosaic of triangles).