Hotlips and a purple sponge

20th September 2008 was a low visibility, somewhat tired kind of a day. I missed a photo of a new Angelfish to TARP - Centropyge vroliki - so I haven't yet added it to my Checklist; also an unusual Grouper and some kind of Pipefish which had disappeared by the time our dive leader could attract my attention. But lunch on Sapi island brought to the attention of my camera a pair of strange leaf-like fish in only a few centimetres of water which Gerry Allen later helped me to identify as a juvenile of Plectorhynchus gibbosus (better known as 'Harry hotlips'!) I also photographed a Wrasse new to me: Pteragogus cryptus, and the Rabbitfish Siganus corallinus, bringing me up to 377 fish species in the Park. (I also managed to replace my embarrassing splodge of a picture of Emperor Lethrinus erythropterus.)

As always in low vis, I fall back on close-ups such as this strikingly contrasted Comatulid Feather star on a purple sponge background, taken on the same day at Agil reef off Gaya island.

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Fairies & Fangs

A beautiful Boxfish (Family OSTRACIIDAE) - Ostracion cubicus; new to me in the Park back on 11th September this year at Hanging garden off Gaya island, this one being cleaned by a juvenile Cleaner wrasse. A couple of other new fishes too: the Damselfish Neopomacentrus azysron and Wrasse Macropharyngodon negrosensis taking me to a total of 374 species in the Park.

Thanks to Dr Hioyuki Tanaka too for help in identifying the Juvenile Fairy wrasse Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura with its little white nose spot. The day also saw access to better shots to update or add slight colour variations to Fangblenny Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos (the blue form which likes to mimic the Cleaner wrasse seen in today's picture), Goby Amblygobius hectori, Damselfish Hemiglyphidodon plagiometopon, Blenny Salarias obscurus, and the initial phase of Wrasse Labrichthys unilineatus.

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Cleaner shrimps & fish bombs

9th September 2008 saw this cleaner shrimp (Family PALAEMONIDAE, Genus Urocaridella) leave the resident Stingray in the tyres off the south side of Sapi island, and make his way hopefully towards my camera housing. Pretty. Pity about the poor visibility in the park though, which below 18 metres off Sapi got down to only 2 metres! Anyway, above that, it was a nice enough couple of dives involving a new Boxfish species, for my checklist. Including the return to Agil reef off the west end of Gaya island where I picked up a couple of new species of fish (more in a later blog), and some nicer photos of some rarer stuff previously seen, it turned out to be a productive day.

Incidentally, an alleged fish bomber was recently arrested in KK.