Bali is famous for its surf beaches, Jogjakarta is famous for its ancient temple, but the Lembeh Strait, in North Sulawesi where we anchored for the past week, is famous for hairy marine critters! And so divers from all over the world come to “muck dive” across the volcanic black sand to see all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Here’s a quick rundown of the cool critters I spotted during my Lembeh Strait dive adventures:
Top of the list is the hairy frogfish – an anglerfish species that is super-camouflaged, and in these parts super-hairy! These two are likely a mating couple.
Next up is the aptly named orangutan crab:
Then we found a boxer crab, that has anemones instead of claws…
…and a spiny tiger shrimp lurking in the shallows!
And a whole bunch of amazing nudibranchs:
Including the Melide nudibranch, which had a head like a jellyfish that it projects out to catch prey!
And stacks more! Octopus, sea-urchins, cuttlefish, shrimps, crabs, sea-horses, crazy-looking fish…
…it’s easy to see why the Lembeh Strait is so famous for its muck-diving and hairy critters!
A big thanks to the Indonesian tourism staff, Erfinna and Eti, who looked after us so well during our stay, and shout outs to Froggies and Daniel’s Lagoon, the dive resorts I dived with. I recommend them both for future dive holidays.
As we were sailing away from Sulawesi toward Halmahera, a large earthquake and tsunami struck in Central Sulawesi. We are safe and sound, but media reports from the disaster zone have been grim. Please consider donating to the Red Cross or other similar organisations.
The Alpha Odyssey 
Incredible pictures!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLike
Great collection of hairy critters! Glad you are safe.
LikeLiked by 1 person