The beautiful, the ugly, the colourful and the camouflaged.
It's not much of a surprise to find the fish of Lembeh are as diverse and exotic as all the other little critters. Fish that hunt with their own fishing rods. Fish that can tell the time, only appearing at a certain hour. Big fish and little fish, they all have a home in the black volcanic sand.
Fish of Lembeh
There are a plethora of fish species in Lembeh. Many fascinating and, to us, totally foreign, and therefore, all the more alluring.
These are the Banggai cardinal fish. They are an endangered fish and much beloved of the aquarium trade. Found only in the Banggai Islands naturally, they were accidentally released in Lembeh in 2000 when some escaped from a ship carrying aquarium fish. They have bred successfully here and are numerous.
Frogfish
Frogfish are the epitome of ugly is beautiful. They appear almost grotesque in their appearance with globular bodies, tiny eyes and a down turned mouth. The mouth can expand to the width of the fish to catch prey. Look closer and you appreciate the beauty and highly adapted skills of these strange looking fish.
Frogfish take on the colour of their surroundings. The camouflage is further enhanced by filaments and warty protrusions which break up their outline. Frogfish walk across the sea floor and on occasion force water out of the gills as a jet propulsion for jumping.
They are aggressive predators. During our trip a fellow photographer took a picture of a frogfish trying to swallow a fish twice it's size! It swallowed the fish head first and then spat it out and tried again. The end of the encounter was not witnessed but it is likely the frogfish bit off more than it could swallow.
On several occasions we saw small frogfish hunt bigger fish of different types; flounder. banggai cardinal fish, gobies. They stalked the prey with their lure out acting as a tempting morsel.
They strike with lightening speed when the prey is close enough, often jumping quite high to make the strike and more often successful than not.
Each frogfish has a modified first dorsal fin that acts as a fishing rod to attract prey. This is made up of a rod or illicium and a tuft acting as the bait or esca. The rod is moved in a way to make the bait come alive, dancing like a small fish or crustacean, drawing prey to within striking distance.
Once the fish is lured within striking distance the jaws extends forward and the mouth balloons to 12 times its normal volume, creating a massive suction force pulling the prey into the mouth.
Below is a sequence of pictures of a striking frogfish eating a banggai cardinal fish The sequence is shot at 5 frames per second. The prey was caught and swallowed in 7 frames.
Freckled frogfish
The hairy or striated frogfish is distinguished by its shaggy appearance consisting of hairy protruberances all over the body.
There is also a faint striping pattern to the underlying scales. It may be black or more commonly a pale golden colour. When resting the eye is dull and hidden behind the hairy fronds but in this picture the fronds stand erect and the eye shines like a beacon as the frogfish tries to lure the prey closer by dangling his built in fishing rod.
Mandarin Fish
The mandarinfish or mandarin dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus), is a small, brightly colored member of the dragonet family. They live in the coral rubble and are rarely seen except when they emerge to mate which happens at dusk and lasts for approximately 30 minutes.
You can be excused for thinking there is a alarm clock buried in there somewhere, so regular and predictable are they in their timing. In the low light the cameras have difficulty focusing and torches chase them away, making photography very challenging but equally, as you can see from this beautiful shot, very rewarding and well worth the effort.
The male and female attach at the pelvic fin and swim up to the top of the reef where they release eggs and sperm in a cloud. They then part and return to the reef rubble. They don't have scales but instead are coated in a smelly mucous which deters disease and predators. Scorpion fish are perhaps their biggest predators, but man is also a major threat because of their popularity in the aquarium trade.
Jaw Fish
Jawfish (Opistognathus) spend most of their time in their burrows, which they dig in the sand using their powerful jaws. Each burrow has two entrances for access and escape. They rarely venture far from their burrows and will quickly disappear into their underground homes if they sense the slightest bit of danger. If the entrances become blocked they quickly dig through by taking the sand into the mouth and spitting it out at the entrance, which is captured in this shot.
These fish are mouth brooders which means they hatch their eggs in their mouths where the small fry are protected from predators. Even when they do venture out of the parents mouth, any threat send them scuttling back in for safety. You tend to wonder how many are accidentally swallowed! We searched high and low for a brooding fish to photograph but for now that's still on the wish list.
Gobies
Whipcoral goby
Gobies are the largest fish family with over 1500 species. They are small bottom dwellers and average 5 cms in length. They are usually brightly coloured which explains their attraction for underwater photographers. Some live in association with invertebrates such as soft corals. sponges or molluscs such as giant clams. Whipcords are frequent hosts for a tiny goby which zooms up and down its host with lightening speed.
Different colours and patterns often reflect the host for better camouflage.
Others, such as the dart gobies, live in pairs in a burrow. The partner goby, a burrow dweller, lives in association with a blind shrimp. Although there are many species of partner goby, each seems to live with a specific species of shrimp.
This picture shows a thistle coral goby (Pleurosicya bolginghi) which lives on a specific type of soft coral. The red lattice in the coral is formed by spiny calcium spicules.
Partner goby
Thistle coral goby
Leather coral goby
Starfish goby
Neon pygmygoby, Eviota pellucida
Anemone Fish
Tomato anemone fish
Ever since Finding Nemo the anemone fish has been a firm favourite with everyone from 2 year old toddlers to the most experienced underwater photographer. They never fail to entrance with their cute antics and photogenic poses, shyly peeping out around the anemone tentacles or darting and confronting the lens with big attitude.
Anemone fish are closely related to damsel fish and live in symbiosis with actinian anemones. They coat themselves with a mucus which provides protection against the anemones sting.
One anemone may shelter a single fish, but more commonly 2 or more anenomefish will share the same territory.
If threatened the anemone fish hide in the anemone and the stinging tentacles provide protection from predators. Despite this security the anemone fish is no coward and will vigorously defend its anemone, nipping unwary photographers who venture too close.
Anemone fish can change gender. There is only 1 female per anemone and she prevents any males from changing into females by secreting hormones which inhibit the gender change in the male. If the female dies the dominant male becomes the next matriarch.
Anemone fish generally lay their eggs on or near the mantle of the anemone and then become zealous guards of the next generation.
Nose striped anemone fish
Eels
Male Ribbon eel
The ribbon eel (Rhinomuraena quaesita) is found throughout the Indo - Pacific. This ribbon eel came out of its hole at night allowing us to photograph it against a perfect black background.
Ribbon eels also undergo gender change The juveniles are black with a yellow edge.
As they mature they change into the male colours of brilliant blue with yellow edging the jaw and snout. In the last phase of life the colour becomes predominantly yellow which denotes the female sex. The females are said to live for only about 2 weeks before they die but longer survival of at least 3 months has been observed on a reef in Sodwana Bay, South Africa by the local dive operators. The short life span of the female probably explains their relative scarcity compared to the more colourful males.
Female form (top) and transitioning between male and female (below)
Fimbriated moray eel, Gymnothorax fimbriatus
Black finned snake eel, Ophichthus melanocir, with commensal shrimp, Acyclomenes magnificus
The snake eels are generally found buried in the sand with just the snout showing as they are ambush predators. Not uncommonly a brave little shrimp can be found dancing on top of his nose. This is the magnificent shrimp and acts as a cleaner. Still he has to move around sharpish to avoid becoming a snack.
Scorpion fish
Demon Stinger or Indian Ocean Walkman
Half buried in the black sand he waits patiently for prey to walk past
The volcanic sand of the Lembeh straits is littered with scorpionfish. They are very well camouflaged and highly venomous. The dorsal spines can inject a potentially lethal doses of toxin to an unwary diver or another fish foolish enough to try and eat one.
The brighter coloured scorpionfish signal their toxicity with vivid colours to ward off potential predators.
Scorpionfish lie in ambush for passing prey, striking with lightning speed and can lie in ambush for hours or days. Because of this their skin may be colonized by parasites, hydroids and other animals. To protect themselves from colonisation some species of scorpionfish have lost their scales and secrete mucous which produces a protective barrier. This is then shed periodically
Small scale scorpion fish
All the fronds and protuberances help him blend into the background but when lit up he has vibrant red tones.
Devil Scorpionfish or False Stonefish
The underside of the pectoral fins are bright yellow and orange when displayed or flashed as a warning. It displays bioluminescence and when illuminated by blue or ultraviolet light it emits it as red.
Cockatoo Waspfish
This tiny scorpionfish ambushes prey by mimicking a dead leaf
Ambon scorpionfish, Pteroidicthys amboinensis
This weird local scorpionfish has numerous skin flaps and filaments, including 2 above each eye. When at rest these droop across the face to further camouflage the fish ( and make it impossible to shoot). They can made wide changes to their colour and the venom is highly toxic and may be fatal to humans.
Juvenile spotfin lionfish
Lionfish are members of the scorpion fish family. Unlike other members of the scorpion fish family they do not lie on the reef or burrow into the sand, they tend to drift in the water close to the reef waiting for prey to move. The dorsal fins are tipped with venomous spines and will deliver a nasty sting but they often line up next to the divers at night and hunt by their torchlight.
Juvenile zebra dwarf lionfish
As juveniles lion fish have lighter, opalescent colours and almost transparent fins which gives beautiful luminance especially when shot at night against a black background