• Photo by Rantje Allen

  • Photo by William Tan

  • Photo by Rantje Allen

  • Photo by William Tan

  • Photo by Rantje Allen

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Category Archives: Sulawesi Diving

Flower urchin trembles with danger

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Flower urchin looks like a lovely ball of trembling flowers. However, those flowers contain highly toxic venom. This sea urchin’s maximum diameter is about 15 centimeters. It lives in areas of sand and rubble along coral reefs. It also inhabits areas of sea grass.

Beauty to Avoid

flower urchin
Flower urchin hiding in the reef

Although commonly known as the Flower urchin, the scientific name of this echinoderm is Toxopneustes pileolus. The genus name Toxopneustes means “poison breath.” And “skullcap” is the meaning of pileolus, the species name. These names underscore the creature’s deadly possibilities.

Its toxins can cause a number of symptoms. These include breathing problems, muscular paralysis, and numbness. Such effects can render the victim disoriented. The combination can result in accidental drowning. Initial contact gives the victim an extremely painful shock. Then numbness and spasms start to travel through the body from the point of contact. Happily, accidental contact with this sea urchin is extremely rare.

Deceptive Flowers

Various projections cover a Flower urchin’s exposed surface. The most noticeable are the flower-like pedicellariae. These colorful appendages are actually jaws. Each jaw has three prongs. Moreover, the flower-like jaws have sensors that detect contact or proximity movement to the sea urchin. Any touch will trigger the jaws to contract. Then the jaws inject venom. To make matters worse, once the jaws are triggered, they can easily break free from the sea urchin. That means they stay embedded and will continually inject venom for several hours.

The flowers of this sea urchin can appear a pinkish or yellowish white. There will be a single lavender dot in the middle. These false flowers typically cover the short spines of the urchin.   

On the underside of the Flower urchin are double rows of tubular feet. These emerge along the ten segments of the urchin’s shell. In the center is the creature’s mouth, which contains five plates. These plates function as teeth that crunch food. Sea urchins forage along the bottom on algae, bryozoans and detritus. With the mouth facing the substrate, the anus faces the water column and any curious passing diver.

Flower Urchin Piled with Debris

To observe a Flower urchin, divers must keep a safe distance. Careful observation of the surface of this creature shows thin, translucent, and waving appendages that are longer that the trembling flowers of the urchin. These appendages are tubular feet that end in three claws. These are used to clear the urchin’s surface of debris.

Toxopneustes pileolus
Appendages of Toxopneustes pileolus

However, the urchin also uses these tubular feet to move debris from the substrate onto its top and sides. Scientists call this covering or heaping behavior. The tubular feet keep debris in place. The function or purpose of this behavior remains a mystery. Because divers think that a small heap of debris is simply rubble, most flower urchins remain unnoticed.

In the rare instances when we see a Flower urchin, our dive masters will warn guests first and then carefully show the beautiful creature. Afterwards, the dive master will use his stick to move debris on top of the urchin. This helps the urchin but also prevents accidental contact by anyone else passing by.

To dive with such caring dive masters, please make your trip reservations directly with Miguel’s Diving.  

Beach Clean Up 2023

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Beach Clean Up 2023 took place on this year’s International Whale Shark Day. That date was the twenty-seventh of August. The provincial government organized the event at Botubarani Village in Bone Bolango Regency. The location is about twenty minutes from the center of Gorontalo City.

Local Diving Community in Action

In additional to trash removal along the coastline, the government sponsored underwater activities. Over forty local divers participated. Miguel’s Diving staff of five dive masters composed one of the teams. Each team received a couple of used, large rice sacks to collect trash found underwater.

beach clean up 2023
Coral ready for transplantation

In addition, each team received broken corals found at adjacent sites along with ties. Team members tied the coral to a row of bicycles that have been part of an artificial reef. These bicycles sit in a sandy area between coral pinnacles.  

Beach Clean Up 2023

Gorontalo dive pioneer and Miguel’s Diving staff Rantje was asked to address the officials overseeing the event. In his remarks, he recounted how the beach clean up 2023 was the latest in an annual series. Year by year, the amount of trash found has decreased.

Looking at the ocean surface that day, he challenged official to see any floating plastic. There was none, even though Beach Clean Up 2023 had not started. This points to the growing awareness of locals to place trash in designed bins. Clearly, no one had thrown trash into the ocean recently.

Local media interviewed Mr. Aryanto Husain, Head of Gorontalo Provincial Tourism Department. He emphasized that this event “improves the attractiveness for both international and national visitors.”

Miguel's Diving staff
Miguel’s Diving staff in action

Additional Activities

In addition to trash pick up above and below the water, Beach Clean Up 2023 included an underwater photo competition. Photos taken served as documentation of the effort. Also, children enjoyed a coloring contest.

Best of all, ladies from Botubarani village had a special area where they sold local food. One favorite is yellow rice, wrapped in a banana leaf.

This year’s event occurred in late August, at the worst of wave season here. Diving season in Gorontalo is from November to April. So, please make your dive reservations directly with Miguel’s Diving. We have been keeping the underwater world here clean for your enjoyment!   

DXI2023 marks Miguel’s Diving return

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DXI2023 or DEEP EXTREME 2023 marks Miguel’s Diving return to Indonesia’s prestigious diving expo. Other adventure sports are also represented there.

Joint Promotion with Tourism Department

Gorontalo Provincial Tourism Department invited Miguel’s Diving to join its booth. We are most grateful for their support. The booth location was D10. Two of Miguel’s Diving staff attended DXI2023. They were Yunis Amu and Maman Abdullah. Other dive staff remained in Gorontalo to take guests diving.

As in many previous years, DEEP EXTREME Indonesia 2023 held its exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center. The dates were June 1 to 4. The expo combines scuba diving with extreme sports, such as rock climbing. It is now the largest expo of its kind in Southeast Asia. At DXI2023, Miguel’s Diving offered a discount dive packages exclusively to visitors to our booth.

our dive boats
Our custom-built dive boats

We also promoted our custom-built speed boats. The larger one holds a maximum of fourteen divers. It comes complete with a marine toilet. The smaller speed boat can hold eight divers, but we prefer to limit the capacity to six guests plus dive masters. Both boats provide canopies for complete coverage from the sun. We built both specifically for divers rather than renovate boats built for fishing. No one else offering diving in our area has the facilities that we have.

Friends Old & New

The Gorontalo booth for DXI2023 contained a variety of underwater photographs from Gorontalo. Gorontalo is a great place for underwater photos, whether wide angle or macro.

After taking a pause from diving since 2020, many divers wish to return to Gorontalo for our great diving. The Jakarta dive show was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with longtime friends and to make new ones.

Mr. Fadel Muhammad vists

One visitor to our booth was our representative to parliament, Mr. Fadel Muhammad. He is Wakil Ketua MPR for the current period. He will be up for re-election in 2024.

If you could not meet us in person, please book your dive trip with us.

Leopard sea cucumber self-mutilates

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Leopard sea cucumber is a beautiful creature of the ocean floor. However, divers should avoid touching its sensitive body.

Spotted Beauty

The Leopard sea cucumber lives in the eastern Indian and the western Pacific oceans. In the areas we dive in Gorontalo, it can only be found dependably at a single dive site. This sea cucumber lives in sandy areas, flanked by coral reef. Researchers say that it lives from three to almost forty meters deep. We usually find it between 15 and 18 meters here.

Leopard spots
Close-up of spots

Although research claims it can grow to 60 centimeters, those in Gorontalo measure only half of that length. Divers can easily identify the Leopard cucumber. Its spotted pattern is distinctive and unmistakable. The tubular body is grey but sprinkled with random rows spots. These spots are orange and edged in brown.

Avoid Touching

Leopard sea cucumber is highly sensitive. It considers touching, grabbing, or lifting to be a threat. When threatened, it will eject white strings. These elongate in sea water. They also become sticky. Scientists consider this behavior to be defensive.

These white strings are called Cuverian tubes after the French zoologist who first studied them. They are naturally attached to the sea cucumber’s interior respiratory system. When the Leopard cucumber feels threatened, it will contract its body muscles. This contraction is so great that it tears the cucumber’s interior. The contraction forces Cuverian tubes out of its anus. In this way, it self-mutilates.

Leopard sea cucumber
A Leopard sea cucumber sits undisturbed

The Leopard sea cucumber can regrow its tubes. However, this takes several weeks. So, divers should avoid touching this sea cucumber. The tubes contain toxins, which can cause skin irritation in humans. Interestingly enough, researchers are using toxins from the Leopard sea cucumber in cancer research.

Leopard Sea Cucumber in Ecology

This sea cucumber has several rows of tubular feet on its underside. It moves slowly across the sandy bottom. While doing so, it ingests sand and anything the sand contains. In this way, all sea cucumbers clean the ocean floor of detritus and other waste materials.

Moreover, its own waste is beneficial to coral growth. After internal digestion, it excretes calcium carbonate and ammonia along with clean sand.

Home for a Fish

Pearl fish live inside of some Leopard sea cucumbers. The fish’s scientific name is Carapus mourlani. It enters and exits the cucumber via the anus, usually tail first. A scientific study in Indonesia of Bohadschia argus, the official name for the Leopard sea cucumber, found fifteen pearl fish living inside a single cucumber!

Sometimes an Emperor shrimp will be living on the sea cucumber’s surface.

For your chance to see this beautiful creature in Gorontalo, please make your dive reservations directly with Miguel’s Diving.  

Thylacodes grandis captures plankton in its net

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Thylacodes grandis, or the Grand Worm Sail, uses mucous like a net to capture plankton. Its beautiful batik-patterned head is unmistakable.

Grand Worm Snails in the Reef

Thylacodes grandis
The batik-patterned head of Thylacodes grandis

Worm snails are a family of marine molluscs. They live in long tubes rather than the usual coiled chambers of other snails. Worm snail tubes are irregular. Grand worm snails in Gorontalo measure about seven to ten centimeters in height. A worm snail will grow its tube from a hard substrate on the reef. Sometimes, a Grand worm snail will live separated from other marine life. More often, it will grow up among various corals with only its head above. Since these worm snails are long lived, hard corals can grow on the tubes.

Grand worm snails live in all Gorontalo’s coral dive sites. However, divers can easily overlook them. Most distinctive about this species is its lack of a cap. Also known as an operculum, the cap shuts the tube from the top, thus protecting the worm snail inside. Because it lacks this cap, the Grand worm snail’s head is exposed for divers to see. It has a distinctive maze of white to golden lines over a dark background. This background can be black to deep maroon. It resembles batik. Also apparent are the creature’s fleshy horns. When a diver approaches, the Grand worm snail will duck its head down into its tube.

Fishing with Mucous

Grand worm snail
Grand worm snail fishing

Worm snails gather food by producing mucous steams. Their gills create a slight current. This current sends plankton, that floats in the water column, into its sticky mucous. A careful diver can watch as the Grand worm snail rotates its head and draws its mucous net into its mouth.

An easy way to search for worm snails in Gorontalo is simply to look for the mucous strands floating above the reef. The most common worm snail here is Dendropoma maxima. It grows from inside massive coral heads, often in groups. Since this species has a dark cap, divers can easily distinguish it from Thylacodes grandis. Grand worm snails in Gorontalo typically live below fifteen meters.

Thylacodes grandis and other names

Some older resources give the scientific name as Serpulorbis grandis. This is not an accepted name. Vermetus grandis is another unaccepted name associated with the Grand worm snail. Taxonomic work done in 2005 and 2006 has yet to be harmonized. However, there are over forty confirmed species in the Thylocodes genus. These include two new species, one in 2017 and another in 2018. The most beautiful and photogenic worm snail in Gorontalo is indeed Thylacodes grandis.

To see a Grand worm snail in action, please make your dive reservations directly with Miguel’s Diving.

Twenty-year anniversary T-shirt

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Twenty-year anniversary souvenir T-shirts are now available for purchase. Miguel’s Diving opened in 2003. So, we celebrate our twentieth dive season in style.

The Early Years

After surveying the Gorontalo area for about two years, we decided to open diving. The dive sites we discovered were spectacular. Mr. Rantje, our pioneer staff, tells the story of his first dive from the shore. At the end of the dive, he encountered a pod of False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens). Large cetaceans remain part of the marine environment in Gorontalo. Last month in December 2022, staff spotted a male orca (Orcinus orca) surfacing twice while divers were below.

Twenty-year anniversary
2022 dive staff in new T-shirts

In the early years, Gorontalo lagged in development. It had recently become a separate province from North Sulawesi. That happened on 5 December 2000. Only an occasional flight from Manado was available by prop plane. Limited internet required dial-up. Cell phone towers were not yet built. Neither were any star-rated facilities. Surprisingly, the bentor had yet to be invented!  

Big Steps along the Way

In 2006 with funding from Gorontalo’s first Indonesian governor, Bapak Fadel Muhammad, Miguel’s Diving published the coffee table book Gorontalo: Hidden Paradise. There was also an Indonesian version called Gorontalo: Surga yang Tersembunyi. At that time, the dive center ordered its first custom-built speed boat.

In 2009, the company purchased the last remaining empty land on the Bone River. This location would provide a safe location to dock our boats. Also, it provided direct access to the ocean. During the following years, we would build the first floor of the dive center and a private dock. In 2012, a second-floor apartment was added. Miguel’s Diving added its large, second speed boat in the same year.  

tshirt
Back of 20th anniversary t-shirt

Over time, Miguel’s Diving staff helped establish the Olele Village Marine Reserve. It opened in 2007. Local government and villagers worked together to safeguard the wonderful dive sites there.

Twenty-year Anniversary

The fall of 2022 marks Miguel’s Diving twentieth dive season. Dive season in Gorontalo is from November to April. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we are still operating. Our great staff have maintained all our facilities. In fact, they renovated both speed boats for our twentieth season. Also, in celebration of our twenty-year anniversary, we have new souvenir T-shirts. These can be purchased directly at the dive center.

To celebrate our twentieth season, please make your reservations to dive with us at Miguel’s Diving.  

Echinaster callosus delights divers with bands of color

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Echinaster callosus, or the Banded bubble starfish, delights any diver who spies it. Its colorful bands of bubbles distinguishes it from all other sea stars.

A Distinctive Appearance

echinaster callosus
A Bubble banded starfish at Otje Garden dive site

As with other sea star species

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, Echinaster callosus has five arms. Its central disc is small and its arms cylindrical. However, its upper surface is covered with warts or bubbles that protrude. Their color varies from yellow to pink to purple. Also, the bubbly warts near the center begin to form bubbly bands of white closer to the arm tips.

Moreover, each arm tip has an eyespot for sensing, as well as a cluster of suckers.

Its maximum diameter is about 25 centimeters. This lovely starfish is found throughout tropical Indo-Pacific waters, although it is not commonly seen anywhere.

Despite its distinctive appearance, this starfish easily blends into Gorontalo’s coral rich marine environments. Divers should look between five and thirty meters to find it.  

As with other sea stars, the mouth of this species is underneath its central disc. Small hairs move food to its mouth. Scientists say the Banded bubble sea star eats small invertebrates that it finds on surfaces or the sea floor.

The Surprising Feel of Echinaster callosus

Like most sea stars

, Echinaster callosus is safe to touch. A diver who carefully touches a Banded bubble star will immediately sense the soft bubbles and bands. However, that diver will also feel rows of sharp spines among the bubbles.

Detail of Echinaster callosus

These spines are pedicellariae. On the Banded bubble star

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, they are tiny and retractable. They are yellow green in color. A pedicellaria is basically a jaw with muscles and sensory organs. It is shaped like a tiny wrench or claw at the end of a spine. Scientists have not done much study of the function of pedicellariae.  

Predators and Reproduction

Both Giant triton shells (Charonia tritonis) and Harlequin shrimps (Hymenocerta picta) feed on Banded bubble stars. In fact

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, the sea star in the detailed photo only had three of its five arms. The other two had been eaten!

Like other sea stars

, Echinaster callosus can regenerate from a single arm.  However, this starfish also reproduces sexually. Embryos hatch into larvae and float with other planktonic sea life. As they mature, they grow five distinctive arms and settle to the sea floor.  

For your chance to see a Banded bubble star in Gorontalo, please make your dive reservations directly with Miguel’s Diving.  

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Bodianus dictynna thrives in Gorontalo

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Bodianus dictynna is commonly found in Gorontalo’s coral rich reefs. This species was scientifically described in 2006. Since it is only found in the Pacific Ocean, the common name is Pacific Diana hogfish.

One Goddess, Two Species

For decades, divers and fish enthusiasts thought that there was only a single species of Diana hogfish. However, based on Dr. Martin F. Gomon’s extensive research, populations were separated in 2006. The Diana hogfish in the Indian Ocean remain Bodianus diana, whereas the newly named Bodianus dictynna lives in the Pacific Ocean. Both are very similar in appearance. So

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, the best way to recognize the species is simply by location.

Bodianus dictynna
Bodianus dictynna with a Salvador Dali sponge

Both Latin word diana and dictynna refer to the Roman goddess Diana. She was the moon goddess and famous huntress. The genus name Bodianus comes from a Portuguese word that means modesty. As a result of Gomon’s research

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, scientists now recognize 45 species of Bodianus. These are found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans.

Bodianus dictynna in Gorontalo

The Pacific Diana hogfish lives in warm

, tropical waters. It lives as far north and south as Japan and Australia. Its eastern boundary is Tonga. No one knows yet how the recent volcanic explosion there will affect fish life. For unknown reasons

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, this hogfish species is rare in the central Pacific plate.

As to habitat, Bodianus dictynna prefers coral reefs. Juveniles frequent black corals and gorgonians. The juveniles also like the ceilings of underwater caverns. So

, Gorontalo’s Jinn Caves dive site is a great place to search for this fish.

Divers should note that juveniles have a color pattern distinct from adults. Juveniles have a maroon and white maze pattern with distinctive black spots. These spots are on both ventral and dorsal fins as well as on the tail’s end. A terminal phase male sports a large black spot on the end of his dorsal fin. Also, he will have a black spot on mid anal and pelvic fins.

Adults eat molluscs and crustaceans. Juveniles eat parasites off the skin of other fish. Adults mate in pairs.

For your chance to see a Pacific Diana hogfish in Gorontalo, please make your dive reservations directly with Miguel’s Diving.  

    

Green turtle pays a visit to Gorontalo reefs

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Green turtle is a species only occasionally seen along Gorontalo’s dense coral reefs. Adult green turtles are strictly vegetarian and so live near sea grass flats. Those seen at Gorontalo dive sites are migrating between sea grass areas in western Gorontalo to those in North Sulawesi Province. Divers will usually see Hawksbill turtles here.

Green Turtle Identification

green turtle on reef
The beautiful shell pattern of Green turtle

Both Green and Hawksbill turtles have similar appearances. However, certain features help identify both species. Green turtles have a single pair of large scales between their eyes. These are called prefrontal scales. Hawksbills have two pairs of small scales. Also, a hawksbill turtle has a distinctive hook on its beak, whereas a green turtle will have a rounded beak. Green turtles have smooth shells with smooth edges, whereas a hawksbill’s shell edges will be clearly serrated

, especially towards the tail. Lastly, an adult Green turtle has a single claw on each front flipper, whereas a Hawksbill turtle will have two. Oftentimes, the shell of a green turtle will be highly polished with visible patterning.

Worldwide

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, Green turtles can grow up to a meter and a half in length. Also , they can weigh up to 400 kilograms. Those found in Indonesia are usually no longer than one meter.

Although baby green turtles eat a variety of things, adults shift to a plant diet. That means they eat mainly sea grass and marine algae. The common name green turtle comes from the fact that the fat found under this turtle’s shell is distinctively green in color. Scientists suspect the color is a result of the vegetarian diet. Also, this turtle’s scientific name is Chelonia mydas.

Moreover, should a diver notice the tail of a Green turtle, that turtle will be male. Only a male’s tail is long enough to protrude from under its shell.  

Breathing in Sea Turtles

Divers know that sea turtles spend most of their lives underwater. However, they must breathe oxygen from the air. While traveling to dive sites in Gorontalo

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, guests might notice when a turtle’s head breaks the surface. One breath is enough to exhale stale air and replace it with fresh air. A green turtle will dive for about four to five minutes. Then it will surface for a couple of seconds to catch a breath. Divers should never interfere with sea turtles while trying to breathe. Sea turtles will sleep in a safe place. During sleep, respiration slows considerably.

Nesting Sea Turtles

turtle on the reef
Pausing on a Gorontalo reef

A female sea turtle will reach forty to sixty years in age before laying her first eggs. Breeding females will lay eggs every two years. They will lay these every two to three weeks. They lay 50 to 150 eggs each time.

The temperature of the sand determines the sex of the hatchlings. Research on green turtles find that higher temperatures produce males

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, whereas lower temperatures produce females. Scientists worry that rising ocean temperatures from climate change will result in too few female green turtles.

A female sea turtle will crawl onto a sandy beach at night. Then she will dig a hole to lay eggs and recover them. Scientists believe they return to the beach of their birth to lay eggs.

Baby turtles will hatch about two months of incubation. They will usually hatch about the same time. Then they crawl as quickly as possible to the sea. Many predators from birds to large fish eat baby sea turtles. The chances of surviving to adulthood are very small. Humans still collect eggs and hunt sea turtles. This is illegal in Indonesia.

Although land turtles can pull head and flippers inside the shell

, sea turtles cannot.

For your chance to see a green turtle in Gorontalo, please make your dive reservations directly with Miguel’s Diving.  

Bornella anguilla Spotted in Gorontalo

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Bornella anguilla is an unusual nudibranch that sports a mosaic pattern on it skin. Numerous branches grow from its body. Its colors include brown, orange, and tan.

A Rare Find

Bornella anguilla eating
Bornella anguilla ready to eat hydroids

At the end of a dive at Gorontalo’s Otje Garden dive site, a dive master showed guests a most unusual nudibranch. It was busy munching on hydroids, its mouth parts clearly open. Eager underwater photographers took their chance to take shots. Miguel’s Diving staff confess they see this nudibranch less than once a year.

Bornella anguilla, the Eel Bornella nudibranch  

In 1984, this unusual nudibranch received its official name when Johnson submitted his research. Its scientific name reflects its distinct ability to swim like an eel. Anguilla means eel in Latin. Other Bornella species of nudibranch can swim as well. However, they flex their bodies from side to side to generate motion. In this way, they swim sideways. Bornella anguilla creates a muscular wave that moves down its body. In this way, it swims head first in an eel-like manner. While swimming, its rhinophores and cerata lay down for better streamlining.

Bornella anguilla is found throughout the Indo-West Pacific region. However, divers have also seen it in the Indian Ocean. It can grow up to eight centimeters in length. That means it can be rather large for a nudibranch.

Unusual Body Structure

This species of nudibranch has an unusual body structure.

Below the twin rhinophores on its head are its eyes. Although the eyes of most nudibranchs are hard to see, those of this nudibranch are distinct. They look blue or black, depending on the angle. Can you spot the eye in the close-up photo? Rhinophores are sensory organs that detect chemical scents in the water. The eyes measure light and darkness.

Most remarkable are the numerous branches growing from the body. These are called cerata. A pair of them grow around the brown rhinophores. This helps protect the sense organs from predators that can nibble a replaceable cerata instead.

Bornella anguilla close up
Close-Up of Bornella anguilla

Another unusual feature of this nudibranch are its gills. Most nudibranchs sport a cluster of gills near its dorsal rear and look like a small tree. On this nudibranch, the gills are distributed along the dorsal side of the body and protrude from the various branches that grow there. They look like mostly transparent feathers that poke from a cerata. These are visible in the close-up photo.

To dive in Gorontalo with dive masters skilled at spotting unusual marine life, please make your dive reservations with Miguel’s Diving.

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