Photo by Rantje Allen
Photo by William Tan
Photo by Rantje Allen
Photo by William Tan
Photo by Rantje Allen
Sea sapphires are flashy planktonic crustaceans that appear and disappear. No one knew how they did it – until now. Suddenly Visible In Gorontalo waters on certain days, divers are ready to descend. They notice tiny flashes of color in the water column. The flashes look like chips of iridescent blue paint. Sometimes the color… Continue Reading
Fimbriated moray eels are seldom seen during daylight hours. Usually, they are hiding. Even more rare is a video of one swimming in its natural environment. Captured Live on Video During a dive in July 2015 a Fimbriated moray made a dash from one hiding place to another. This happened at Sand Castle dive site… Continue Reading
Thysanostoma thysanura is a large jellyfish rarely seen in Gorontalo waters. Bushy Oral Arms This large jellyfish lives in warm waters from the central Indo-Pacific to Japan. It was named in 1880. The Latin word thysanura means “bristle tails.” This name refers to the large, bushy oral arms that hang from the jellyfish’s central bell.… Continue Reading
Porcupine fish add to the diversity of marine life in Gorontalo. About twenty species of this unusual fish are found worldwide. Divers are most likely to encounter three of them in Gorontalo. Prickly Balls Porcupinefishes are similar to puffers. They have distinctive body spines. When threatened, they will ingest water. This dramatically increases their body… Continue Reading
Canthigaster bennetti flows in schools along Gorontalo reefs, forming a magic carpet. A Magic Carpet Canthigaster bennetti, commonly called Bennett’s toby, gather in Gorontalo in huge numbers. They gather to spawn. Swimming in coordinated streams, they fly along the reefs and walls like a magic carpet. Miguel’s Diving staff have observed this rare phenomenon many… Continue Reading
Crustacean identification guide Coral Reef Crustaceans is newly available at Apple’s iBooks Store. By a Diver for Divers Mr. Andrey Ryanskiy is the author of this interactive crustacean identification guide. He is a Moscow-based financial consultant. He and his wife Irina are avid underwater photographers. The book represents countless dives over six years. The goal… Continue Reading
A killer whale cruised Gorontalo waters on New Year’s Day. Killer Whale Sightings in Gorontalo Waters off most dive sites in Gorontalo plunge to hundreds of meters. These deep waters bring large cetaceans close to land. Miguel’s Diving staff have discovered the ocean paths that large sea creatures use. One is along Olele Village Marine… Continue Reading
Basket stars can be observed on night dives in Gorontalo. Symmetrical Beauty Basket stars are beautiful marine invertebrates. Starfish and brittle stars are their distant relatives. They have a central disk and arms branching from it. The arms are many times the diameter of the central disk, which looks small in comparison. The number of… Continue Reading
Side gilled sea slugs are a delight to find during night diving in Gorontalo. Nocturnal Sea Slugs Nudibranchs usually have their gills exposed on the top of their bodies. But side gilled sea slugs have large plume-like gills tucked between the mantle and the foot. The gills are usually on the right side. They mostly… Continue Reading
That tumbling mass is really sea hare mating! Imagine the surprise of divers looking for critters at Sand Castle, one of Gorontalo’s muck diving sites. On the sand in shallow water were masses that looked like sea weeds, rocking back and forth in the gentle surge. In fact, there were patches of algae on the… Continue Reading
