This Week in Lembeh … all Critters have Eggs in Lembeh, and sometimes it takes a camera to spot them!
Have you ever reviewed your dive photos only to notice something in your photos that you completely missed in person? That is one of the many reasons I enjoy underwater photography so much: it allows you to see things post-dive that may not be easily apparent to the naked eye.
Take the Hairy Shrimp, for example: if you have ever encountered one of these tiny gems you know how hard they are to see at a mere 6mm. And have you ever looked to see if your Hairy Shrimp has eggs? One of our returning guests, Dymphna, was skilled enough with her new camera to capture just that this week! Such an awesome capture allowed us to continue the exploration process post-dive, as we zoomed on the image and ogled over the Hairy Shrimp’s eggs!
Mouth-brooders are another amazing subject that Lembeh has to offer. The next time you find yourself near a cluster of Banggai Cardinalfish, ask your dive guide to point out any that might have their mouth full of eggs, or better yet, recently hatched fry! Though most species of young Cardinalfish are “spit out” soon after hatching, the male Banggai Cardinalfish provides shelter for his offspring for a few weeks after they hatch. When prompted, the Lembeh dive guides will share stories of watching the fry swimming in and out of their father’s mouth. What an incredible sight to see!
The abovementioned animals are only two of the many, many animals we’ve been seeing with eggs this week! One guest, Volker, was able to capture so many photos of animals with eggs, that it became an on-going joke around the resort. By the end of his two week stay at Two Fish Lembeh he had taken photos of Zebra Crabs, Pom-Pom Crabs, Porcelain Crabs, multiple species of Cardinalfishes, Jawfish, Peacock Mantis Shrimp, numerous Nudibranch and even an Octopus (!), all carrying or laying eggs.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to witness mouth-brooders or egg-layers in action, make sure you request some sightings next time you visit Two Fish Lembeh. And if you already have, please share your favorite photos below!
(photo credit: TFD Guide Frankli Muhaling)
Volker, Jill, Robin, Angela, Davide and Dymphna: I’d love to see some of your “Animal with Eggs” photos!
Fab pic
Awesome!
no problem!
Thanks for throwing together such an awesome video, Volker! Stay tuned for posting…
I have’nt 🙁 Robyn
Zebra Crab…. With eggs!!!!
Beautiful photo!!!
What about Manderinfish eggs???
Ha! So cool!!! I love it 🙂
Handle bar mustache nudi with eggs ?
An absolutely fantastic shot! (and an even better name!)
Eggs found when reviewing the photos after the dive!
Empty nester 🙁
Hilarious!…
Lol, I thought you’d like that 🙂
Needs 4 hands to hold!
I wonder how many of those survive thru their planktonic phase to settle on the reef? By the looks of it, there should be a LOT more Peacock Mantis Shrimps on our reef!
Boxer crab with eggs!
Aaaaaaaaa! I can’t wait to see this!!!
This was at nudi retreat 1
Green shrimp with eggs, on a night dive…!
Only saw the eggs after the photo edit… And after Kiel told me…!
Now THAT is awesome. I will definitely be looking a bit closer at these guys in the future!
I do love me some PINK eggs! 🙂