Bobbit Worm sightings in Lembeh night dives are not uncommon, but this week’s Bobbit Worm sighting was ridiculously cool! Our guests came across two different Bobbit Worms that were both spewing white gunk into the water column. Thinking it was a defense mechanism, the divers were annoyed that it “screwed up their photo opportunity”. Little did they know, these Bobbit Worms were spawning, which is an extremely rare sight in Lembeh! Bobbit Worms are broadcast spawners, which means that Bobbit Worms release their sperm and eggs into the water column all at the same time, resulting in successful fertilization within the water column (rather than within the animal).
On-shore winds brought a ton of trash to the beach at Two Fish Divers Lembeh, this week. However, as soon as the crew started their beach cleanup they discovered that many of the floating plastic bags and cups were housing Sargassum Frogfish! So as not to inadvertently mix the Frogfish with the trash, the Sargassum Frogs were set-aside in a large bucket of seawater. By the end of the cleanup, more than 10 Sargassum Frogfish had been saved from ending up in a trash bag, and all the guests at Two Fish had seen their fill of Sargassums!
In other news, there are quite a few juvenile animals cruising about Lembeh this week. Juvenile Hairy Frogfish, juvenile Flamboyant Cuttlefish, as well as juvenile Harlequin and Tiger Shrimps have all kept our macro photographers well entertained. The juvenile Hairy Frogs are so young that all their hairy appendages are still transparent, while the juvenile Harlequin Shrimp haven’t grown their signature blue spots yet! Pepper is keeping with the trend by adding her own litter to the mix. Her pups haven’t hatched just yet, but we should have puppy photos posted by the end of next week!
photo credit: guest Linda Lavelle
