This week in Lembongan… With the changing currents due to the change of the season, we have seen an increase of visibilty in Lembongan. With this visibility have come a few more jellyfish. Although to no worry to divers, these strange creatures provide an interesting sight while underwater.Jellyfish are found in every ocean, from the surface to the deep sea. Jellyfish have roamed the seas for at least 500 million years, and possibly 700 million years or more, making them the oldest multi-organ animal. Most jellyfish do not have specialized digestive, osmoregulatory, central nervous, respiratory, or circulatory systems. The manubrium is a stalk-like structure hanging down from the centre of the underside, often surrounded by oral arms, which connects with the mouth/anus at the base of the bell.
They move through the water by radially expanding and contracting their bell-shaped bodies to push water behind them but most of the time, they just go with the flow of the current. Jellyfish have been proven to be the most energy efficient swimmers of all animals. This means that with the changing currents around Lembongan, these creatures have hitched a ride from other parts of the ocean to drift into our waters. They will not be around for long and will drift on by in the coming weeks and will be gone, just as quick as the appeared.
Jellyfish are not the only interesting thing that have been spotted this week, our dive guides have been able to spot; many different types of nudibranch, boxer crabs, tuna, trevally, skeleton shrimp and bamboo shark. It seems that the mola have left us for the season, with none being seen by us this week. It’s great consolation that the visibiltiy in Lembongan has been so great and that we’ve seen so many other cool creatures.
