Giant Frogfish in Lembeh

Lembeh is so renowned for its crazy critters, and our dive guides are so good at spotting them, that many experienced divers come to us with a ‘checklist’ of things they want to see!  Frogfish are often requested by our guests because Lembeh Strait is home to so many different species – and most of them make great underwater models!  As ambush predators, they lie in wait for their prey and if they are in a good position this stillness can often seem as though they are posing for the camera!  Pictured above is a Giant Frogfish (Antennarius commerson) which was actually photographed on our recent day trip to Bangka Island although we also see them at our local dive sites in the Lembeh Strait as well.

As their common name suggests, the giant frogfish is the largest species of frogfish and can usually be identified by its size alone.  If you’re a fish, however, the opportunity to identify which species doesn’t often present itself!  Giant frogfish usually like to lie in wait on large sponges and if a fish gets too close they fall victim to nature’s fastest attack maneuver.  By opening its already large mouth to a cavernous 12 times its usual size in less than half a second, the frogfish creates a mini vacuum.  This results in water, and the unfortunate fish, being sucked inside in the blink of an eye.

This attack is far too fast for most of us to see, let alone catch on film.  However, capturing the giant frogfish (or other frogfish species) ‘yawn’ is a goal of many photographers.  Dan waited for a while with this one but it never twitched a muscle, let alone yawned!

Far more active this week have been the elusive wunderpus who are much more willing to put on a show than the frogfish are – Artur was lucky enough to see one on his first ever night dive with instructor Dan!  On the same dive, we also spent a while watching a group of Big Fin Reef Squid laying eggs on the mooring line.

This week we’ve also welcomed Chris, Clive, Wolfgang and Nong to Two Fish Lembeh Resort which resulted in an extra surprise when we checked dive certifications as Chris took his PADI AOW and Nitrox courses with Dan two years ago in the Philippines!  Cold beers and world-class muck diving is the best possible diver reunion!!

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