Spiny Waspfish
Every day is a school day, so the adage goes and especially so for divers. So it was to our surprise and pleasure this week to find a critter that was new to us but well known to the divers in places like Lembeh, the Spiny Waspfish AKA Spiny Leaf fish, Ablabys macracanthus. As the name spiny waspfish would suggest, this odd-looking fellow could easily be mistaken for a spikey bundle of leaves until you look closely and see the hints of fins and eyes in this cryptic critter. The spiny waspfish normally lives in muddy-sandy habitats to a depth of around 20 metres, although some have been found as deep as 43 metres. Their cryptic shape is further enhanced by their behaviour of remaining static on the bottom except for a gentle swaying motion in the current…. perfect bundle of leaves camouflage that we hope to be eagle-eyed enough to spot again in the future!
The threatened “rainy season” still hasn’t lived up to its name here in South Lombok. We’ve had a couple of much-appreciated rainstorms that cooled everything down, then an hour later it’s straight back to glorious sunshine and high temperatures again. This makes our continued development of Two Fish Divers South Lombok (AKA ‘The Dive Farm’ due to our friendly animals that have adopted us) particularly hot and hard work but the addition of fire-pits, pizza ovens and BBQs all sound like fine objectives despite the heat! Thankfully, we could cool off with some fun diving with our return guests Lisa and Marco as well as some Advanced Open Water training with superstar scuba diving twin sisters Jana and Anja. Add to that a Belongas Bay dive trip for mum and dad and you have one very enjoyable week here in South Lombok!
Would you like to join us in South Lombok? Our home reefs of Sekotong are among the most pristine in Indonesia and are fast becoming known as the next Raja Ampat due to the diversity of corals and abundant marine life. Between Sekotong and Belongas, there’s not much that we can’t find in South Lombok, from critters like the spiny waspfish through to hammerhead sharks, mobula rays and schooling fish!
For more information about diving South Lombok with us, fill in the form below and we will get right back to you…!