Juvenile Striped Eel Catfish are common to see in large schools because it protects them against predators (to appear bigger than they actually are). As they grow older striped eel catfish can get up to 32 cm long and tend to be solitary or in smaller groups of 10 to 20 fish. During the day time they tend to hide under ledges or in cracks but we tend to see these ones out more at night time. Striped Eel Catfish may look cute but they actually have poisonous spines that can be deadly to humans. Not to worry though as they are usually scared of divers and our loud bubbles so they quickly get out of our way if we get too close.

The barbels or ‘whiskers’ are where the name ‘cat fish’ came from and it means they are a pretty easy fish to identify. The barbels are electro sensors which they use to find their prey. They also search for their prey by stirring up the sand looking for invertebrates, worms, molluscs and sometimes even small fish. It’s good to know your fish families so that you can easily find the specific species in fish ID books. You can learn more about how to identify fish in the PADI Fish Identification Speciality or the Advanced Open Water Course here at Two Fish Divers Bunaken. North Sulawesi is located in the heart of the Coral Triangle so we have a lot of species to identify!

We have had many return guests this last week. Bob and Sandra have visited us many times over the last ten years and have had some great dives this time seeing giant frogfish at Manado Tua as well as the newly found ones near our resort. Tanja has been learning how to dive the last couple of days and has seen so many fish on her first dive and we even saw a couple of smaller striped eel catfish hiding in a crack. Nils has done a refresher and then enjoyed a few dives on Bunaken and surrounding islands. Kalisha joined us for a few dives before heading to Tangkoko National Park to see the diverse rain forests and monkeys that are found in North Sulawesi.

Mike and Becky who have been diving were extremely lucky and saw a Mola Mola off in the distance off the east side of Bunaken. Bunaken always has surprises in store, you never know what you might see and you should keep checking the deep blue water. Mola mola are usually found in cooler waters so we don’t get to see these very often. It has been a great week of sightings in Bunaken and we hope next week has just as many.

Shanu finished her PADI Divemaster Course in Bunaken at the end of this week. She had a lot of fun doing her mapping project and guiding certified divers as her last part of the training. At the start of her course, she really wasn’t comfortable with taking her mask off and replacing it but by the end, she was demonstrating it with confidence. It was great to see her accomplishments while she was here. We also saw a really cool school of juvenile striped eel catfish on one of our dives with her and you can check it out on our Facebook page.

Would you like to join us for diving or your next level of PADI course in Bunaken? For more information or to make a reservation, fill in the contact form below and we will get right back to you.