Lembeh Straits Underwater photos

My personal favourites from my recent trip to Lembeh Straits

Lembeh Straits 2007

The album starts with a Stargazer:

Some scientific names are missing - maybe you can help out. Please let me know about any misidentifications.

Constructive comments are always welcome. I know that many wetpixel members have been to Lembeh themselves, so if you see an image that strikes you as particularly unusual, let me know. Same goes for one that's just too ordinary to grab your attention.

Most of these creatures have been published thousands of times - I hope I could capture some of them in an original way.

I wrote a short intro detailing the attraction of Lembeh at Diving in the muck, but most here knew that anyway :-)

On the technical side - I use a Canon 300D housed in UK-Germany with a 550EX Speedlite in a UK-Germany tube-style housing. Most photos are shot with the Canon EF 100 f/2.8 macro, sometimes using a +4 Close-up dioptre. On a few I used the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro, but I'm not even sure I uploaded any of those - the 100 is just too good at Lembeh, one rarely needs anything else.

Cheers,

Fred

Nice selection. Looks like a great trip.

Alex

Great stuff, Fred!

I was just there myself.......what a great location!!

Fred great pics... Love that pygmy pipefish!

Fred great pics... Love that pygmy pipefish!

Here's another shot of the new pipefish species.

It was discovered only in December 2006 and got ichthyologists all excited - They think it's not only a new species or a new genus, but probably a whole new subfamily in the Syngnathidae family. The new subfamily would be alongside seahorses, pipefishes and sea dragons.

We'll have to wait and see.

It lives on the Lembeh resort housereef and on that dive Dino showed me 2 pairs - 4 individuals in total. It's only about 1cm in length.

Here's another shot of the new pipefish species.

 

It was discovered only in December 2006 and got ichthyologists all excited - They think it's not only a new species or a new genus, but probably a whole new subfamily in the Syngnathidae family. The new subfamily would be alongside seahorses, pipefishes and sea dragons.

We'll have to wait and see.

 

It lives on the Lembeh resort housereef and on that dive Dino showed me 2 pairs - 4 individuals in total. It's only about 1cm in length.

Looks more like one of the pipehorses than a pipefish.

Looks more like one of the pipehorses than a pipefish.

Sorry that's what I meant to say - "pygmy pipehorse". The caption in the gallery is correct.

If the new subfamily thing is confirmed we need a new name.

I vote for "pygmy stick horse" !

Good shots!!

Fantastic place.It has made me remind my trip there three years ago. Probably it will be my next trip.

What a nice variety of subjects. Where did you find the bluering? Great photos. Also where did you stay?

What a nice variety of subjects. Where did you find the bluering? Great photos. Also where did you stay?

Thanks!

The bluering was at Bronsel, which is a little further down from Police Pier towards Bitung.

I was already on the boat after 60 mins (first one back) when Jandri (my favourite guide) popped his head up shouted "BLUE gargle gargle something ..." and disappeared again. I was already in my trunks, but threw the gear on, grabbed my camera and went back down (freeeeezing!!! without the suit).

About 6 of us in the group were assembled around it in a ring, much like a cockfight in bali. So that's how I took the photo.

I stayed at Lembeh Resort and will wholeheartedly recommend it.

I recently posted my experience on this forum and also have a short article in my blog.