HD Macro in Lembeh

I finally found a critter I had been searching for for a long time…..

… Some of you who have been here in the last few months have heard me going on about a Geographic Sea Hare. Barb has taken some amazing photos of this creature, with it’s lovely fractal green body, and she has seen several of them.

It had become a bit of a Dive Resort joke. The guides and Barb had seen the Sea Hare on one particular site on multiple occasions. Whenever I went there we never found it. As soon as I missed a dive to the site, it was seen….it was getting frustrating.

Well, we were at another site close by, and had had an amazing dive with three Mimics, a Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Ornate Ghost Pipefish and much more. We were in the shallows and suddenly, what did I see in front of me?? A tiny little Geographic Sea Hare!!! I couldn’t believe it!! I showed Joe, on of our guides, and he just started laughing.. finally we had found one!! And doubly pleasing, it was me who found it!!

So enjoy the video of this very cool Sea Hare. This one was tiny, about 3cm 91 inch) long. You can see it eating some food at the end.

[vimeohd]26255510[/vimeohd]

Click here for Direct Link

I think this is a Severn's Pygmy Seahorse......but....it could be a Pontohi...Now this pygmy seems to come in two varieties, one with a white-ish body and a yellow-ish back and one with a darker brown body and a lighter back. Both are describe by us a Pontohis. And both not only both exist in Lembeh but can be found in the same general habitat, on the sides of rocks, with their tails wrapped around small halimeda algae or hydroids.

Doing a image search on Google sort of helps, but not really. Searching for Pontohi throws up mainly images of the lighter bodied pygmy, but also darker ones. doing a search on Severn’s Pygmy shows less results, but again both pygmies.

[vimeohd]26538756[/vimeohd]

Direct Link to Video

If anyone knows the difference between the two please let me know.

Ornate Ghost Pipefish are more of the most bizarre and most beautiful critters. Around July they start to appaer on many dive sites, usually picking a Feather Star to 'hide' in, matching their colour to the host Feather Star.

Unlike all other Seahorses and Pipefish, Ghost Pipefish eggs are looked after by the female, not the male. The female is the larger of the paired Ornates, and is easily recognisable by the large and extended pelvic fins that form a brood pouch. You can see the hundreds of little eggs inside.

The female moves the fins slightly apart and back again to help keep the eggs aerated.

[vimeohd]26854867[/vimeohd]

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