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Wunderpus in Secret Bay, Anilao
The Secret Bay at Anilao, Batangas boasts of another great mystery–the wunderpus (wunderpus photogenicus). This long-arm octopus was seen at the site with another wunderpus doing their graceful dance on the sand, with three curious onlookers watching intently for minutes before the octopuses crawled back into their sand den.
Photo by Jules Terrado
Nudibranch: Butterflies of the Sea
By Jan Acosta
Nudibranchs, often called “butterflies of the sea” are sea slugs. They have different colors, sizes and shapes. They are beautiful and captivating to look at and make a favorite subject for underwater photographers.
Despite their minute size in general, they are among the most flamboyant and interesting creatures in the reef. These mollusks belong to the order Nudibranchia, subclass Opistobranchia. They number over 3,000 species worldwide with the greatest distribution in the Indo-Pacific Region including the Philippines. More are being discovered or described on an almost daily basis.
photo by Jan Acosta
Nudibranch literally means “naked gills” so most of them would have their gills outside of its body. They are basically sea snails or slugs with no internal or external shell. In most species the nudibrachs would have 2 antennae like protrusions at its front or head that act as sensory organs. These organs are called rhinopores. Most nudibranchs also have “gills” or branchial plumes at its back.
photo by Jan Acosta
Without a heavy shell to carry, they move relatively fast for their size. All nudibranchs are carnivorous, preying on slower or stationary animals like hydroids, sponges, and other small organisms. They proudly display their bright colors to warn predators that they are noxious or even toxic or as a camouflage. A blue nudi will disappear if it stations itself on a similar colored sponge.
The noxious substances of their prey do not harm Nudibranchs. They even have the ability to absorb and store the substance. They also have the ability to copy the color and pattern of their prey organisms to the extent that some even match and resemble their food source. When trying to look for specific nudibranchs, a trick I use is to look for their food and one would most likely find one close by.
Nudibranchs are hermaphrodites, meaning that a single individual possesses both male and female sexual organs. Mating occurs between to mature species usually stimulated by seasonal factors. Their genital organs are normally located on the right side of their body, somewhere behind their head. When they lay their eggs, it is a brightly colored, ribbon like mass. They normally lay their egg mass in a counter clockwise direction on a solid substrate that would not roll about in the ocean floor.
When you dive in the Philippines or anywhere else, it would be common to find a wide variety of nudibrachs. All one needs to do is dive slow and you will see more of these amazing creatures. I started diving more than 10 years ago and did not appreciate these magnificent creatures then. It was only when I got my underwater camera and tried to capture marine creatures did I fully appreciate their beauty.
Posted in Creature Feature
Tagged Anilao, critters, Nudibranch, nudibranchia, philppines, sea slugs
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Octopus in Anilao Pier
Few years back, no one would have thought of diving in front of Anilao Pier. We were halfway through the long night dive and, several octopuses later, we saw one more common octopus taking shelter in a half shell. It stayed where it was for a while, until the octopus had enough, picked up “its” shell, and ran away into the dark night.
Photo by Jules Terrado
Finding Nemo in Twin Rocks, Anilao
It is almost always guaranteed that in every dive anywhere in the Philippines, one would see an anemonefish, one of the most common of which is the false clown anemonefish (amphiprion ocellaris), here seen at Twin Rocks, Anilao, Batangas.
Photo By Jules Terrado
Diver's Night Party! July 29 '09 at Black Beard, Market! Market!
Liza Tang from Mares sent this over to us. Helping spread the word!
Once the prime township of the island of Mindoro, the town of Pola, located 78 kilometers east of Calapan City in the province of Oriental Mindoro, boost the best and the purest coconut virgin oils as its prime export product. Through its lush mountainside forest and thousand of hectares of coconut plantation it became the center of this high quality product. Its streets is lined with old houses akin to those found in Vigan, it draws its history, its beauty, its culture as seen through the day-to-day interaction with its people.
Its primary location, between the Naujan Lake and Tablas Strait, which draws its other livelihood: fishing. Once an abundant area of these boundiful harvest, unfortunately through irresponsible and illegal ways of cyanide-fishing, dynamite-fishing, compressor diving, fine mesh trawling, and unabated release of anchors in their once pristine fishing location have wrecked terrible consequences: they have depleted their fish stock population and destroyed a large area of once beautiful coral gardens.
However, they have come around and acts positively on the situation. Recently, through the vigilant efforts spearheaded by their town mayor Alex Aranas and its town leaders, these young and viligant generations of concerned citizens of Pola, Mindoro, started to pro-actively campaign about being responsible to their natural coastal and marine environments. They have now banned illegal fishing methods and trained their local folks on proper ways to manage and conserve their natural resources. This gargautian efforts began three years ago and slowly moves forward.
With these exciting concerted efforts coming at hand, as forefront visitors in our magnificent underwater world, we would like to make an appeal to support this worthwhile campaign of assisting them achieve and win back their coral gardens and its denizens. Fairly recently we have dived their area and saw new juvenile fishes and coral patches come back to life. They even have a huge triggerfish that now patrols and protects the area!
We, fellow Scubadivers and other advocates of marine and coral conservations, would like to you to be part of this worthwhile project supporting the Pola Marine and Coral Conservation efforts.
A DIVER’S NIGHT PARTY with a CAUSE will be held for the benefit of POLA, ORIENTAL MINDORO REEF MANAGEMENT PROECT every quarter for the next five (5) years to raise enough funds for its conservation efforts. And for only a financial pledge of Php100.00 per attendee per event, proceeds will enable us to acquire and install proper mooring bouys for the designated spots, giant clam seedlings, mangrove seedlings and other materials in its conservation efforts.
Be one of our scubadivers, conservation advocates, and our corporate sponsors. It will be a night of fun and excitement, good time with your fellow dive buddies, and a night we get to help save the environment.
For the development of this project, please visit http://www.corporateandsocialevents.blogspot.com/ or http://www.inuiteventsmanagementproduction.blogspot.com or
contact Ms. Myke Brazil-Legaspi at +632.387.9553 or e-mail myke1976 at gmail dot com or
Mr. Jun Reynales at +63.906.509.8299 or e-mail diverjun23 at yahoo dot com.
The Addiction
Augh! It’s like an addiction. My cousin told me that the recreational sport is somewhat akin to taking drugs. In both incidences you are both transported to a strange place, hovering above reality and your brain is infused with a sensory experience you have never felt before.
My blogger and dive friend Benj has this to say:
It is really hard to put into words. Diving is akin to doing something that your body isn’t supposed to be doing. We didn’t evolve to breathe underwater; nor are we adept swimmers who can easily maneuver and turn on a dime underwater. The experience is surreal – it is mostly a quiet stretch of time that is only interrupted by the sound of your own breathing (and bubbles). [from Benj's post]
[cool photo of Benj c/o Juned]
Balloonfish in Secret Bay, Anilao
At about 80 feet in some cluster of corals at Secret Bay, Anilao, Batangas, this balloonfish (diodon holocanthus) peeks at the photographer with its blazing eye.
Blue-Ring Octopus at the Sabang Wrecks
A blue-ring octopus crawls on the shallow sandy sloping bottom of Secret Bay, Anilao, Batangas. Some would be fully-covered with blue rings, others, less like this one on the photo. But it still felt scary to be in the presence of one of the most poisonous creatures on earth.
[Photo By Jules Terrado]
Batfish in Alma Jane, Puerto Galera
A school of batfish, or spadefish, awaits divers at the safety line above Alma Jane in Puerto Galera, just off Sabang Beach. This wreck dive features the M/V Alma Jane Express which lies upright at 90 feet of water.
Some spadefishes are popular sport fishing catches. The Atlantic spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber), for example, is an attractive black and white zebra-striped fish common just offshore in the southeastern United States and Caribbean. They are favorites because they put up a fight as they are reeled in. Spadefish are generally considered to be an overfished group. Most of the individuals caught are small and young and are nowhere near the maximum size recorded for their species. [Wikipedia]
[Photo By Jules Terrado]
Posted in Photo of the Day
Tagged Alma Jane, Batfish, Philippines, Photos, Puerto Galera
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