Ambon Scorpionfish off Negros Island

[klausi]

Muck diving, and diving in general has been on fire in the Dauin/Dumaguete area lately, the ocean is calm, almost uncharacteristically calm for this time of the year. Lots of critters around for everyone with the patience to look.

In the video below I show a pair of Ambon scorpionfish, in the sand, at night. This is in Bacong, just south of the well known diving destination Dauin.

This is one of the apexes of vertebrate camouflage evolution in my opinion. A fish which looks like a ball of detached algae.

 

[seaj]

Another enjoyable and educational video! Thank you!

 

[klausi]

Another enjoyable and educational video! Thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[drrich2]

What are typical sea conditions there, for this time of year and in general? Are they typically rough part of the year?

Richard.

 

[klausi]

What are typical sea conditions there, for this time of year and in general? Are they typically rough part of the year?

Richard.

Usually it's flat like a lake in the late spring/early summer, 20 m viz. The later part of the year is often rougher, but with ~ 50 cm waves, nothing which could keep you from diving. Viz drops somewhat. Around Dec/Jan there is a chance of typhoons. These patters have not held up too well in recent years, all shifting a bit towards later parts of the year.

 

[Centrals]

The North East Monsoon has bigger impact on the sea than typhoon.

Amihan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Water temp can drop to 20C or even lower.
A lot of divers were caught short because they thought water temp should be around 28C in SE Asia.
If I have to dive from Dec onward then I usually came well prepared.

 

[klausi]

This might be the case in the northern Philippines, the water temperature in Dauin/Dumaguete never drops to 20C, at most ~ 24C at depth.