Adelaar Cruises
Contributor
Think of what Mt. Everest is to mountain climbers, that is what Indonesia is to reef and critter diving. Most divers in the know already realize that Indonesia sits in the heart of the coral triangle and that is has the largest fish and coral biodiversity in the world; but let’s take a closer look at a lineup of critters that divers consider candidates for the Holy Grail.
I’m talking about the critters that make you do a double take. You know the ones, think back to a dive where your dive guide pointed out something on the sand and you couldn’t figure out what you were looking at; maybe you thought it was just part of the sea floor. Then your guide gives you the hand signal for frogfish and suddenly it becomes clear – that’s not a black sea urchin…(dang!) – that’s a crazy black hairy frogfish!
You might remember thinking, what the heck is this freak of nature? I’ve never seen anything like it before, it looks like a spiky black ball of tar with and blue eyes! Those rare and wonderfully odd critters are a divers Holy Grail.
Holy Grail #1 – Rhinopias
Rhinopias are one of the most searched fish in the world placing this fish at the top of most divers must see lists. Rhinopias can be found throughout the Indonesian archipelago, but are very difficult to spot.
Photo: Bruno Van Saen & Els Van Den Borre
B&E Underwater Photography
B&E Underwater Photography
- Paddle flap Scorpionfish – The Rhinopias eschmeyeri is the easiest to distinguish. Their body comprises only one single color and without any markings. In contrast to the other types of Rhinopias, this species also has no additional appendages on the body. This species is found in pink, purple, and red.
- Weedy Scorpionfish – The Rhinopias frondosa shares the same habitat as R. eschmeyeri and the two often co-occur. This species is found in white, yellow, purple, red and all manner of other colors. It has circles rather than lines covering the body and can have weedy filaments.
Holy Grail #2 – Hairy Frogfish
Frogfish are actually pretty common in Indonesia. The Hairy Frogfish though, this one is not all that common. Guests comment that the brownish-orange striated frogfish that looks like Jabba the Hut from Star Wars looks like an extraterrestrial creature. Makes you wonder if these critters were the inspiration for the movie character.
Photo: JeromeKim.com
- Hairy Frogfish – The Antennarius striatus, is covered with irregularly arranged dermal spinules resembling hairs. The coloring of its body is extremely variable because individual fish tend to match their living environments. The dominant coloration varies from yellow to brownish-orange, passing through a range of shades, but it can also be green, gray, brown, almost white, or even completely black without any pattern. The black variation being the most bizarre and in my opinion, most exciting to see. Often found on sandy sloping sites, the black frogfish likes to blend in with black sea urchins, so next time you come upon a cluster of theses look for a frogfish hiding amongst them for camouflage.
Holy Grail #3 – Hairy Octopus
The Indonesian archipelago has many species of octopus, as do many other area of the world. What you won’t find in too many other parts of the world is the Hairy octopus, which I think most divers would agree is the rarest of them all. I don’t want to discount the amazing Wonderpus, Mimic, Blue-ringed and Mototi octopus, but these are seen more often.
Photo by: Fredrik Jacobsson
- Hairy Octopus – Octopus sp. undescribed, this well disguised cephalopod gets it names from the long ‘hairy’ tissue covering its tiny little body and, to the untrained eye you may easily mistake the hairy octopus for an orangutan crab or a tuft of algae floating along the sea floor. This master of camouflage can range in color from white, brown and vibrant red, either with or without patterns or spots.
Holy Grail #4 – Ghost Melibe Nudibranch
Indonesia has hundreds of nudibranch species, but there are a few that stand out. These three are especially prized because of the ways they blend into their surroundings so well they’re almost impossible to find. These are the Xenia Nudi (Phyllodesmium rudmani), Allens Ceratosoma (Ceratosoma alleni), and the craziest, and rarest, of them all the Ghost Melibe.
Melibe Colemani – Photo by: Brenda Blackburn
- Ghost Melibe – Melibe colmani This absolutely unbelievable species doesn’t even look like an animal, let alone a nudibranch. If we hadn’t found the sheathed rhinophores one would think it was just a string of snot in the water.
Note: Due to space limitations for Scubaboard threads a list of additional cool critters and Holy Grail critters 5 & 6 can be found on the Adelaar Blog page.
Various factors such as location, commoner, behavior, and color may be the reason these aren’t in the top 6. Of course there are other critters outside of Indonesia that I’ve never seen or heard of, and didn’t think to add to the list. We’d love to hear about them, what would you add to our Holy Grail List?
