Dive Details

Location

Date

22 February, 2013

Time

7:26am - 8:27am

Details

The fourth dive of the Raja Ampat trip in February 2013 on board the S/Y Indo Siren and our first of 15 dives around Misool and surrounding islands.

Now the diving was getting good with many pygmy seahorses. On this dive we only saw one species, Hippocampus denise, but Ongko our dive guide showed us the rarer red coloured individuals that are only found around Misool Island and surrounds as well as the more common pale variety. I was amazed how much smaller the H. denise are from H. bargibanti which I have seen previously. They are difficult to see and even more difficult to photograph.

Others also saw some H. bargibanti on this dive but we would wait until a later dive to see them.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni

Seas

Slight

Visibility

20+ metres

Duration

61 minutes

Maximum depth

27.6 m

Average depth

17.7 m

Water temperature

29.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.

Denise's pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus denise. 22 m.
 

Commensal shrimp, Periclimenes holthuisi. 22.7 m.
 

Denise's pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus denise. 23.2 m.
 

Denise's pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus denise. 23.1 m.
 

Lionfish, Pterois volitans. 22 m.
 

Reticulated sand perch, Parapercis tetracantha. 20.8 m.
 

Nudibranch, Phyllidiella pustulosa. 19.5 m.
 

Nudibranch, Phyllidia elegans. 9.5 m.
 

Christmas tree worm, Spirobranchus giganteus. 3.9 m.
 

Christmas tree worm, Spirobranchus giganteus. 4 m.
 

False clown anemonefish, Amphiprion ocellaris. 4.2 m.
 

False clown anemonefish, Amphiprion ocellaris. 4.3 m.