Critters

by Darren

One of the nicest things about diving is when you get the opportunity to go to some shallow site and look at the wonderful, small creatures that live in the sand. Divers tend to call them “critters”.

In Puerto Galera we weren’t quite as fortunate as last year in the world-class (for critters) Lembeh Straits. But nevertheless there was plenty of opportunity to get down with the weird and freaky.

We’re fairly certain this is a juvenile dwarf (also known as zebra) lionfish. It was quite depressing again to note that like the cowfish we posted the other day quite a lot of these have unfortunately ended up in people’s fish tanks and home aquariums. Indeed the worst I saw was an advert selling off two for £12 each. It’s worth so much more than that to see these in their natural habitat.

Apart from the fish tank brigade this feisty little thing is fortunate enough to have no natural predators thanks to the 13 venomous spines on its back. Cute and prickly – as, by the way, am I. Ok, so I was joking about the cute.