I suppose this comes as no surprise, but my first day of diving in Lembeh was terrific. Nudibranchs, octopuses, frogfish, Rhinopias…a nice sampling of the fascinating critters that have made this area world-renowned.
Among the encounters I had today, one in particular stands out.
This is picture of a female hairy frogfish (Antennarius striatus). When I took this photo, she was clearly hungry, as she unfolded her worm-like lure and started wiggling it around, fishing for a meal…as frogfish do.
This is a picture of the same female hairy frogfish just moments later. In front of her is a smaller, darker hairy frogfish…a male. Given their proximity, the male may have been a suitor hoping to mate with the female.
There was, however, just one minor problem with his plan.
Seconds after I took this photo, the female ate the little guy. Seriously.
Gulp. Swallow. Burp. In the blink of an eye…without the slightest hint of guilt or remorse.
Guys…surely there’s a valuable lesson here for us.
Related Post: A Very Hungry Frogfish
Nice to see the hairies are back again – when I was there in May there were only a few non-hairy juveniles!
Quite a few years ago when I was back in Sabah, the guys at Kapalai resort collected lots of algae so the guest could get a close-up view of sargussum frogfish. They must have had 10 or more sargassum frogfish in a huge aquarium tank with the sea weed. The plan was to leave them there overnight then release everything the next day. But come morning, there was just a single, very fat, sargussum frogfish left in the tank. I don’t think the resort ever tried that again…
May is a bad time to visit Lembeh. I was there. No Rhinopias, No Ambon frogfish, little pipefish. Now I have to go back one day. November and december are better months to visit Lembeh. @tony a colleague of mine spotted the hairy octopus last week. A very rare critter (anywhere), so you might want to check that out.
You wish!
I’ve been bitten, eaten, devoured, digested (and later naturally excreted) quite many times, but keep being attracted by every type of lure…
Matt: Interesting. I guess they’re all cannibals when the opportunity presents itself
Arne: I think it’s just luck. I’ve been here at many times of the year. Sometimes the critters are around. Sometimes they’re some place else.
Ivan: Please re-read until you learn the lesson
you should always hit on girls who are smaller than you…
This is very cool but feel sad for the little guy, but that is nature I guess we all have to eat.
GD
LOL
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh lol love it
Are you diving with the wonderful Ali? We never got to see a hairy frogfish while we were ther but Ali did find us a hairy octopus!
Adele