Lembeh Strait Muck Diving Videos

The Lembeh Strait, between Lembeh island and north Sulawesi in Indonesia is without doubt the muck diving capital of the world. At first sight there appears to be little but dark volcanic sand and rubbish on the sea bed, but a closer inspection reveals a fascinating plethora of weird and wonderful critters. In my visits I have been lucky enough to get nice footage of such legendary critters as the weedy scorpionfish (Rhinopias frondosa), hairy frogfish, mimic octopus and pygmy seahorse.

These muck diving videos were taken while staying at Two Fish Divers' resort on the Lembeh Island bank of the strait and YOS Dive Lembeh - Eco Beach Resort at Makawidey on the Sulawesi side of the strait.

License rights managed and royalty free stock footage of the Lembeh Strait...

Mucky Secrets - The Marine Creatures of the Lembeh Strait - HD Video and DVD Mucky Secrets is my 92-minute documentary exploring the fascinating marine life of the Lembeh Strait, available to watch in full on YouTube, and also as a DVD. I explore the marine biology of many of the area's rare and exotic critters.

Lembeh Strait Muck Diving Video and DVD Muck diving in the Lembeh Strait. Weird and wonderful critters from north Sulawesi. This is the best footage from my 2006 trip with Two Fish Divers, featuring video from classic Lembeh Strait sites including Hairball, Aer Perang, TK (Teluk Kembahu), Aw Shucks, Police Pier, Angels' Window, Nudi Falls, Nudi Retreat and Jahir. This video is included as a bonus feature in my DVD, Mucky Secrets - The Marine Creatures of the Lembeh Strait. The video is 19 minutes long and features much of the same footage from the following videos on this page.

SATURATION - Colorful Marine Creatures from Indonesia & The Philippines - HD Video Colorful small marine creatures from the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia and Anilao in The Philippines, two locations in an area known as the Coral Triangle, which hosts a high diversity of marine life. The video features many species of fish, seahorses, crabs, shrimps, nudibranchs (sea slugs) and tunicates. Many of these creatures are exotic and rare.

Lacy Bryozoan HD Video Lacy bryozoans are often overlooked by scuba divers, but actually contain some interesting cryptic critters. This video shows a bryozoan goby, porcelain crab and snapping shrimp all living symbiotically with lacy bryozoans.

Stiliger sp. Sea Slug HD Video Macro video of a of a sacoglossan sea slug, possibly "solar-powered", filmed at Jahir. The slug appears to be an undescribed member of the Stiliger genus.

Lembeh Critters Video A montage of footage from Police Pier, Nudi Falls, Nudi Retreat, Angel's Window, Aw Shucks and Pantai Parigi in the Lembeh Strait. These classic muck dives feature amazing critters including nudibranchs, ribbon eels, frogfish (anglerfish), seahorses, batfish, moorish idols, shrimpfish, grouper, catfish, moray eel, lionfish, snake eel, porcupinefish, mantis shrimp, sea moth and flying gurnard.

Aer Perang Video Aer Perang lies on the Sulawesi bank of the Lembeh Strait. The name means "war water" and originated because just after WWI a passing warship blasted a hole in the rocks to get at the fresh water. The video stars the weedy scorpionfish (Rhinopias frondosa), for many the 'holy grail' of underwater critters. The video opens with Banggai cardinalfish which originate from Indonesia's Banggai island. Legend has it that a bag of these fish intended for an aquarium was accidentally dropped into the Lembeh Strait, whereupon the fish flourished. They now compete with anemonefish for shelter amongst the strait's anemones. The video also features nudibranchs, a demon stinger, a cockatoo waspfish, a snake eel and saddleback anemonefish.

Hairball Video This classic muck dive is also on the Sulawesi side of the Lembeh Strait and is so named because of the weed lying on the black volcanic sand. The video opens with a hairy frogfish (striated anglerfish) squaring up to the camera and closes with an Ambon scorpionfish swallowing a small bypasser. In between we meet nudibranchs including the distinctive Melibe viridis, an orange devil scorpionfish, a moray eel hosting a cleaner shrimp, filefish, a peacock mantis shrimp, a lionfish and an urchin crab taking cover under a blue-spotted urchin.

Lembeh Strait Night Dive Video A night dive is a great way to discover Lembeh's weird and wonderful critters. This video was shot in June 2006 at Nudi Falls, Jahir and at Two Fish Divers' house reef "Muka". Opens with striped eel catfish and features a black-saddled toby, whiteface waspfish, plumstriped waspfish, painted anglerfish (frogfish), ringed pipefish, barfinned moray, bat volute, leaf scorpionfish, decorator crab, anemone hermit crab, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorse, horn-nosed boxfish, crocodile fish, porcelain anemone crab, saddleback anemonefish, starry night octopus, reef octopus, dwarf cuttlefish and squid.

Octopus & Mimic Octopus Video An amazing mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) at "Aw Shucks" in the Lembeh Strait impersonates a flounder and banded sea snakes while fleeing from observers. This species was not officially discovered until 1998. The video opens with a coconut octopus at Pantai Parigi sheltering inside a broken glass.

Teluk Kembahu ("TK") Video Named after the village on the Sulawesi bank of the Lembeh Strait, Teluk Kembahu, or "TK1" and "TK2" are classic muck dives and the habitat of many rare critters. The video features a snake blenny, giant frogfish, nudibranchs, dwarf lionfish, ornate ghost pipefish, moray eels, tobies, urchins, Banggai cardinalfish, dragonet and a snake eel.

Lembeh Strait (topside) The video from 2006 opens with the busy port of Bitung in the shadow of Mount Klabat on the Sulawesi mainland. We then move across the Lembeh Strait to Two Fish Divers' small dive resort on Lembeh Island. At the end of the day's critter-hunting, divemaster Opoh accompanies the sunset on guitar, covering Jika itu yang terbaik by Ungu.

Nick Hope

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