Creature Feature - The Flamboyant Cuttlefish Spotted at TRACC

Photo by Basil Bohn

Sometime experiencing life in the ocean is like living in a series of Dr. Seuss books. Today with the sighting of the Flamboyant cuttlefish I feel like I’m in the Grinch – my heart grew three sizes today.

There she appeared, crawling and flashing her brilliant spectrum of colors – diver masks nearly pressed against the sand. The flamboyance of this charismatic creature apparent in the way she moves, the way she looks, the psychedelic flashings of her aposematic skin. She’s a teacup poodle of the cuttlefish family, and she hovers and twirls her tiny translucent ballerina skirt of a fin. She prowls and scours the sandy ocean floor, a small desert for her, and protrudes her many trunk like modified arms and tentacles searching for tiny crustaceans and fishes. When this charming predator spots her prey, her florescent hue turns to a sandy

Photo by Basil Bohn

camouflage and with lightning speed, a milky white tentacle shoots out to capture her unsuspecting meal. Equally awesome and strange in her mating rituals, this tiny tennis ball proportioned Cephalopoda, will dwarf her male be counterpart, before he injects her arm with his sperm packet. In turn, she will store the sperm to make eggs and spit them out of her squiggly mouth, hiding them one by one in protected recesses, before dying a selfless reproduction death.

Wonderful and strange is this ocean world, and some days, only the happy muffled squeals of a Sophie excited by sea life in a Dr. Seuss world can express the delight.

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please

Photo by Basil Bohn

check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc.org

Check out our posts on our activities
on fb tracc.borneo
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or simply #tracc or #traccblog on Google, Facebook, twitter or instagram

Creature Feature - Spanish Dancer Nudibranch Spotted on the House Reef

The Spanish Dancer
Photo by Basil Bohn 

Awesome and strange sea creatures consistently populate the TRACC artificial reefs, but sometimes we get especially lucky. This week we spotted a Spanish dancer nudibranch on the algae crusted “swim through “ of the house reef. This domed structure crafted from bent PVC pipes and covered with netting is popular with a variety of fantastic sea creatures including octopus, many many types of tropical fish, and tiny crabs and shrimps hiding between the netting and crevices in the cement and topsy-turvy bottle reefs, among many other creatures both resident and visitor. Yet, news of this giant nudibranch, roughly measured at 40 cm, created waves through camp, with divers running to gear up and see it for themselves.

Peng with the Spanish Dancer
Photo by Basil Bohn

The Spanish Dancer is the largest of the nudibranch family and gleams its namesake from its resemblance to traditional flamenco dancers. Its bright red, orange, and yellow coloration are reminiscent of the costumes of the traditional Spanish costume. When threatened, it swims through the ocean, twisting, flaring, and undulating its wide ruffled red and orange underside in imitation of the flamenco dance. As an added touch, these twirling sea slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites. They can not self fertilize and do require a mate in order to lay eggs, but once they mate, they lay their toxic and brightly colored eggs in an outwardly spiraling ribbon around the coral, creating a rose shaped offering to the reef and further fulfilling their namesake.

The Underside of the Spanish Dancer
Photo by Basil Bohn

This sighting was a special experience for us all, including many of our instructors and Divemaster’s who have logged hundreds of dives. After the sighting and the combined hours spent observing this rare creature, the atmosphere at camp was filled with a communal feeling of the privilege and excitement of seeing such a rare creature. The feeling was intensified through sighting this Spanish Dancer on a TRACC built structure, providing the added satisfaction of seeing the conservation work TRACC has completed being populated and utilized by the ocean creatures we all love and strive to protect.

--------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc.org
Check out our posts on our activities
on fb tracc.borneo
on twitter tracc_borneo
on google + tracc

or simply #tracc or #traccblog on Google, Facebook, twitter or instagram