Coming up, a spooky muck dive at night in the Philippines with a cannibal crab, and
much more!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
I love filming interesting and unusual marine life.
Some of the most amazing marine life can be found on sandy,or muddy sea floors.
This environment, without rocks or reefs for shelter and protection, forces animals to
develop creative ways of evading predators and catching food.
In the diving world, these habitats are jokingly known as muck.
So this kind of diving is called muck diving.
And some of the best muck diving in the world, can be found in the Philippines.
I have come to the Atlantis Dive Resort in Dumaguete for some amazing muck diving.
The dive sites are only minutes from our beautiful beachfront resort.
I’ve already done a few muck dives and seen some really interesting animals, but tonight,
I’m going to go see what can be found after dark.
Woo!
I’m going to go for a night dive!
You’ve heard of muck diving.
You’ve heard of night diving.
This is night muck diving, and it’s going to be fabulous! Woo hoo!
I grab my camera and sink down to the shallow sea floor covered in sea grass.
Immediately I spot a small cuttlefish hiding behind a fan algae.
Looking like two tufts of poofy algae, a pair of Ambon Scorpionfish are easily missed if
they don’t move.
Luckily for them, plankton and tiny shrimp are attracted to my dive lights, like moths
to a flame.
As I move in for a shot of the scorpionfish, they feast on the shrimp that I bring to them.
Not everyone loves my lights.
A crab is trying to get away from me for some privacy.
It has caught a smaller crab for dinner.
It’s a crab-eat-crab world.
Cannibalism is alive and well in the muck.
Nearby, an orange sponge.
And on it, a tiny frogfish, no bigger than a thumb.
With a lure the size of a sewing needle, this little frogfish is hoping to attract some
tiny prey.
Missed.
Got one!
Got another one.
On the sandy slope, I discover a tiny section of coral reef.
And on the coral, a larger frogfish, on the prowl for a good hunting spot.
Swimming is not the frogfish’s forté.
Back out on the sand, I find a Bobtail squid, which is technically a tiny cuttlefish.
He too is preparing to hunt, with a stealthy muck camouflage.
A train of three sea hares, a type of nudibranch is crawling along.
I have no idea what is going on here, but I’m betting it is related to reproduction.
Nudibranchs are everywhere I look!
Nudibranch means naked-gill, and this is a perfect example.
The tuft of leafy projections are the gills.
Then I find a Murex snail cruising across the muck.
While I have seen the shells in museums, this is the first time I have ever seen a living
specimen.
This predatory snail has spikes on its shell for protection while it hunts for clams.
It drills a hole through the clam shell and then sucks it guts out!
This is one tough customer!
The Murex’s cousin, the Tiger Cowrie, is a snail with a different life strategy.
It extends its mantle like a skin over its shell, to keep the shell clean and prevent
parasites like barnacles from hanging on.
Beneath the mantle is a shiny, smooth shell.
This snail eats algae and sponges.
Nearby, another clam-eater.
The Smooth box crab uses mighty claws to crush its prey.
Then poops it out.
Another crab, another strategy.
This hermit crab not only has a strong snail shell for protection, but a crop of powerful,
stinging anemones living on the shell.
It’s a lot of baggage to carry around, but with this defense mechanism, the crab is afraid
of nothing.
One zap from the anemone tentacles is enough to scare off a moray eel.
Take that!
But that doesn’t mean that morays are pushovers.
A moray on the hunt is a formidable predator.
With a slippery and maneuverable body, the moray can investigate every crack in the reef
for a sleeping fish.
Almost no place is safe.
But the octopus is the master of grabbing fish from their hiding places.
With eight busy arms, every single crack and hiding spot will be checked.
Aha!
Got something!
Now to find some dessert!
A blue Linckia sea star is slowly cruising along the bottom, munching on algae.
But look closer and he has a moocher.
A tiny shrimp that lives its whole life on the sea sea star eating its mucous and droppings.
Because there isn’t much reef around, the fish that live here often have to sleep right
out in the open.
They rely on the cover of darkness for safety.
Lots of animals that feed on plankton, like crinoids and brittle stars, come out at night
because the plankton comes up from the depths.
A tube anemone snares plankton with sticky tentacles, as does orange cup coral.
A pair of striped catfish are foraging for shrimp in the sand using their chemosenstive
whiskers called barbels to detect hiding prey.
They are not aggressive towards people, but this is one fish to leave alone.
They have a very powerful slime on a spine in their dorsal fin, which is toxic to humans.
As I head back to the boat at the end of the dive, I’m visited by a curious sea turtle
who seems to be interested in the excitement.
But once he figures out that it’s just some boring guy with a camera, he swims back into
the darkness.
A night dive makes you work up an appetite.
Soon it’s back to the resort for some dinner.
Woo hoo, that was awesome.
My dive buddies Marty Snyderman and Cameraman Zach had a great time too.
Muck diving is one of my favorite activities, because you just never know what crazy animals
you are going to find.
And at night, the action continues with a different cast of characters all going about
their business.
Night diving might be a little spooky, but it’s a fascinating way to explore the Blue
World.
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