Mike Bryant website, dive trips and photo galleries.
Schooling Golden
Sweepers in coral. Small,
couple of inches.
Schooling Golden
Sweepers in coral.
Juvenile Catfish, they
travel in swarms. These
were about two inches.
Juvenile Catfish.
Hinged Shrimpfish.
About four inches.
Oxeye Scad. Ten or more
inches each.
Bigeye Trevally. They get
bigger, these were about
twelve inches.
Peacock Razorfish, this
is the juvenile stage. Less
than an inch.
Peacock Razorfish,
Intermediate stage. Two
inches.
Peacock Razorfish.
Adult.
Juvenile Emperor
Angelfish.
Adult Emperor Angelfish.
Here's another Juvenile
Emperor for comparison.
Sand Divers. They just
dart down and bury
themselves in soft sand.
Sand Divers. Half a
second after this shot,
they were down and
gone.
Short-Tailed Pipefish
with orange sponges..
Short-Tailed Pipefish.
Short-Tailed Pipefish.
Colors are variable.
Short-Tailed Pipefish.
Ornate Ghost Pipefish.
It's mimicking and hiding
in a crinoid.
Ornate Ghost Pipefish.
About three inches.
Ornate Ghost Pipefish,
juvenile.
Ornate Ghost Pipefish
juvenile.
Ornate Ghost Pipefish,
many color variations.
Ornate Ghost Pipefish,
couple of inches.
Robust Ghost Pipefish,
hiding in crinoid.
Robust Ghost Pipefish
Robust Ghost Pipefish
pair. The female is the
larger one at top.
Halameda Ghost
Pipefish. They are usually
around Halameda
seaweed and mimic the
green and white colors.
Halameda Ghost
Pipefish. Inch and a half.
Roughsnout Ghost
Pipefish. Three inches.
Roughsnout Ghost
Pipefish.
Spiny Waspfish. Two
inches. They have
stinging spines.
Leaf Scorpionfish. Four
inches. They also sting.
Leaf Scorpionfish
Leaf Scorpionfish, color
is variable.
Leaf Scorpionfish
Painted Frogfish juvenile.
Tiny, one inch.
Frogfish, about three
inches. Anglerfish
family, they have a lure
above their mouths to
attract prey.
Dragon Sea Moth. Couple
of inches, they skitter
around on the bottom.
Dragon Sea Moth.
Map Pufferfish, couple of
feet.
Map Pufferfish. There's a
small blue cleaner wrasse
removing parasites.
Fangblenny, living in
bottle.
AKA False Cleanerfish.
Instead of removing
parasites, bites,
Fangblenny. Mimics
helpful Cleaner Wrasse
that remove parasites
from other fish.
Fangblenny--here are the
fangs.
Great Barracuda. This
one is about three feet,
they can get to five.
Yellowmargin
Triggerfish. They dont
like to be near divers.
Especially divers with
cameras.
Yellowmargin
Triggerfish. About twenty
inches long. "Trigger"
spine up.
White Eyed Morays.
Larry, Curly and Moe...
Bumphead Parrotfish--
BIG, three feet or more.
Bumphead Parrotfish.
Blotched Sandgoby.
Giant Shrimpgoby.
These Gobies are
fantastic. They have their
own little "bulldozer"
shrimp who keep the
burrow they co-inhabit
open.
Here's the shrimp
keeping everything clean.
The shrimp are the
maintenance workers.
The gobies are the
sentries against danger.
They have a mutually
beneficial relationship.
The Gobies and shrimp
will dart down into their
shared burrow when
startled. I spent ten
minutes just getting them
used to me being there
before getting these
shots. Patience!
Look close. The shrimp
keeps one antenna on the
Goby at all times. It's the
communication system
so a twitch from the
Goby send them both
down into the burrow.
Another shrimp antenna
shot.
Giant Shrimpgoby--Giant
is relative, about five
inches.
Yellownose Shrimpgoby.
Inch and a half.
Yellow Shripmpgoby.
About an inch, bossing
around a shrimp that's
way bigger.
Yellow Shripmpgoby.
Coral Shriimp.
Circumtropical and
worldwide. Caribbean to
Pacific.
Half Inch tiny shrimp
living in and mimicking
its crinoid home.
Hingebeak Shrimp, half
inch.
Peacock Mantis Shrimp
with red eggs.
Peacock Mantis Shrimp
with red eggs.
Harlequin Crab, little
seaweed toupee.
Mosiac Boxer Crab. Half
inch, carries little
anenomes in its claws to
catch tiny prey.
Mosiac Boxer Crab,
"punches" at you.
Hairy Squat Lobster. Half
inch, lives in sponges.
Hairy Squat Lobster
Box Crabs. There's two
them. The bigger one is
holding a small one,
waiting until they are
both receptive to mating.
This one's a keeper!
Emperor Shrimp on
Seastar. About half an
inch.
Emperor Shrimp.
Other animals live on
Seastars. These are
Ctenophores, a comb
jelly relative that puts out
fishing lines to reel in tiny
prey. The red spotted
blotches are the
Ctenophores and you can
see the tangled lines
everywhere.
Tiny, less than quarter
inch shrimp that live on
Cushion Stars. There's
two of them here.
Ocellated Tozeuma
Shrimp, mimicking green
seaweed.
Ocellated Tozeuma
Shrimp. Inch and a half.
Banded Tozeuma
Shrimp.
Banded Tozeuma
Shrimp.
Banded Tozeuma
Shrimp.
Ladybug Amphipods.
Matchead size, constantly
jumping and moving.
Just an underwater
photography nightmare.
Villa Markisa, Tulamben Bali, 2018. Fish
and Creatures.
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Indonesia 1. The Good.
Indonesia 2. The Bad.
Indonesia 3. The Ugly.
Indonesia 4. Nudibranchs.
Indonesia 5. Critters.
Great White Shark
St Vincent, 2009
Red Sea, Egypt 2009
Galapagos Underwater
Galapagos Land
Machias Seal Island, Maine. June 2010 and May 2019
St Kitts and Saba, August 2010
Philippines, Puerto Galera January 2011 Fish.
Philippines, Puerto Galera January 2011 Creatures
Fiji, May 2011. Beqa Reefs
Bali, Indonesia 2012. Fish.
Bali, Indonesia 2012. Behaviors and critters.
Bali, Indonesia 2012. Nudibranchs.
Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, Florida.
North Sulawesi 2013. Pipefish and Seahorses
North Sulawesi 2013. Fish
North Sulawesi 2013. Mostly Nudibranchs
North Sulawesi 2013. Crabs and Critters
North Sulawesi 2013. Cuttlefish and Octopus
Blue Heron Bridge, May 2013
Komodo, Indonesia. August 2014 and 2019 daytime
Komodo, Indonesia. August 2014, night dives
Philippines, Dumaguete 2015 Fish
Philippines Dumaguete 2015, Creatures and Critters
Dominica 2015 and 2017. Before Hurricane Maria
Raja Ampat, January 2016
Cayman Islands, October 2016
North Sulawesi 2017. Fish
North Sulawesi 2017, Creatures
Anilao, Philippines 2017. Fish
Anilao, Philippines 2017. Eels, Pipefish
Anilao, Philippines 2017. Crabs, shrimp, octopus.
Anilao, Philippines 2017. Nudibranchs.
Triton Bay, Indonesia. 2018
Villa Markisa, Tulamben. Bali, 2018. Fish and Creatures.
Villa Markisa, Tulamben. Bali, 2018. Nudibranchs.
Solomon Islands, April 2019
Siladen Resort. Siladen Island, Indonesia 2020
Coral Triangle. Things with stings.
Coral Triangle. Frogfish.
Coral Triangle. Crabs & Shrimp.
Coral Triangle. Cuttlefish, Octopi and Squid.
Coral Triangle Butterfly and Angelfish
Belize, October 2021.
We were last in Tulamben in 2012 and this was a definite "need to do again" trip. We
stayed at the Villa Markisa, a lovely small hotel and dive operation. The food, the
staff, the accomodations and, of course, the diving were all great. It's a wonderful
place to stay on the North East coast of Bali, about three hours drive from the airport
in Denpasar.
We had our own personal guide, Noris for the ten days we were there and his sharp,
experienced eyes uncovered many wonderful creatures we wouldn't have seen on our
own.
It's mostly the black sand kind of diving we love, some reefs as well but we were
looking for the unusual, not for scenery. The water conditions are mostly murky so
small close up subjects are usually better than big wide angle views. We did get
schools of both large and little fish that were swirling around, there's some of them at
the beginning here.
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