seeing INDONESIAN the Miracle of North Archipelago_EXplore TRAvel Guide: BUNAKEN ISLAND_BEST DIVE SPOT AREA: FUKUI SITE,MUKA KAMPUNG & LEKUAN 1,2 (South Side Of Bunaken Island).

seeingindonesian.blogspot.comseeing INDONESIAN the Miracle of North Archipelago_EXplore TRAvel Guide: BUNAKEN ISLAND_BEST DIVE SPOT AREA: FUKUI SITE,MUKA KAMPUNG & LEKUAN 1,2 (South Side Of Bunaken Island).

BUNAKEN ISLAND_BEST DIVE SPOT AREA: FUKUI SITE,MUKA KAMPUNG & LEKUAN 1,2 (South Side Of Bunaken Island).

Fukui Dive Spot

Fukui,Lekuan 1,2,3 Dive Spot

Dive Spot Map

DIVE SPOT DESCRIPTION.

FUKUI SITE.
It is a sandy slope with steep drops. Here you can observe different "cleaning stations" and their customers. Is possible to spot jacks, barracuda, bat fish, tuna, snappers.Fukui site Named after a Japanese diver who dived this site 20 years ago and wrote an article about it. Fukui is very different than the rest of Bunaken's dive sites, as it is actually the only divesite with a gentle slope. It is not just sloping, there are a few short steep drops , but alltogether, Fukui is a good start for a first dive.
It is also a so called "cleaning station", which means that all kinds of big fish have themselves cleaned while they take a rest. It is a perfect place to observe Napoleon wrasse, barracuda, Jacks and big snapper. A more sandy part of Fukui is home to a colony of garden eels. Spectacular but rare sightings have been thresher shark and a huge ocean sunfish. At a depth of about 17 metres, there are 5 big "Tridacna" giant clams lying in a row. Fukui normally has a very mild current that can occasionally be a bit stronger. Averange visibility is 20-25 meters,A sandy area at Fukui is home to a colony of garden els. At a depth of 20-22 metres are 5 "Tridacna" giant clams lying in a row (size around 1m each). Current can be strong depending on the tides.

MUKA KAMPUNG (Front of the Village).
Located in front of Bunaken Village. A steep drop-off on which we are often in company with eagle rays, sting rays, tunas, napoleon, fantastic soft corals and nudibranches, crabs, shrimps. Also the right location to observe Mandarin Fish mating in a late afternoon dive.Located opposite the village of Bunaken. A steep drop off with a sandy sloping path on the tip of the reef corner, where we often observe eagle ray, stingray and thousands of butterfly fish. Even from the surface, currents are visible and Muka Kampung normally ends up as a good old fashiond drift dive. Traditionally, "Muka Kampung"is the enterance to the village of Bunaken. Until now, strait over the reef flat,There are advanced plans for the construction of a permanent landing jetty,so further damage in the future will be prevented. Visibility varies from 15 to 30 metres.

LEKUAN 1 (or TURTLE CITY).
The 3 “lekuans” are considered a signature of Bunaken world famous wall diving. A dramatic drop off of 40-50m followed by a step and than again precipitating in the blue. Very common to spot huge (up to 2m) green turtles, sharks (white tip, black tip), napoleon and “clouds” of schooling fish like anthias, fusiliers, butterfly, red tooth triggerfish. Many macro species in the shallows as well as scorpions (devil, ambon, leaf ) and stone fishes.A very popular diving spot, Lekuan I is home to the Bannerfish, Napoleon Wrasses, and a large school of Pyramid Butterflyfish. It is also possible to see Turtles and Angelfish here. At 35 meters it is common to encounter Blacktip Sharks and large Trevallies,This is not for the faint hearted ! Rated : Advanced diver with 20 logged dives; currents; average visibility 30 m.


LEKUAN 2
Wall reef with many vertical drops, cuts, holes and overhangs. Excellent numbers and variety of almost all kinds of reef fish as well as invertebrate life.This steep coral wall with vertical canyons offers you a nice moderate drift dive. The reef is swarming with numerous schools of tropical reef fish swimming around a variety of soft and hard corals from the top of the reef down to 20 meters. Butterfly fish and Banner fish are a common sight here. It is also possible to encounter Napoleon Wrasses, Turtles, and Sharks. Rated :Vertical wall; adv diver:depth 10-25 m; currents:av vis 30 m


LEKUAN 3
A sandy sloping bottom at first with pinnacles and outcroppings make Lekuan 3 a different underwater landscape.The “scenario” then changes into a vertical wall dropping into the deep ocean,Numerous nudibranchs, leaf fish, ghostpipefishes, scorpion fish as well as green turtles, sharks, snappers. Here is also possible for a trained eye to spot the rare and tiny (4/5 mm) Hippocampus pontohi (a newly-discovered species of pygmy seahorse) One of the most beautiful dives off Bunaken Island. A very special site for night diving,Barracudas, Reef Whitetip Sharks, Bamboo Sharks, and Sponge Crabs are common here. Cleaner shrimp, Scorpion fish, large Nudibranches, Cuttle fish, Spanish Dancers, Basket Stars are seen here. Anything is possible Rated :Beginner diver; vertical wall diving: depth 5-25 and av vis 35 m.

BEST DIVE SPOT AREA: TUMBAK ISLAND,TANJUNG POPAYA (Popaya Cape) & CORAL POOL,Bentenan Beach,Southeast Minahasa,North Sulawesi.

DIVE SPOT DESCRIPTION:

TUMBAK ISLAND,POPAYA CAPE & CORAL POOL.

Tumbak is the name of a village located in the district Posumaen Southeast Minahasa regency. To reach the village Tumbak, from the city of Manado takes a 3 hour trip.The village is blessed with stunning natural beauty. Underwater beauty Tumbak no less impressive with the beauty of Bunaken marine park that is famous throughout the world.But the natural beauty above the sea in the form of small islands of white sandy become more value that is not owned by Bunaken. To better enjoy the natural beauty Tumbak good you are in this village at least 2 days,When viewing the underwater beauty snorkeling or diving with your eyes will be spoiled with underwater scenery is so beautiful with hundreds of species of fish with various types such as common lionfish, Banggai fish, nudibranchs, cardinalfish, clownfish, napoleon wrasse, angelfish, surgeonfish, unicornfish,morish idol, damselfish, groupers, Parrotfishes, zebra lionfish, lizardfishes and much more. In addition you can also see various sea stars are so beautiful with a wide colours variety,Besides seeing types divers of fish, your eyes will also be spoiled with such a vast expanse of good coral and hardcoral softcoral area of ​​approximately 100 hectares with various shapes beautiful coral and colorful (brain coral one). Not only there, if you are already proficient diving / snorkeling, you can see the sea fan forests of diverse types of measuring 300 meters at a depth of 3-6 meters. So ?? Still want to trave this marine paradise??

BUNAKEN ISLAND_BEST DIVE SPOT AREA (EAST BUNAKEN)

DIVE SPOT DESCRIPTION:

BUNAKEN TIMUR (East Bunaken).

A great dive site right in front of RAJA LAUT, very good for snorkelling too with a beautiful reef with lush coral growth. Is a very long reef covering all the east side of the island between the village of Bunaken and Sachiko’s Point. It can be divided in at least 2 or 3 dive spots.

Sharks, barracudas, groupers, napoleons, eagle rays and a lot of small and colourful reef fish. Few times I saw at the top reef a blue rings octopus hiding between the corals,Possible to do a night dive in front of our Resort during which is easy to spot different species of crabs (decorator, sponge), bamboo sharks, big nudibranchs, snails, sea snakes, moray eels, green turtles.

BUNAKEN ISLAND_BEST DIVING SPOT AREA: LEKUAN 1,2,3 (CITY of GREEN TURTLE)

THE BEAUTY of BUNAKEN ISLAND, NASIONAL MARINE PARK.

Bunaken is an island of 8 km², part of the Bunaken National Marine Park. Bunaken is located at the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs administratively to the municipality of Manado. Scuba diving attracts many visitors to the island,Bunaken National Park extends over an area of 890.65 km² of which only 3% is terrestrial, including Bunaken Island, as well as the islands of Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen.

The waters of Bunaken National Marine Park are up to 1,566 m deep in Manado Bay, with temperatures ranging between 27 to 29 °C. It has a high diversity of - corals, fish, echinoderms or sponges. Notably, 7 of the 8 species of giant clams that occur in the world, occur in Bunaken. It also claims to have seven times more genera of coral than Hawaii,and has more than 70% of all the known fish species of the Indo-Western Pacific.

Oceanic currents may explain, in part, why Bunaken National Marine Park has such a high level of biodiversity. Northeasternly currents generally sweep through the park but abundant counter currents and gyros related to lunar cycles are believed to be a trap for free swimming larvae. This is particularly true on the south side of the crescent-shaped Bunaken Island, lying in the heart of the park. A snorkeler or diver in the vicinity of Lekuan or Fukui may spot over 33 species of butterfly fish and numerous types of groupers, damsels, wrasses and gobies. The gobies, smallish fish with bulging eyes and modified fins that allow them to attach to hard surfaces, are the most diverse but least known group of fish in the park.

BUNAKEN ISLAND,DIVING SPOT AREA.

LEKUAN 1 (or TURTLE CITY)
The 3 “lekuans” are considered a signature of Bunaken world famous wall diving. A dramatic drop off of 40-50m followed by a step and than again precipitating in the blue. Very common to spot huge (up to 2m) green turtles, sharks (white tip, black tip), napoleon and “clouds” of schooling fish like anthias, fusiliers, butterfly, red tooth triggerfish. Many macro species in the shallows as well as scorpions (devil, ambon, leaf…) and stone fishes.

LEKUAN 2
Wall reef with many vertical drops, cuts, holes and overhangs. Excellent numbers and variety of almost all kinds of reef fish as well as invertebrate life.


LEKUAN 3
A sandy sloping bottom at first with pinnacles and outcroppings make Lekuan 3 a different underwater landscape. The “scenario” then changes into a vertical wall dropping into the deep ocean. Numerous nudibranchs, leaf fish, ghostpipefishes, scorpion fish as well as green turtles, sharks, snappers. Here is also possible for a trained eye to spot the rare and tiny (4/5 mm) Hippocampus pontohi (a newly-discovered species of pygmy seahorse)

LIFE HISTORY_INDONESIAN COELACANTH (IKAN RAJA LAUT) (Latimeria Manadoensis)

LIFE HISTORY_INDONESIAN COELACANTH (IKAN RAJA LAUT) (Latimeria Manadoensis)

The Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria manadoensis, Indonesian: raja laut) is one of two living species of coelacanth The other species, L. chalumnae (West Indian Ocean coelacanth) is listed as critically endangered,On September 18, 1997, Arnaz and Mark Erdmann, traveling in Indonesia on their honeymoon, saw a strange fish enter the market at Manado Tua, on the island of Sulawesi.Mark thought it was a gombessa (Comoro coelacanth), although it was brown, not blue. An expert noticed their pictures on the Internet and realized its significance. Subsequently, the Erdmanns contacted local fishermen and asked for any future catches of the fish to be brought to them. A second Indonesian specimen, 1.2 m in length and weighing 29 kg., was captured alive on July 30, 1998.It lived for six hours, allowing scientists to photographically document its coloration, fin movements and general behavior. The specimen was preserved and donated to the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB), part of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

DNA testing revealed that this specimen differed genetically from the Comorian population.Superficially, the Indonesian coelacanth, locally called raja laut ("King of the Sea"), appears to be the same as those found in the Comoros except that the background coloration of the skin is brownish-gray rather than bluish. This fish was described in a 1999 issue of Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences Paris by Pouyaud et al. It was given the scientific name Latimeria menadoensis.In 2005, a molecular study estimated the divergence time between the two coelacanth species to be 40–30 mya,On November 5, 2014 a fisherman found the species in his net. It was the seventh Indonesian coelacanth found in Indonesian water since 1998.
(Source:wikipedia)

On the Trail of the Coelacanth, a Living Fossil.

She had no way of knowing what would happen. Nobody did. But Arnaz Mehta Erdmann was about to notice something that would rewrite a chapter in the history of biology,Not that she had been looking. In fact, she and her husband Mark were on their honeymoon, strolling through the outdoor market in Manado, a town at the tip of an island called Sulawesi in Indonesia. Hundreds of fishermen work the surrounding Celebes Sea, and on that September day last year the marketplace was teeming with variety,None of the catch, however, looked remotely like the weird thing that Arnaz saw being pushed along in a wooden cart. It was several feet long, with stumpy, lobed appendages where other fish have conventional fins. It was covered with heavily armored scales.

Arnaz called Mark's attention to the creature. To most folks, the fish might have been little more than a curiosity, but Mark was a marine biologist with a recent PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, resulting from his study of mantis shrimps in Indonesia. He recognized it immediately as a coelacanth, a "living fossil" whose body plan hadn't changed appreciably in hundreds of millions of years.

But that didn't make sense. Mark had been taught that coelacanths not only were extremely rare but also had never been seen outside the western Indian Ocean. He photographed the creature and asked the fisherman where he had obtained it. Apparently, it was local. Surprised, Mark reluctantly assumed that the living fossils had been observed in the western Pacific and that somehow he had missed hearing of the discovery,Not until he and Arnaz returned to Berkeley did Mark learn that coelacanths had never been sighted east of Madagascar. They definitely weren't supposed to be in Indonesia, about 6,000 miles away. But then, only a few decades before, they weren't supposed to be anywhere at all.

Sixty years earlier, the coelacanth (pronounced SEE-la-kanth), previously known only through fossil specimens, had shocked the scientific world when a living specimen was discovered in South Africa. The news was akin to finding a living dinosaur wandering Earth today,Marjorie Courtney-Latimer, a young curator of the East London Museum in South Africa, was building a scientific collection of fishes and had arranged with a local fisherman, Capt. Hendrik Goosen, to collect specimens for the museum.

On Dec. 22, 1938, Courtney-Latimer received a phone call: Goosen's trawler was at the dock with a large haul of fish taken near the mouth of the Chalumna River. Although pressed for time and not wanting to travel to the docks, she felt that the least she could do for the ship's crew was "to go down and wish them the compliments of the season."Among many specimens strewn across the deck, she saw a very strange fish five feet long. "I noticed a blue fin sticking up from beneath the pile," she wrote. "I uncovered the specimen, and, behold, there appeared the most beautiful fish I had ever seen."

Courtney-Latimer didn't know what the fish was but had a hunch that she should save it. The local hospital morgue turned her down, as did the town's only cold-storage facility. So she wrapped it in rags soaked in formaldehyde. After several days, it became evident that this method was not sufficiently preserving the fish, so she opted for taxidermy and, as a result, preserved only the skin and a few hard parts,Using one of the few books available to her, she traced the fish, uncertainly, to the family called coelacanths [above]. The chairman of her museum's board of trustees dismissed it as a rock cod.

Undaunted, Courtney-Latimer sent a sketch and description to J.L.B. Smith, then a chemistry professor and resident fish expert at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. When he finally received the letter, Smith was dumbfounded. Could it be true? The drawing clearly depicted a coelacanth. Yet they presumably had become extinct 80 million years earlier!

Smith wired Courtney-Latimer: "Save viscera...fish interesting." But the message arrived too late; the organs had rotted,Courtney-Latimer's persistence, against great odds, paid off on Feb. 16, 1939, when Smith traveled to New London and confirmed her suspicion. The fish was named Latimeria chalumnae in honor of the discoverer and the site of the find,It took 14 years to find another one. Smith searched the waters around South Africa and the eastern coast of Africa, eventually preparing handbills describing the fish and offering a reward,Finally, those handbills made their way to the Comoro Islands where, on Dec. 20, 1952, a specimen weighing 88 pounds was captured. After a hurried plane ride, Smith held a coelacanth in his hands, causing him to weep with joy.

Before the Erdmanns' discovery in Indonesia, about 200 specimens had been captured, half of which were available for scientific study. All were from the western Indian Ocean, primarily around two of the Comoro Islands off the northwestern coast of Madagascar. Several "strays" have been captured off South Africa, Mozambique and Madagascar.

The total coelacanth population is thought to be 500 or fewer, a number that would threaten the survival of any species. So in accordance with an international treaty known as the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, the coelacanth was added to Appendix I (threatened with extinction) in 1989,This treaty forbids international trade for commercial purposes and regulates all trade, including sending specimens to museums, through a system of permits.

Having learned all this before his return to northern Sulawesi last November, Mark Erdmann began trying to find the fisherman he had met in the market and to determine whether the fish had been captured in Indonesian waters. He had studied the ecology of coral reefs in the area for seven years and was fluent in the language.After talking to about 200 fishermen, he located the one from the market and three others who convincingly claimed to have captured coelacanths.

At that point, an ethical dilemma arose. Mark wanted to retrieve a specimen for science and report the discovery, but he could not induce the local fishermen to fish purposely for a rare and endangered species. His strategy was to provide sufficient compensation to make it worthwhile for the fishermen to bring the fish to him if caught but not so much money that they would be enticed to abandon other pursuits.Naturally interested was the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, which has the world's largest research collection of preserved fishes, including a coelacanth from the Comoros.

In my capacity as manager of the collection, I had been in contact with Mark since shortly after his honeymoon discovery, and we had established an appropriate plan for what to do with a specimen if one was caught.It would have to be preserved properly, but before doing so, tissue samples would be taken for DNA analysis. Those samples would help determine whether the Indonesian coelacanth is a member of the same species as the Comoros specimens.

After advising Mark about appropriate organs to sample, I equipped him with a liquid nitrogen container for storing the tissue samples, and the Smithsonian provided funding to keep a whole specimen frozen until it could be fixed in formaldehyde and permanently preserved in ethyl alcohol. So he was ready on the morning of last July 30 when the critical moment came.Sharks bring a handsome price in that part of the world, and Mark's prize surfaced in a deep-water shark net set by fishermen off the volcanic island of Manado Tua in northern Sulawesi. The net, lowered at dusk and raised at dawn, is about 330 feet long and 33 feet high and works by entangling fish that swim into it,On this morning, it yielded a spectacular catch from about 400 feet -- a four-foot coelacanth weighing 64 pounds.

The fisherman, Om Lameh Sonatham, brought the fish, still alive, to Mark's house along the shoreline of the neighboring island. The fish is known locally as raja laut (king of the sea) and apparently has been captured at a rate of two to three a year for several years.

The fish lived for nearly six hours, allowing Mark and Arnaz to document photographically its coloration, fin movements and general behavior. Superficially, it looked the same as those found in the Comoros except that the background color was brownish-gray rather than bluish,Although the fish was greatly stressed, as any would be when raised from such depths, it demonstrated quite effectively the typically fantastic movement of its lobed fins. In the Comoros, recompression efforts have failed, and no specimen has stayed alive for more than a day.

Mark donated the specimen to the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB), part of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). He also invited me to Indonesia to assist with preservation of the coelacanth and to meet with LIPI officials to discuss a future specimen donation to the Smithsonian,After we shipped the frozen fish to Jakarta, MZB officials transferred the specimen to their new state-of-the-art museum facility in Cibinong between Bogor and Jakarta. There we jointly performed more dissections. Finally, we preserved the coelacanth by injecting formaldehyde, followed by immersion in a solution of formaldehyde. After an appropriate fixation period, the specimen was transferred to ethyl alcohol for long-term storage and display in the MZB.

Mark's report of the discovery, coauthored with Roy L. Caldwell, his graduate adviser, and a colleague from LIPI, M. Kasim Moosa, appeared in the Sept. 24 issue of the journal Nature. Unconfirmed sightings are now being reported elsewhere in Indonesia, and researchers are gearing up for underwater exploration.Where else do the living fossils live? How plentiful are they? These and related questions will keep scientists occupied for years.

(By:Susan L. Jewett is_collection manager in the Division of Fishes at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History)

Scientific classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sarcopterygii
Order: Coelacanthiformes
Family: Latimeriidae
Genus: Latimeria
Species: L. manadoensis.
(Source: wikipedia)

FACTH about COELACANTH.

COELACANTH FACT.

(1) You'd think it would be hard to miss a six-foot-long, 200-pound fish, but the discovery of a live Coelacanth in 1938 caused an international sensation. On the following slides, you'll discover everything you need to know about this "living fossil."

(2) Coelacanths first appeared in the world's oceans during the late Devonian period (about 360 million years ago), and persisted all the way to the end of the Cretaceous, when they went extinct along with dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles. Despite their 300-million-year track record, though, coelacanths were never particularly abundant, especially compared to other families of prehistoric fish.

(3).The vast majority of creatures that go extinct manage to *stay* extinct. That's why scientists were so shocked when, in 1938, a sailing vessel dredged up a live Coelacanth near the coast of South Africa. This "living fossil" generated instant headlines around the world, and fueled hopes that somewhere, somehow, a population of Ankylosaurus or Pteranodon had escaped the end-Cretaceous extinction and survived to the present day.

(4).Sadly, in the decades following the discovery of Latimeria chalumnae (as the first Coelacanth species was named), there were no reliable encounters with living, breathing tyrannosaurs or ceratopsians. In 1997, though, a second Coelacanth species (L. menadoensis) was discovered in Indonesia. Genetic analysis showed that the Indonesian Coelacanth differs significantly from the African species, though they may both have evolved from a common ancestor.

(5).The vast majority of fish in the world's oceans, lakes and rivers--including salmon, tuna, goldfish and guppies--are "ray-finned" fish, or actinopterygians, the fins of which are supported by characteristic spines. Coelacanths, by contrast, are "lobe-finned" fish, or sarcopterygians, whose fins are supported by fleshy, stalklike structures. Besides Coelacanths, the only extant sarcoptergians alive today are the lungfish of Africa, Australia and South America.

(6).Just how distinctive are Coelacanths? Well, both identified Latimeria species have heads that can pivot upwards, thanks to an "intracranial joint" on the top of the skull (an adaptation that allows these fish to open their mouths extra-wide in order to swallow prey). Not only is this feature lacking in other lobe-finned and ray-finned fish, but it hasn't been seen in any other vertebrates on earth, including sharks and snakes.

(7).As you might expect given their extreme rarity, Coelacanths tend to stay well out of sight. Both species of Latimeria live about 500 feet below the water (in the so-called "twilight zone"), preferably in small caves carved out of limestone deposits. It's impossible to know for sure, but the total Coelacanth population may number in the low thousands, making this one of the world's rarest and most endangered fish.

(8).Like assorted other fish and reptiles, coelacanths are "ovoviviparous"--that is, the female's eggs are fertilized internally, and stay in the birth duct until they're ready to hatch. Technically, this type of "live birth" is different from that of placental mammals, where the developing embryo is attached to the mother via an umbilical cord. (While we're on the subject, one captured female Coelacanth was found to have 26 newborn hatchlings inside, each of them over a foot long).

(9).As rare as they are today, lobe-finned fish like Coelacanths constitute an important link in vertebrate evolution. About 400 million years ago, various populations of sarcopterygians evolved the ability to crawl out of the water and breathe on dry land. One of these brave tetrapods was ancestral to every land-dwelling animal on earth today, including reptiles, birds and mammals--which all bear the characteristic five-toed anatomy of their distant progenitor.

(10).The Coelacanth's "twilight zone" habitat makes the ideal fit for its sluggish metabolism: Latimeria isn't much of an active swimmer, preferring to drift along in deep-sea currents and gobble whatever smaller marine animals happen across its path. Unfortunately, the inherent laziness of Coelacanths make them a prime target for bigger marine predators, which explains why some Coelacanths observed in the wild sport prominent shark-shaped bite wounds.(source:dinosours.about)

COELACANTH_LIFE HISTORY

The coelacanths,(Source: Wikipedia)_constitute a now rare order of fish that includes two extant species in the genus Latimeria: the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) and the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis). They follow the oldest known living lineage of Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish and tetrapods), which means they are more closely related to lungfish, reptiles and mammals than to the common ray-finned fishes. They are found along the coastlines of the Indian Ocean and Indonesia.Since there are only two species of coelacanth and both are threatened, it is the most endangered order of animals in the world. The West Indian Ocean coelacanth is a critically endangered species.

Coelacanths belong to the subclass Actinistia, a group of lobed-finned fish related to lungfish and certain extinct Devonian fish such as osteolepiforms, porolepiforms, rhizodonts, and Panderichthys.Coelacanths were thought to have gone extinct in the Late Cretaceous,around 66 million years ago, but were rediscovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa.The coelacanth was long considered a “living fossil” because it was believed to be the sole remaining member of a taxon otherwise known only from fossils, with no close relations alive,and to have evolved into roughly its current form approximately 400 million years ago.Several recent studies have shown that coelacanth body shapes are much more diverse than was previously thought, however.

Latimeria chalumnae and L. menadoensis are the only two known living coelacanth species.The word "coelacanth" is derived from the Greek for “hollow spine”, because of the fish's unique hollow spine fins.Coelacanths are large, plump, lobe-finned fish that grow up to 1.8 meters. They are nocturnal piscivorous drift-hunters.The body is covered in cosmoid scales that act as armor. Coelacanths have eight fins – 2 dorsal fins, 2 pectoral fins, 2 pelvic fins, 1 anal fin and 1 caudal fin. The tail is very nearly equally proportioned and is split by a terminal tuft of fin rays that make up its caudal lobe. The eyes of the coelacanth are very large, while the mouth is very small. The eye is acclimatized to seeing in poor light by rods that absorb mostly low wavelengths. Coelacanth vision has evolved to a mainly blue-shifted color capacity.

DNA_A group led by: Chris Amemiya and Neil Shubin published the genome sequence of the coelacanth in the journal Nature. The African coelacanth genome was sequenced and assembled using DNA from a Comoros Islands Latimeria chalumnae specimen. It was sequenced by Illumina sequencing technology and assembled using the short read genome assembler ALLPATHS-LG.

ECOLOGY_Anjouan Island and the Grande Comore provide ideal underwater cave habitats for coelacanths. The islands' underwater volcanic slopes, steeply eroded and covered in sand, house a system of caves and crevices which allow coelacanths resting places during the daylight hours. These islands support a large benthic fish population that help to sustain coelacanth populations.During the daytime, coelacanths will rest in caves anywhere from 100 to 500 meters deep; others migrate to deeper waters.The cooler waters (below 120 meters) reduce the coelacanths' metabolic costs. Drifting toward reefs and night feeding saves vital energy.Resting in caves during the day also saves energy otherwise used to fight currents.Coelacanths are nocturnal piscivores who feed mainly on benthic fish populations.Drifting along the lava cliffs, they presumably feed on whatever fish they encounter.

Coelacanths are fairly peaceful when encountering others of their kind; remaining calm even in a crowded cave. They do avoid body contact, however, withdrawing immediately if contact occurs. When approached by foreign potential predators (e.g. a submersible), they show panic flight reactions, suggesting that coelacanths are most likely prey to large deepwater predators. Shark bite marks have been seen on coelacanths; sharks are common in areas inhabited by coelacanths.Electrophoresis testing of 14 coelacanth enzymes shows little genetic diversity between coelacanth populations. Among the fish that have been caught were about equal numbers of males and females.Population estimates range from 210 individuals per population all the way to 500 per population.Because coelacanths have individual color markings, scientists think that they recognize other coelacanths via electric communication.

LIFE HISTORY_Coelacanths are ovoviviparous, meaning that the female retains the fertilized eggs within her body while the embryos develop during a gestation period of over a year. Typically, females are larger than the males; their scales and the skin folds around the cloaca differ. The male coelacanth has no distinct copulatory organs, just a cloaca, which has a urogenital papilla surrounded by erectile caruncles. It is hypothesized that the cloaca everts to serve as copulatory organ.Coelacanth eggs are large with only a thin layer of membrane to protect them. Embryos hatch within the female and eventually are given live birth. Young coelacanths resemble the adult, the main differences being an external yolk sac, larger eyes relative to body size and a more pronounced downward slope of the body. The juvenile coelacanth's broad yolk sac hangs below the pelvic fins. The scales and fins of the juvenile are completely matured; however, it does lack odontodes, which it gains during maturation.

CONSERVATION_Because little is known about the coelacanth, the conservation status is difficult to characterize. According to Fricke et al. (1995), there should be some stress put on the importance of conserving this species. From 1988 to 1994, Fricke counted some 60 individuals on each dive. In 1995 that number dropped to 40. Even though this could be a result of natural population fluctuation, it also could be a result of overfishing. Coelacanths usually are caught when local fishermen are fishing for oilfish. Fishermen sometimes snag a coelacanth instead of an oilfish because they traditionally fish at night, when oilfish (and coelacanths) feed. Before scientists became interested in coelacanths, they were thrown back into the water if caught. Now that there is an interest in them, fishermen trade them in to scientists or other officials once they have been caught. Before the 1980s, this was a problem for coelacanth populations. In the 1980s, international aid gave fiberglass boats to the local fishermen, which resulted in fishing out of coelacanth territories into more fish-productive waters. Since then, most of the motors on the boats have broken down so the local fishermen are now back in the coelacanth territory, putting the species at risk again. Different methods to minimize the number of coelacanths caught include moving fishers away from the shore, using different laxatives and malarial salves to reduce the quantity of oilfish needed, using coelacanth models to simulate live specimens, and increasing awareness of the need to protect the species. In 1987 the Coelacanth Conservation Council was established to help protect and encourage population growth of coelacanths.

In 2002, the South African Coelacanth Conservation and Genome Resource Programme was launched to help further the studies and conservation of the coelacanth. The South African Coelacanth Conservation and Genome Resource Programme focuses on biodiversity conservation, evolutionary biology, capacity building, and public understanding. The South African government committed to spending R10 million on the program.

The underwater beauty old Manado (Manado tua) Island and Bunaken Island, where the discovery of ancient coelacanth fish habitat.

The underwater beauty old Manado (Manado tua) Island and Bunaken Island, where the discovery of ancient coelacanth fish habitat.

Until 1938, coelacanths were known only as an order of peculiar lobe-finned fishes which appeared in the fossil record almost 400 million years ago and then seemed to go extinct about 80 million years ago. So the discovery of a live coelacanth off the coast of South Africa in 1938 was understandably met with great excitement. A subsequent fourteen-year search for a second specimen of this extraordinary fish resulted in the discovery of the "true" home of the living coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, in the Comoran archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. Since that time about 200 specimens of have been caught in the Comoros. A few other specimens have also been caught near Madagascar and Mozambique, but genetic analyses suggest that these are simply "strays" from the main Comoros population.
The scientific community was shocked again in 1998 when UC Berkeley researchers announced the discovery of a coelacanth in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, almost 10,000 kilometers from the Comoros. Dr. Mark Erdmann first saw a coelacanth in Indonesia in September 1997, while on his honeymoon with his wife, Arnaz. Arriving at a fish market, Arnaz noticed a large, strange-looking fish being wheeled by in a cart. Dr. Erdmann immediately recognized the fish as a coelacanth and excitedly photographed it and briefly interviewed the fisherman. Doubting that they could really have stumbled upon such a major discovery, they concluded that coelacanths must have been found in Indonesia previously. Unfortunately, they did not purchase and preserve the coelacanth. Upon further investigation following their arrival in Berkeley a week later, they found that this was indeed an important and unexpected discovery.

Dr. Erdmann returned to Sulawesi in November, 1997 in search of another coelacanth. During a 5 month period, he interviewed over 200 fisherman in the coastal villages around North Sulawesi, but found very few fisherman who seemed familiar with the fish. Finally, he interviewed two fisherman who said they occasionally caught the coelacanth, which they called raja laut, translated as, "king of the sea." After careful monitoring of their catch for several months,Dr. Erdman was rewarded with a second Sulawesi coelacanth on July 30, 1998. The second Sulawesi coelacanth was caught by:Om Lameh Sonatham in a deep-set shark gill net off of Manado Tua island in the Bunaken Marine Park (see "where do they live" for map of location). The coelacanth was barely alive when it was delivered to Dr. Erdmann. After they temporarily revived the animal by towing it behind their boat, they photographed it in shallow water (see photo on "home" page). When the injured fish eventually died, it was frozen and later donated to the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. A French and Indonesian research team named the Sulawesi coelacanth as a new species (Pouyand, L., et al. 1999 "A new species of coelacanth."

In October, 1999, a paper appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reporting more detailed molecular and morphological analyses of the Sulawesi coelacanth (Holder, M.T., M.V. Erdmann, T.P. Wilcox, R.L. Caldwell and D.M. Hillis. 1999. Two Living Species of Coelacanths? Conducted by scientists from the University of Texas, Austin and the University of California at Berkeley, Holder et al. concluded that the Comoran and Sulawesi populations most likely diverged 5.5 million years ago and perhaps as long as 16 million years ago. This is significantly earlier than the 1.2 to 1.4 million years ago suggested by Pouyand et al. The differences are due to sequencing errors made by Pouyand et al. as well as in the way that they calculated the age of divergence. The Texas and Berkeley teams conclude that the molecular evidence suggests that the two populations probably do represent different species. However, when Holder et al. looked at morphological traits reported by Pouyand et al. to differ between the Sulawesi fish and the Comoran population, they did not find them. This is due to the fact that Holder et al. used a larger sample size of Comoran fish which provided a better estimate of the amount of variation that occurs. The definitive answer regarding the relationship of these two populations of Latimeria probably won't be determined until additional Indonesian fish are captured and a more detailed morphological study is completed.

The annoucement by Erdmann et al. of the capture and preservation of a living coelacanth almost 10,000 kilometers from the Comoros appeared as a cover story in the journal Nature (Erdmann, M.V., Caldwell, R.L., and Moosa, M.K. 1998. "Indonesian 'King of the Sea' Discovered"). The discovery was also featured in television, radio, and newspaper articles around the world; including CNN, ABC News, and National Geographic. Discover magazine even listed the discovery as one of the top science stories of 1998.

The first formal descriptions of the two known Sulawesi coelacanths and how they were discovered were published in 1999 by Dr. Erdmann in Environmental Biology of Fishes. (Erdmann, M.V. 1999. An account of the first living coelacanth known to scientists in Indonesian waters. Env. Biol. Fishes, 54: 440-444; Erdmann, M.V., R.L Caldwell, S.L. Jewett and A. Tjakrawidjaja. 1999.)The second recorded living coelacanth from north Sulawesi,In the first paper, Dr. Erdmann describes the events that lead up to the discovery and photographing of the first Indonesian coelacanth in the fish market in Manado. The second paper describes the fish captured off Manado Tua on July 30, 1998, its preservation and donation to the Indonesian government.

By:Dr. Erdmann's research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.

The beauty of the clear sea on the island of Sulawesi.

Banua Wuhu Underwater Volcano,Sitaro/Mahangetang Island,North Sulawesi,Indonesia.

Banua Wuh,Unique Diving Spot in Mahangetang-North Sulawesi-Indonesia.

As quoted from CNN in April 2012, which listed of 50 best dive sites in the world, it mentioned 4 Indonesia best dive sites in the world among those 50. They covered main best dive destinations like Bali, Komodo, Raja Ampat, and Banua Wuhu. Other 50 sites include 46 dive sites in 5 continents. And Banua Wuhu is one of best dive in the world.
Banua Wuhu is one of place in North Sulawesi that nominated to be a weird diving spot. The panorama around this spot is so extreme because it is surrounded by volcano undersea. However, the real divers will be challenged to explore many diving spots. The uniqueness of its spot makes divers curious and wants to conquer it. The crater spot of Banua Wuhu is marked by bubbles among the rocks with depth 8 meters.
The average temperature is ranging from 37⁰C – 38⁰C. That is why divers have to be careful to its bubbles. If you are careless, the hot bubbles can burn your skin and cause wounds. In this place, divers also will be able to hear the rumbling of volcano. Actually Mahengetang is one of undersea volcano with the peak named as Banua Wuhu. Its peak has elevates around 400 meters from the base of sea and 6 meters from the surface of water.
According to the story, the volcano is group of many islands during 19 – 20 century, one has 90 meters height at 1835 but gone many years later. At 1904, it has 5 craters and the other new island that formed at 1919 gone at 1935. Besides having volcano undersea, Mahengetang also has beautiful underwater life. When you dive at 10 – 20 meters depth, you can find marine life closer. Plus, you can see carpet of tight coral reefs. With those panoramas, it is not surprise if Mahengetang underwater become tourist destination in North Sulawesi, especially foreign tourists.
Banua Wuhu is located at Mahengetang Island and around Sangihe Archipelago, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is easy to reach it from the shore because the distance is only 300 meters from southwest of Mahengetang Island. Its volcano has its underwater beauty and divers love to explore it. From Tahuna (the capital of Sangihe Regency), you can take common boat and it will take around 4 hours. However, if you want faster trip, you can take speedboat to Mahengetang which is only take 1 hour. If you come from Manado, you can take speedboat and it takes 5 hours.

Banua Wuhu Mahangetang_Underwater Volcano,Sitaro Island,North Sulawesii,Indonesia.

The Wonderfull Banua Wuhu,Underwater Volcano.Mahangetang/Sitaro Island,North Sulawesi,Indonesia.

For those of you who like to dive, ocean Indonesia is a paradise for this activity. In fact, CNN put Indonesia as one of the most bizarre places in the world for diving,Banua Wuhu submarine volcano rises more than 400 m from the sea floor in the Sangihe Islands of Indonesia. Historical records show that several ephemeral islands were formed and disappeared. A 90 m high island was formed in 1835, but then dwindled to only a few rocks in 1848. A new island was reportedly formed in 1889 and it was 50 m high in 1894. Another new island was formed in 1919 but then disappeared by 1935,Underwater Volcano in Indonesia. 

According to CNN, Banua Wuhu is a strange dive. It is located around the islands of Sangihe, North Sulawesi. This area is considered extreme because of the volcanoes under the sea that is Banua Wuhu is located 300 meters southwest of the island Mahengetang. Banua Wuhu mountain crater point marked with bubbles in between the rocks.The average temperature of these waters anraea 37-38 degrees celsius.

Two slit World Plate in Iceland. Besides Indonesia, CNN mentions among other places. One of them is located in Silfra crack Thingvellier National Park, Iceland.Dive in this place means you are diving between two continents because this area is the meeting of two tectonic plates of North America and Eurasia plate.In this area, you can dive on the continental shelf cracks. The water here is very clear with temperatures cold enough. Not only is clear, the water is quite clean and safe to drink.

The world's smallest seahorse in the lembeh strait_North Sulawesi,Indonesia.

Cuttlefish & Octoppus Unigly in Lembeh Straits,Bitung City,North Sulawesi,Indonesia.

Lembeh is heaven for the macro underwater photographer. Lembeh straits has a great assortment of strange fish, macro critters and nudibranchs. You can view photos and a list of all the Lembeh marine life in the muck diving critter guide.

A typical Lembeh Strait dive site is mostly sand, with small scattered patches of sponges, reef, or anemones. Your dive guide will bring you and 1-3 other divers down to about 60-80ft depth, where you start to look for photo subjects and slowly make your way shallower. The small patches of life are typically homes marine life such as clownfish, crinoid shrimps, small frogfish, pipefish, seahorses, nudibranchs, harlequin shrimp, etc. In the sand the dive guide will be looking for species such as various octopus, snake eels, mantis shrimp, gobies, nudibranchs, sanddivers, etc. You will be somewhat spread out, each person usually photographing one subject while the dive guide find the next subject. In the shallows juvenile fish are usually more common. It is good to discuss beforehand the rules your group will use for how long to stay with a subject, staying downcurrent of other divers because of silt, finning technique, 

Juvenile Fishes,Stringray & Uniqly Shark_in Lembeh Strait,North Sulawesi,Indonesia

Lembeh Strait is a narrow strait that separates mainland island of Sulawesi and Lembeh Island. Lembeh strait which has a length of about 20 km is the object of tourist attraction (ODTW) Bitung City,North Sulawesi,Indonesia.
Lembeh strait for international underwater photography lovers may already be familiar.The specialty of Lembeh Strait lies precisely in the uniqueness of a small biota and biota are well camouflaged in the habitat.Most of the biota is even include rare and even can not be found elsewhere, or is endemic. Because of these features,Lembeh Strait is often dubbed as the Mecca of Divers or The Mecca of Macro Photography.
Lembeh Strait is a haven for rare nudibranchs. Frog with colorful fish, pigmy sea horse, sea dragon, crocodile fish, pipe fish, and many more unique fish species,and Noted, various types of groups octopus and squid unique only to be found in Lembeh Strait, a narrow endemic in this region. Various types of nudibranch also inhabit this region.

Bunaken Island Trip

Amazzing Underwater Life

Bunaken Island Nasional Marine Park_Wonderfull Coralreefs & Fish.

The Wonderfull of Bunaken Island (Bunaken kuskus resort)

Tarsius spectrum(marmoset) unique animals that live in the woods tangkoko batuangus National park

Tarsius spectrum(marmoset) unique animals that live in the woods tangkoko batuangus National park,Bitung city,North Sulawesi,Indonesia.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Tarsiidae
Genus: Tarsius
Species: T.spectrum.
The spectral tarsier (Tarsius spectrum also called Tarsius tarsier) is a species of tarsier found in Indonesia. It is apparently less specialized than the Philippine tarsier or Horsfield's tarsier; for example, it lacks adhesive toes. It is the type species for the Tarsius genus. The Spectral Tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) is less adapted than the Philippine Tarsier or Horsfield's Tarsier; for example, it lacks adhesive toes. It is the type species for the Tarsius genus. It is found in Indonesia, primarily in the lowlands of Sulawesi and on Selayar Island.
The Spectral Tarsier has the largest eye to body size ratio of all of the mammals.While its range used to include both the population on the island of Selayar as well as on nearby southwestern Sulawesi, the latter populations has been removed to a separate species, Tarsius fuscus.
When considered to include Tarsius fuscus in measurements females weigh between 102 and 114 grams (3.6 and 4.0 oz) while males are 118 to 130 grams (4.2 to 4.6 oz). It has a head-body length of 9.5 to 14 centimetres (3.7 to 5.5 in) and its tail length ranges from 20 to 26 centimetres (7.9 to 10.2 in). The average lifespan in the wild is thought to be 10 years, however in captivity the closely related Horsfield's tarsier can live up to 17 years and it is thought the spectral tarsier may have a similar longevity.(source:wikipedia.org).

Spiny Devilfis_hunique marine biota in the strait lembeh,Bitung,North Sulawesii,Indonesia.

Spiny Devilfish (Inimicus didactylus) in Lembeh Strait

Also known as Demon Stinger, Demon Stinger Scorpionfish, Devilfish, Devil Stinger, Spiny Devilfish, Devil Scorpionfish, Devil Stinger Scorpionfish, Demon Rockfish, Goblinfish, Demon Goblinfish, Popeyed Sea Goblin, Bearded Ghoul, Bearded Ghoul Fish, Indian Walkman and Red Sea Walkman.
Highly dangerous and poisonous with venomous spines along its back if trodden on etc. Although if disturbed it will move off out of harms way.Found on or buried in sandy areas near coral outcrops.Walks rather than swims.Colour varies from place to place.They feed nocturnally on fish and invertebrates.
Length - 25cmDepth - 1-40m,Widespread Western Indo-Pacific,Scorpionfish are masters of camouflage, enabling them to lie in wait for their victims to come close, before lunging forward and inhaling their prey with their large mouths.When disturbed they raise the spines along their backs and will usually move off out of harms way, however, if cornered they are able to charge at considerable speed.Highly dangerous and poisonous with venomous spines along its back if trodden.

Leaf fish,Yellow leaf fish and Scorpion leaf fish_unique marine biota in the strait lembeh,Bitung,North Sulawesii,Indonesia.

Leaf fish in Lembeh Strait.

The leaf scorpionfish is about 10 cm (4 in) long. Their color varies from green, red, pink, brown, ocher and yellowish to a ghostly white. The fish is almost as flat as a leaf and resembles a leaf in many other ways. The head and mouth are large. Through their eyes is a dark line. The large dorsal fin starts just behind the eyes and has 12 spines and eight to 11 soft rays.The anal fin has three spines and five or six soft rays. The venom of the leaf scorpionfish is considerably weaker than that of the lionfish and stonefish. The skin often has blotches that enhance a camouflage effect. This fish has appendages around the mouth, and sometimes real algae and hydroids grow on its skin,This fish molts every 10 to 14 days, and can change colors after the molt.(source:wikipedia.org & alanpowerfham photo).

seeing INDONESIAN the miracle of north archipelago_EXplore TRAvel Guide: Lembeh Strait,Bitung,North Sulawesi,underwater paradise of the most beautiful in the world

seeing INDONESIAN the miracle of north archipelago_EXplore TRAvel Guide: Lembeh Strait,Bitung,North Sulawesi,underwater paradise of the most beautiful in the world

Lembeh Strait,Bitung,North Sulawesi,underwater paradise of the most beautiful in the world

Diving in the Lembeh Strait
Lembeh Strait the new wonderful for diving,No place on the planet gives you the chance to see more shy critters such as the mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin shrimps, skeleton shrimps and innumerable nudibranchs,The fish also include the usual tropical reef suspects but also the more bizarre: Ambon scorpionfish, snake eels, stonefish, sea robins, stargazers, devil fish and even the weedy scorpionfish. There are also beautiful seahorses including pygmies, pegasus, mandarinfish, ghost pipefish and the endemic Banggai cardinalfish.

Dive Site Descriptions

Aer Perang
The formation of this dive site was influenced by a World War II warship that blasted through the rocks in order to reach fresh water. The name literally means 'War Water'.
Angel's Window
If, during your stay, you are growing tired of black sand, among some of the most amazing and bizarre, rare creatures on the planet, Angel's window gives you the chance to do a bit of reef diving. More than just a change of scene, however, this site is in fact a beautifully decorated pinnacle whose tip lies just below the surface, off Lembeh Island.

Hairball.
As you listen to the dive briefing and look at the site map you may feel a sense of déjà vu. The muck diving sites all sound the same - gentle slope, black sand, patches of activity, a few sunken logs. Hairball however, often emerges as a king among kings in the Lembeh Strait.

Jahir.
Jahir is one of the newest dive sites discovered in the strait and was named after the guide who first found it. Jahir is a site that in many ways typifies Lembeh, with black volcanic sand that you will slowly cruise over with your nose close to the sea-bed.

Makawide.
This spot is situated between 2 large boulders rising out of the ocean which offer amazing scuba diving opportunities over coral patches as the gradual slopes descend beneath the waves of the Lembeh Strait. Despite being right in the middle of the channel, currents are generally calm.

Mawali Wreck.
This Japanese World War II steel cargo ship wreck lies completely on its side on the strait's seabed in water ranging from 15 to 30 metres. As the sight of the wreck begins to take shape beneath your fins you will marvel at just how beautifully encrusted it is with crinoids, black coral trees and soft corals.

Nudi Falls.
Your diving boat will tie itself to both a low impact anchor as well as some over hanging trees at this site near the water's edge. The sheltered nature of the bay and the proximity to the land makes it feel like a lake dive. You will notice, as you roll over the edge, that the water is normally a degree or two cooler than at Bunaken.

Nudi Retreat.
This is yet another great site featuring a gentle reef slope that starts from a sheltered cove on the Sulawesi coast and descends gradually to a depth of 28 metres. Offering more coral than many of the dive locations you will find on the Lembeh Island side of the strait, healthy soft coral and anemones abound, playing host to probably the world's most popular fish, the anemone fish.

Pantai Parigi.
Believe it or not, Pantai Parigi is actually the only white sand muck dive site that you will find in the Lembeh Strait, an area dominated by black sand. This bay, on Lembeh Island itself, has exceptionally healthy and dense coral cover in the shallows, then a gentle white sand slope. This site is named after the fresh water well in the village and the nearby beach: "Pantai" means 'beach' and "Parigi" means 'well'.

Police Pier.
If you scuba dive here it is likely to be at night. Nighttime and muck share the promise of discovery, so to do a night dive in a place like the Lembeh Strait should be something special, and it is. Police Pier may be an odd name but there is every chance of a 'Sting' coming your way as scorpionfish and lionfish lurk all around. The bottom composition is a dull grey mass, at first glance lifeless but on closer inspection, teeming with activity.

Teluk Kambahu (TK 1).
A manageable name for a site which translates as the name of the local Lembeh village bay. Another entry off the boat into shallow water will see you descend over a dark sandy bottom, sloping gently down to 25 metres. To dive here is to snoop through the rubble and in and around sunken bit of wood and nets. Your possible discoveries could run into ridiculous numbers.

Mantehage Island, an Island with Amazing Scenery in Bunaken Marine Park Site.

Mantehage Island, an Island with Amazing Scenery in Bunaken Marine Park Site.
Mantehage Island is a small-sized island located in the group of Bunaken Marine Park. The island looks green from far, and it lies right in the middle of sea. As far as you can see, the island is so beautiful with blue sky and white clouds above it. When you arrive at this island, you can enjoy the beautiful beaches with its white fine sand. This is a fascinating island, especially with the biodiversity in its underwater and mangrove forest. Mangrove trees dominate the island, and it is one of the islands in the group of islands of Bunaken Marine Park. Most people of this island spread in several villages with a livelihood as farmers, not fishermen. This is because the government of Mantehage does not allow local people to catch fish in a large amount. Fishing is limited by certain regulations.
Bunaken marine park itself is spacious 75,265 hectares with five islands that were in it; the island of Manado Tua (Manarauw), Bunaken, Siladen, following several children Mantehage Island island, and the island Naen,Bunaken also have beautiful islands. One of them is island of Manado Tua Island. The island is shaped mountain rises 655 meters above sea level. At the peak of this mountain we can see the ships and sailboats sailed the high seas and see the charm of the mainland city of Manado.

If we dive in the waters of the island, at a depth of 150 feet we can see the volcano that still produce air bubbles and lava reef sharks are often decorated with large enough,Bunaken National Park and marine ecosystems are very rich and beautiful. If you go to Bunaken we can see hundreds of coral reefs, some species of algae, and some types of seaweed. Bunaken National Park also has a variety of species of fish, marine mammals, reptiles, birds, mollusks and mangroves. About 90 species of fish living in waters of this region.

Location
          Administratively, Mantehage Island lies in Wori District, North Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi Province. There are four villages in this island, i.e. Tangkasi, Buhiasm Tinongko and Bongo Villages. The island is one of marine tourine destinations in the group of Bunaken Marine Park. The island is adjacent to Phillipine, Sulawesi Sea, North Minahasa and Maluku Sea. With such borders, the island offers fantastic marine tourist destination for visitors. To reach the island, you can travel from Manado. There are many domestic flights to Manado, provided by several airlines such as Garuda Indonesia, Batavia Air, Lion Air and many more. After you have arrived at Manado, you can continue your journey to Mantehage by speedboat. It takes about an hour by speedboat to Mantehage from Manado.
Activities
          Diving is the most interesting activity you can do in Mantehage Island. You can enjoy the beautiful underwater life with this activity. Diving will give you an unforgettable memory. There are some diving spots in the waters of Mantehage Island. You can start to dive from the location with various species of fishes and coral reefs. If you are a professional diver, you can dive to the depth of 18 meters. With such depth, you can have a distinctive experience. You will be able to find a more unique and extreme creatures like napoleon, barracuda, angel fish, blow fish, lobster, blue ribbon eels, and sharks. You can prepare a camera to record the beautiful scenery of schools of fish.

Accommodations
          You will not find any hotels and home stay in Mantehage Island. However, you don’t have to worry as you can stay in one of the local people’s houses. Local people usually provide home stay for visitors who want to spend their night in the island. Otherwise, you can stay in Siladen Island. The both islands provide adequate facilities for visitors. The distance of Mantehage to Siladen is about an hour. The resort and home stay in Siladen include Siladen Resort and Spa, Tante Martha Homestay, Ahlan Hotel, Angkasa Raya Indah Hotel, Arison Hotel and many others,Mantehage is one of the most exotic islands in Bunaken Marine Park site. It is recommended to visit Mantehage Island when you travel to Bunaken & mantehage island (source: picnicindonesia.com & metrososialita.com)

Dive Spot Area,Bunaken Island Marine Nasional Park.

Dive Spot Map_Bunaken Island Marine Nasional Park.

With many wonderful sites to choose from, the Bunaken Marine Park stretches over 75,000 hectares in the deep waters of the Sulawesi Sea. There are five islands that make up the park, Siladen, Montehage, Nain and of course Bunaken. The fifth one Manado Tua stands out quite literally as it is a magnificent extinct volcano which dominates the four others and the skyline from the panoramic view from our jetty.The beautiful corals here are to be found surrounding the islands and with a depth from 3 meters to 1300 are home to the many species or sea life to be found here, definitely making this a unique diving experience.

With drift diving being the order of the day, we let you "go with the flow" (we do try to avoid up & down currents where possible!) Let your highly specialized dive guide find you the wonders that so many guests will drift pass. Keep an eye on the "Blue" for larger pelagic.
With the water temperature an all year round 26-29°C it is a destination for all seasons, with March to October being the dry season, and the rainy season starting around November through to March/April. The hottest/sunniest time tends to be June to September, but whatever the Month, don't forget your sun cream!
Although primarily a dive destination, the shallow reefs are also a haven for many different fish, starfish and corals, possibly even turtles, thus making it a wonderful experience for snorkelers also. With the coral disappearing into the deep, that's where you will discover so much more! Due to the depths here, we recommend a maximum dive depth of around 25-30 meters, depending on certification.
Here is an idea of some of the dive sites; we do also have a fantastic "house reef" situated a few minutes off the jetty, as well as some other nearby sites that are well worth visiting such as Walet point, Coconut Cove & BMJ.

Dive site area: Critter Circus,Popo Betlehem,Carlos Point,Tanjung Kelapa,Lekuan 1,Lekuan 2,Lekuan 3,Celah - Celah (Cracks),Mandolin,Bunaken Timur,Mike's Point,Muka Kampung,Aluang Banua,Fukui Point,Raymond's Point,Ron's Point,Sachiko's Point,Siladen Point,Panggulingan,Muka Gereja (Church Front),Negeri (Country),Tanjung Pisok,Molas Shipwreck,Batu Hitam (Black Rock),City Extra,BMJ
Tasik Ria Area

Critter Circus 1 - 2 - 3
Located right in front of Tasik Ria Resort & Tasik Divers, these three sites run into one to another. Critter Circus is a gently sloping continuous reef with interesting critters to be found whereas Reef Balls got its name from those artificial concrete Igloo shaped structures, which have been dropped on the sandy slope and have become a perfect habitat for a wide range of interesting critters, including different types of pipefish, leaf scorpion fish and flatheads. The most amazing part of this area is the extensive sea grass beds in the very shallow area. Literally hundreds of pipefish can be found here, fingered dragonets, clown and warty frogfish, sea snakes, and nudibranchs.
Popo Betlehem
A wordplay coming from "Better than Lembeh", describes this site perfectly well. A true "muck" dive like those found in the Lembeh Straits, but with warmer water and better visibility. In the shallow water extensive beds of Sea grass are found, where you can find different kinds of moray eels, pipe fishes, sea snakes, nudibranchs as well as seahorses and Frogfish. The black sandy slope has hardly any patches of reef but is full of concrete and sand filled bags with ropes attached, which hold the Oyster farm in place, which floats above water. Those offer excellent hideouts for an amazing array of critters and the ropes are used by big schools of long finned squid to attach their eggs. The whole range of "special" critters can be found on this site and photographers can easily dive here for days and days.

Carlos Point
Just 5 min navigation from the TR house reef, another gently sandy slope of patchy corals and black sand. Ghost pipefish, lager groups of cardinalfishes, and sandy dwellers like jawfish and lizardfish are very common.

Tanjung Kelapa
Who said that wonderful coral walls are only around Bunaken? Tanjung Kelapa starts with a white sand slope that continues in a vertical reef with hard and soft corals, gorgonians, and schooling black snapper all around. A must-see of the area.
Bunaken Island
Arguably the best sites around Bunaken are Lekuan 1, 2 and 3. These are really the same site, but with so much to see are separated. With more shelter here and lots of large nooks & crannies to explore, you are more likely to find larger fish like Napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish along with sea fans, giant sponges and turtles.
Lekuan 1
Another long beautifully covered reef, located in front of Bunaken Island, which seems impossible to be done in one dive. With visibility often 30 to 40 meters, sightings of larger species such at blacktip sharks, turtles, and schools of trevally and Napoleon wrasse are very common. Start on the sandy slope, which slowly get into the wall part of the site. Bannerfish and Napoleon Wrasse are resident in this famous diving spot including school of Pyramid Butterflyfish. Small whitetip reef sharks can be found sometimes here sleeping in crevices.
Lekuan 2
Continuing the first part of the famous long reef located in front of Bunaken Island is Lekuan 2. It is a vertical wall covered with different types of hard and soft corals, which have beautifully decorated this site and welcome a wide array of marine live. Great overhangs and small caves covered with soft corals combined with it's crystal clear water are one of the main reason for wide-angle photographer's to visit this site. Napoleon Wrasse and big Green Turtles often visit this area. It is also a good place to find Purple Dart and Sailfin Gobies.
Lekuan 3
One of Bunaken Best dive sites, as it starts with a nice sandy slope with underwater pinnacles and continues to a wall, which drops to over 200m. Groups of Jacks and Barracudas are often found. Not to miss the small creatures that are resident to this site too, like cleaner shrimps, a nice variety of Nudibranchs and Flatworms to name a few. Gorgonians and big sponges decorate the wall in a magnificent way and complete it with a huge range of colorful fishes.
Celah - Celah (Cracks)
This site offers a deep wall with large cracks everywhere. A great site especially with a bright sunlight passing through and brightens up the blue water. It is one of the favorite areas for photographers, due to its "lunar" landscape.
Mandolin
...tops out near the surface, with a wall that is alive with fishes such as fusiliers, surgeon fish, unicorn fish and bannerfish. Mandolin is named after the same traditional musical instrument due to its shape from a bird's eye view. Small schools of Reef Fish, Angelfish, Bumphead Parrotfish and Gobies are there for your enjoyment. Not to forget the groups of large sized Barracudas, together with different colors and types of sea fans. In the deeper part, there is possibility to see Blacktip Reef Sharks.
Bunaken Timur
This area of Bunaken is always protected from the big thunderstorms of the bad season, and it permits an unusual growth of many species of hard and soft corals. This is the point with the highest coral biodiversity all around the area. Spectacular also for snorkeling, if you are lucky can spot also turtles and eagle rays swimming in the blue.
Mike's Point
Located on the north west of Bunaken Island, this site was named after well-known underwater photographer, Mike Severns. A wall covered with a great variety of different, colorful corals is a home for a huge range of tropical reef fish, which makes it perfect for fish portrait photography. Big fishes are common guests to this site too, as it often has a strong current that is affected by the tides. The reef floor is covered in different types of Sponges that make it a great area for deeper diving.
Muka Kampung
It is located exactly in front of the village of Bunaken. Strong current are prevailing in the area caused mostly by the location of the site. However, it is an interesting drift dive to cover a lot of area. Numbers of large Sea Turtles are common residents here. The site itself is well decorated with hard and soft corals along the wall with some overhangs and crevices where the small critters will draw your attention. School of Jacks and Barracudas can easily to be found as well as humphead parrotfish, napoleon wrasse and big Dogtooth tunas patrolling along the reef. The top of the reef is a perfect place for the safety stop, with depth around 4-5 meters.
Aluang Banua
This site has excellent macro objects to offer. One thing for sure is that you have to pay attention on the disguised creatures. Leaf fish, Ghost pipefish to name a few creatures, which have been seen here. The wall also offers beautiful caves, which often became a sleeping place for white tip reef shark. Sea Turtles and Eagle Rays are something that you may also see.
Fukui Point
Located on the southwest side of Bunaken. Named after a Japanese dive instructor who first described the site in the 1980's, Sandy slopes leading to patches of hard and soft corals. This is one of the dive spots around Bunaken Island with no deep wall reef. Going down to around 15 meters only, there are 3 Giant Clams that are placed in a row, always surrounded by loads of Butterflyfish that are not shy to approach divers.
Raymond's Point
South from Mike's Point lays a beautiful wall covered in sponges, with hard and soft corals. The rich environment of the wall has its own charm. This site also has a large cave and due to the strong currents often present, is the Bunaken site richest in Wire corals.

Ron's Point
A sandy slope site with occasional visitors such as Tuna, Jacks, Barracudas and not to forget Whitetip Reef Sharks and even occasional sightings of Gray Reef Sharks occur. The coral covered reef is not to be missed and observed as you can find Ghost Pipe Fish, Leaf Fish and also different type of anemone and Clown Fishes.
Sachiko's Point
A very steep Reef decorated with amazing soft and hard corals in the shallower areas of the reef. It is a vertical wall on the northeast side of Bunaken, with visibility frequently in the 30 to 40-meter range. In midwater, away from the reef, there are literally thousands and thousands of schooling red tooth Triggerfish. Large Gorgonians can also be found in the area. The slight current here means larger pelagics such as sharks, turtles, barracuda, and Napoleon wrasse, frequent the area other critters typically found here include moray eels, sea snakes, leaf scorpionfish, nudibranchs, crabs and shrimp.
Siladen Island,Siladen Point
Siladen Island is a small island surrounded by a beautiful white sandy beach. The southern side of Siladen Island, Siladen has a vertical wall in large steps. The reef top is spectacular with a huge variety of hard & soft corals, and it is therefore an excellent spot for snorkeling. The colors of the corals here are just amazing - it is always amazing to find up to 10 different-coloured feather stars attached to a single large sponge. the sandy bottom offers lots of tiny creatures to be observed. White tip Reef Sharks are regular visitors as current is often present on this site.
Manado Tua Island
The dive sites around Manado Tua have steep vertical winding walls with many cracks, canyons and small caves. You can enjoy beautiful hard and soft corals, reef fishes, turtles and reef sharks.
Panggulingan
Located in the Eastern part of Manado Tua Island, This site starts off with a slope going down to 30m and then continues to a vertical wall with a large reef flat rising to about 5m. Large Schools of big sized Barracudas, Batfish Napoleon Wrasse, schooling Banner fish and Butterfly fish can easily be found in this area. There are quite strong prevailing currents on this site, which make it a good place to see Sharks and Spotted Eagle Rays.
Muka Gereja (Church Front)
The site is exactly in front of a Manado Tua Church. The waters around Muka Gereja are generally calm and offer excellent visibility with moderate to strong currents. It features an interesting, beautifully covered wall, with big barrel sponges, some of them almost 1 meter in diameter. The fascinating thing about this dive site is not only about what it has to offer underwater; the great volcano is an amazing sight when you surface. Another "fish Dive" - a real aquarium!
Negeri (Country)
The site is situated towards the east of Muka Gereja. Currents are very much depending on the direction and strength of the wind. With the same great visibility, there is the possibility to see Silvertip Sharks, on its sandy slopes around the 30 m mark. Around the wall, which is decorated with a huge variety of beautiful soft corals, resident habitants like the Banded Pipe Fish, Angelfish and other Schooling fish are almost certain to be seen.
Manado Coast and Manado Bay
Tanjung Pisok
The dive site on the coast of the mainland which is called Tanjung Pisok has a reef flat sloping to 15-20 meters depth, and is very rich with large tabular sponges, reef fishes, nudibranchs, ribbon eels and unusual green tree corals.Molas Shipwreck
There is also a diveable wreck, the Japanese Cargo named Molas, which from what we can discern, takes its name from the village of Molas, on the more Northern side of Manado. The history books are not too clear about its fate, but we again have good reason to believe it was torpedoed around 1942. Sitting upright starting around 10m the propeller sits at 40m. Although not safe for penetration, remember to bring your dive light. You can opt to "sit out" the wreck and explore a reef close by instead.

Batu Hitam (Black Rock)
This site is the continuation of the Molas wreck reef slope in an easterly direction. It is a gentle dive with hardly any currents and great for macro lovers. The reef consists of a sandy slope with coral patches and finishes off as a little wall. Great for critters like ribbon eels, rare nudibranchs, leaf fish and frogfish, crocodile flatheads and such. It is a perfect dive to do in combination with the Molas wreck.

City Extra
Located exactly in front of a well-know seafood restaurant, this sandy area offers tons of critters to be spotted. Ghost pipefish, mimic octopus, Ambon Scorpionfish, Seahorses, Boxfishes, Flamboyant cuttlefish just to say some. And if you are lucky, this is the right place to see the Dugong.

BMJ
When you will go down in this site, the first impression would be something like "where the hell am I??"... Site directly exposed to bad season storms, present a lot of broken coral and rubble areas. However, it's a paradise for nudibranchs and many other critters like ghost pipefish, boxer crabs, mantis shrimp and many more.(source: tasikria.com)