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)