https://muckdiving.net/critters/ Identification, behaviour and where to find them. New and newly checked entries from the muck diving reference. en Thu, 08 Oct 2026 06:47:56 GMT https://muckdiving.net/critters/stargazer-snake-eel/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/stargazer-snake-eel/ Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT A large snake eel that waits buried in muck sand, with only its mottled face, upturned eyes and fringed lips showing. https://muckdiving.net/critters/lembeh-shrimpgoby/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/lembeh-shrimpgoby/ Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT A hovering Lembeh shrimpgoby that is neither a black-ray nor a yellownose shrimpgoby but sits between them, with a bright orange head. https://muckdiving.net/critters/randalls-snapping-shrimp/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/randalls-snapping-shrimp/ Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT The red-and-white banded snapping shrimp that digs the burrows of the hovering shrimpgobies on muck slopes. https://muckdiving.net/critters/annella-reticulata/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/annella-reticulata/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Reticulate sea fan (Annella reticulata) in the Lembeh Strait: a large pink gorgonian with a fine polygonal mesh, its crinoids, and wide-angle photography. https://muckdiving.net/critters/ardeadoris-averni/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/ardeadoris-averni/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Ardeadoris averni, formerly Glossodoris averni: a white chromodorid with an orange-red mantle rim, and how to tell it from look-alikes in Lembeh Strait. https://muckdiving.net/critters/ardeadoris-cruenta/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/ardeadoris-cruenta/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Ardeadoris cruenta (Glossodoris cruenta): a pale lemon chromodorid with a frilled yellow edge and a ring of red spots, recorded in the Lembeh Strait. https://muckdiving.net/critters/barracuda-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/barracuda-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Barracuda larva (Sphyraenidae) on blackwater dives: a slim, large-eyed young predator with a long toothed jaw, and the adult barracudas. https://muckdiving.net/critters/basslet-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/basslet-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Basslet larva on Lembeh blackwater dives: a small orange serranid towing a long banded dorsal streamer, most likely a reef basslet (Liopropoma). https://muckdiving.net/critters/black-snake-mackerel/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/black-snake-mackerel/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Black snake mackerel (Nealotus tripes) on blackwater dives: a slim, silver deep-sea fish that migrates to the surface at night, and its look-alikes. https://muckdiving.net/critters/callistoctopus-paralarva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/callistoctopus-paralarva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Callistoctopus paralarva on Lembeh blackwater dives: the long-mantled, orange young of the starry night and ornate octopuses, and how it is identified. https://muckdiving.net/critters/ceram-blenny/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/ceram-blenny/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Ceram or Seram blenny (Salarias ceramensis): a mottled combtooth blenny of silty rubble, its eye tentacles, dark chest and Lembeh Strait records. https://muckdiving.net/critters/coastal-trevally/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/coastal-trevally/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT The coastal trevally, Turrum coeruleopinnatum: a juvenile seen on a Lembeh blackwater dive, and the yellow-spotted adult of sand near reefs. https://muckdiving.net/critters/codlet/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/codlet/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Codlet (Bregmaceros) on blackwater dives: a small clear cod relative with a single long ray on top of the head and long pelvic rays under the throat. https://muckdiving.net/critters/convict-snake-eel/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/convict-snake-eel/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Convict snake eel (Leiuranus versicolor): a black-and-white banded snake eel of inshore sand, how to tell it from look-alikes, and its Lembeh records. https://muckdiving.net/critters/cottonmouth-jack/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/cottonmouth-jack/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Juvenile cottonmouth jack (Uraspis) on blackwater dives: the white mouth, dark bars and jellyfish sheltering, and why the species is left open. https://muckdiving.net/critters/crocodile-toothfish/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/crocodile-toothfish/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Crocodile toothfish (Champsodon), also called a gaper: a small fanged fish that rises from deep soft bottoms at night, seen on blackwater dives. https://muckdiving.net/critters/cusk-eel-juvenile/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/cusk-eel-juvenile/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Juvenile cusk eel (Ophidiidae) on Lembeh and Anilao blackwater dives: the clear young fish, how it differs from pearlfish larvae, and the adults. https://muckdiving.net/critters/dermatobranchus-cymatilis/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/dermatobranchus-cymatilis/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Dermatobranchus cymatilis: a white arminid with dark rays on the mantle edge and a blue foot margin, described in 2011, photographed in Lembeh. https://muckdiving.net/critters/dragonet-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/dragonet-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Dragonet larva (Callionymidae) on blackwater dives: a small orange and gold speckled fish that settles to become a muck-slope dragonet. https://muckdiving.net/critters/flowerpot-coral/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/flowerpot-coral/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Flowerpot coral (Goniopora): daytime polyps with 24 tentacles, the Alveopora look-alike with 12, turbid sandy habitats and the nudibranch that eats it. https://muckdiving.net/critters/gymnodoris-rubropapulosa/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/gymnodoris-rubropapulosa/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Gymnodoris rubropapulosa: a white sea slug crowded with large orange spots, how it differs from G. ceylonica, and where it hunts in Lembeh muck. https://muckdiving.net/critters/halfbeak-juvenile/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/halfbeak-juvenile/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Juvenile halfbeak (Hemiramphidae) on blackwater dives: a slim silver fish with a short beak, how it differs from young needlefish, and the adult. https://muckdiving.net/critters/homophyllia-bowerbanki/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/homophyllia-bowerbanki/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Bowerbank's coral (Homophyllia bowerbanki, formerly Acanthastrea): a fleshy stony coral found lying on black sand in the Lembeh Strait, and how to tell it. https://muckdiving.net/critters/honeycomb-coral/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/honeycomb-coral/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Honeycomb coral (Dipsastraea, formerly Favia): how to tell it from Favites, and the gall crabs and Christmas tree worms it hosts on muck and reef dives. https://muckdiving.net/critters/hormiphora/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/hormiphora/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Hormiphora, a cydippid comb jelly often mistaken for a siphonophore on blackwater dives: pear-shaped body, comb rows and long fringed tentacles explained. https://muckdiving.net/critters/hypselodoris-iacula/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/hypselodoris-iacula/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Hypselodoris iacula in Lembeh Strait: a nudibranch with a white net over a fawn body, a thick orange rim with purple spots, and how to tell it apart. https://muckdiving.net/critters/indo-pacific-staghorn-coral/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/indo-pacific-staghorn-coral/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Indo-Pacific staghorn coral (Acropora muricata, formerly A. formosa): thickets on reef edges beside muck slopes and the gobies and damsels in them. https://muckdiving.net/critters/lobiger/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/lobiger/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Lobiger, a shelled sap-sucking sea slug with four long parapodial lobes that lives and feeds on Caulerpa green algae, photographed in the Lembeh Strait. https://muckdiving.net/critters/luzonichthys-juvenile/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/luzonichthys-juvenile/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Luzonichthys juvenile from Lembeh blackwater dives: a small orange slender basslet, or splitfin, of the anthias group, identified to genus only. https://muckdiving.net/critters/mauve-stinger/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/mauve-stinger/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Mauve stinger (Pelagia noctiluca) on blackwater dives: a warty pink jellyfish that stings on the bell, and a host for phyllosomas and young fish. https://muckdiving.net/critters/maze-coral/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/maze-coral/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Maze coral (Platygyra), an Indo-Pacific brain coral of long winding valleys: telling it from Symphyllia (Lobophyllia), and the gall crabs living in it. https://muckdiving.net/critters/miamira-miamirana/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/miamira-miamirana/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Miamira miamirana, once Ceratosoma miamiranum: a lumpy dorid with cream pustules and red-ringed blue spots, and how to tell it from other Miamira. https://muckdiving.net/critters/moonfish-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/moonfish-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Moonfish larva (Mene maculata) on blackwater dives: the thin triangular body and long pelvic filament of the only living member of Menidae. https://muckdiving.net/critters/morrisons-dragonet/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/morrisons-dragonet/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Morrison's dragonet (Synchiropus morrisoni): a small red-mottled dragonet of algae-covered rubble, its markings, depth range and Lembeh records. https://muckdiving.net/critters/mosaic-octopus/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/mosaic-octopus/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Mosaic octopus (Abdopus abaculus): a small long-armed octopus with a mosaic of pale spots, its size, shallow depth range and Lembeh records. https://muckdiving.net/critters/muricella-plectana/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/muricella-plectana/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Muricella plectana, the sea fan that hosts Bargibant's pygmy seahorse: how to recognise it, where it grows near Lembeh muck slopes, and its colour forms. https://muckdiving.net/critters/nausithoe/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/nausithoe/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Nausithoe, a small coronate jellyfish on Lembeh and Anilao blackwater dives: how it looks in a torch beam, how it is lit, and its tube-dwelling polyp. https://muckdiving.net/critters/neothyonidium-sp1/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/neothyonidium-sp1/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Neothyonidium sp. 1: a burrowing sea cucumber that feeds with a huge crown of branched tentacles on Lembeh black sand, and how to recognise it. https://muckdiving.net/critters/okenia-brunneomaculata/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/okenia-brunneomaculata/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Brown-spotted okenia (Okenia brunneomaculata): a small white dorid with chocolate-brown bands and long papillae, on bryozoan crusts in the Lembeh Strait. https://muckdiving.net/critters/orange-cup-coral/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/orange-cup-coral/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Orange cup coral (Tubastraea coccinea), a sun coral without algae: where it grows around muck sites, night feeding, and the slugs and snails that eat it. https://muckdiving.net/critters/oxynoe/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/oxynoe/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Oxynoe, the long-tailed bubble slugs: shelled sacoglossans that feed on Caulerpa and shed their tails, with one found on a Lembeh blackwater dive. https://muckdiving.net/critters/pandeid-jellyfish/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/pandeid-jellyfish/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Pandeid jellyfish (Pandeidae) on blackwater dives: a tall hydromedusa with folded red gonads, possibly Leuckartiara or Eutiara, and how it is photographed. https://muckdiving.net/critters/papuan-toby/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/papuan-toby/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Papuan toby (Canthigaster papua): a small sharpnose puffer covered in blue spots, how to tell it from the spotted toby, and its Lembeh Strait records. https://muckdiving.net/critters/phyllodesmium-pinnatum/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/phyllodesmium-pinnatum/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Phyllodesmium pinnatum: a small aeolid with flat, fringed cerata holding symbiotic algae, probably a xeniid soft coral feeder, seen in the Lembeh Strait. https://muckdiving.net/critters/pocillopora-eydouxi/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/pocillopora-eydouxi/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Antler coral (Pocillopora grandis, long called P. eydouxi): stout flattened branches, the name change and its coral-head fish in the Lembeh Strait. https://muckdiving.net/critters/pomfret-juvenile/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/pomfret-juvenile/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Juvenile pomfret (Bramidae) on Lembeh blackwater dives: a young open-ocean fish with tall fins, sometimes found riding a pyrosome, named to family. https://muckdiving.net/critters/porites-coral/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/porites-coral/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Porites coral: the massive boulders and plating colonies of the Indo-Pacific, how to recognise the genus, and the worms, crabs and slugs living in it. https://muckdiving.net/critters/rabbitfish-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/rabbitfish-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Rabbitfish larva (Siganidae) on blackwater dives: a clear, silvery late larva with a row of long dorsal spines, before it settles in seagrass. https://muckdiving.net/critters/randalls-frogfish-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/randalls-frogfish-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Randall's frogfish larva (Antennarius randalli) on a Lembeh blackwater dive: the drifting young of a rubble frogfish, and how little is known of it. https://muckdiving.net/critters/red-eared-emperor/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/red-eared-emperor/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Red-eared or spotcheek emperor (Lethrinus rubrioperculatus): the red gill-cover spot, blotched olive body, depth range and Lembeh Strait records. https://muckdiving.net/critters/remora-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/remora-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Remora larva (Echeneidae) on blackwater dives: a slim young sharksucker before its sucking disc forms, and how the disc develops from a dorsal fin. https://muckdiving.net/critters/shrimp-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/shrimp-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Shrimp larva on Lembeh and Anilao blackwater dives: the zoea and mysis stages of decapod shrimps, what shows in a torch beam, and why most stay unnamed. https://muckdiving.net/critters/silver-sweeper/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/silver-sweeper/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Silver sweeper (Pempheris schwenkii): a deep-bodied nocturnal sweeper of caves and overhangs, its fin markings, night feeding and Lembeh records. https://muckdiving.net/critters/snapper-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/snapper-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Snapper larva (Lutjanidae) on blackwater dives: the long serrated dorsal and pelvic spines that identify the family, and the adult snappers. https://muckdiving.net/critters/squid-paralarva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/squid-paralarva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Squid paralarva on Lembeh and Anilao blackwater dives: the planktonic young of squids, its fins, arms and chromatophores, and why most stay unidentified. https://muckdiving.net/critters/tenellia/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/tenellia/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Tenellia, small hydroid-eating aeolid nudibranchs with banded cerata; many Lembeh Strait forms are undescribed and known only by field-guide numbers. https://muckdiving.net/critters/trachyphyllia-geoffroyi/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/trachyphyllia-geoffroyi/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Open brain coral (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi): a small free-living fluorescent stony coral lying loose on sand and mud, and how it differs from maze coral. https://muckdiving.net/critters/tube-anemone-larva/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/tube-anemone-larva/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Tube anemone larva (Ceriantharia) on Lembeh and Anilao blackwater dives: the drifting cerinula stage, its spread tentacles, and the adult tube anemone. https://muckdiving.net/critters/turbinaria-peltata/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/turbinaria-peltata/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Turbinaria peltata, now Duncanopsammia peltata: a plate coral of turbid shallow slopes whose large polyps open by day, and how it differs from look-alikes. https://muckdiving.net/critters/waspfish-juvenile/ https://muckdiving.net/critters/waspfish-juvenile/ Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Juvenile waspfish (Tetrarogidae) on blackwater dives: a small clear fish with wide fan-like pectoral fins, its look-alikes and the adult waspfish.