Scuba

Striped Eel Catfish II

In March of 2012, I posted a school of juveniles on this blog that was spot on to the description in Wikipedia - 'P. lineatus juveniles form dense ball-shaped schools of about 100 fish, while adults are solitary or occur in smaller groups of around 20 and are known to hide under ledges during the day.' - later I dove a small craft wreck in Padang Bai Harbor and the entire hull was full of Striped Eel Catfish. This was probably the third or fourth time I've dove that wreck but the first time the catfish were there.  These were bigger about 4 to 6 inches in length and the school was huge several meters in every direction filling the hull of the wreck. Maybe these are teenagers..?

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Striped Eel Catfish are the only catfish on coral reefs.

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Ostraciidae

Known variously as boxfishes, cowfishes, trunkfishes and cofferfishes, they are closely related to pufferfishes and filefishes.  These two were photographed in Padang Bai Harbor, Bali, Indonesia diving with Pak Wayan.

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Thornback Cowfish, Lactoria fornasini.
Weak swimmers because of their box-like carapace but this also makes them difficult for other fish to eat.  It that alone does not deter, boxfish secrete cationic surfactants as a chemical defense shield when they are under stress.

Difficult to shoot from the front, they usually turn and slowly flee looking for crevices to hide.

Sightseeing

Luwak's are nocturnal creatures related to cats, this one is sleeping.

Good Shit

Near Mount Batur we stopped at this plantation for some coffee or 'kopi' as the Indonesians call it.  Samples of the Balinese Kopi were all free but the Kopi Luwak costs about $7 USD for a cup or maybe a small kettle depending on which plantation.  All the coffee is very good, I do like the Kopi Luwak although it is quite expensive.

Coffee Plantation near Mount Batur.

The process of Kopi Luwak.

Luwak and Kopi Bali coffee beans.

Fruit bat

Roasting and grinding the coffee.

Doug and I Coffee tasting.

All Photos (Except last) Doug Creswell.

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One more Cuttlefish
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Cuttlefish Padang Bai Harbor - Bali - Indonesia

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Cuttlefish of Padang Bai Harbor

I think every time I've dove Padang Bai Harbor I've seen Cuttlefish.  They are one of my favorite marine creatures.  Like other Cephalopods, Cuttlefish can shoot ink, change their color and shape.  They can also swim pretty fast and are usually a little difficult to approach, always seeming to stay at the edge of my photographic limit.  This Cuttlefish was attending to her eggs and allowed me to approach her, standing her ground and protecting her eggs it would seem.

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The eye changes focus by shifting the position of the entire lens with respect to the retina. Unlike the vertebrate eye, there is no blind spot, with the optic nerve positioned behind the retina.

Cuttlefish can look forward and backwards at the same time because their eyes have two spots of concentrated sensor cells on their retina.

Laying eggs in the coral.

Specialized pigment cells in the Cuttlefish's skin would correspond to about 360 DPI - enough resolution for modern printing.

Cuttlefish are sometimes referred to as the "Chameleon of the Sea" because of their remarkable ability to rapidly alter their skin color at will.