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Home , Frogfish, Muck diving, Painted frogfish

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> OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS I HAVE BECOME COMPLETELY ADDICTED : RICHARD SMITH TO AN ODD SOUNDING TYPE OF DIVING. IT IS UNGLAMOROUSLY www.OceanRealmImages.com NAMED MUCK DIVING, BUT IT’S NOT AS DISGUSTING AS IT SOUNDS! I FIND MYSELF TALKING ABOUT IT WITH DIVERS AND NON-DIVERS ALIKE AS IF THEY KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. USUALLY THEY DON’T, SO I GET SOME RATHER BEMUSED LOOKS! DESPITE THE NAME THIS TYPE OF DIVING CAN BE EXTREMELY REWARDING AND IF YOU WANT TO SEE SOME OF THE OCEAN’S ODDEST CREATURES THIS IS DEFINITELY THE BEST PLACE TO START. DIVING

he term ‘Muck Dive’ was coined Technique :: by the famous SCUBA pioneer Muck diving requires a completely Larry Smith, who is sadly no different set of skills and techniques than longer with us. The jargon most other types of diving. The two main associated with muck diving, such things to bear in mind are that very fine Tas the name ‘critters’ for sand and silt are extremely easily stirred encountered during muck dives, mostly up and secondly, that virtually all muck come from the vernacular of Larry’s home creatures are amazingly well state of Texas. Muck diving itself refers to camouflaged and many venomous. dives that take place in protected bays Basically these two factors mean that and reefs often with soft sediment, leaves muck diving is most rewarding when you Main: The bottletail squid is a close relative of the bobtail. or black sand. It has become very have good control. Don’t be Bottom left to right: Harlequin can be common on popular throughout Southeast Asia, but put off if you’re new to diving, I have some muck sites but rare as hen's teeth on others; A excellent muck dives are popping up made a list of dos and don’ts to help displaying demon stinger ( Inimicus ); The white eye moray around the world in the most unexpected make your first muck dives less stressful. is a common on muck dives. of places. DOS My first experience of muck diving was in • Approach slowly, paying close attention Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea ten years to your buoyancy prior to arriving at the ago. I had been diving for five years but animals. had never heard of muck diving and I • Hold on to your guide’s tank if you’re was a little reticent. After the first dive I feeling a little unsteady. was instantly hooked on this underwater • Double check before you put your treasure hunt, where every rock or piece finger down to steady yourself that it’s not of leaf may actually be an . The art actually a stonefish! of muck diving doesn’t come immediately • Carefully lower your fins onto the and practice definitely makes perfect. I sediment for balance. This is not always have found that with time your brain necessary, and you should always check becomes used to seeing the hidden there are no animals beneath, but it stops creatures and the search image formed in sand and debris from being agitated by your mind helps with spotting even the moving fins and hands. most cryptic of animals. • Be very careful when viewing and

sportdiving magazine june/july 2011 003 004

Top left: An unusual association between a Xeno crab and a seapen. DURING A MUCK DIVE YOU WILL Top right: Wunderpus octopus are very flamboyant when moving FIND THAT CERTAIN AREAS ARE around and are fascinating to watch if undisturbed. MUCH RICHER THAN OTHERS. IT’S Bottom left to right: The long finned waspfish is a stunning yet TEMPTING TO KEEP SEARCHING, exceedingly rare resident of muck dive sites; Ambon scorpionfish are AS THE THRILL OF THE CHASE identifed by long cirri above each eye. They can be found in pairs on TAKES OVER, BUT IT’S WORTH some muck dives; A stunning red pair of robust ghost pipefish; Hairy NOTING THESE AREAS AND mimic the soft found on some sites; Cockatoo waspfish SPENDING SOME EXTRA TIME are one of the more common muck dive residents but are generally a SEARCHING FOR HIDDEN GEMS. drab brown colour, rather than this bright colour form found in Lembeh; Some of the ugliest creatures seem to inhabit muck dives such as this humpback scorpionfish.

photographing marine life. Many animals so many critters are hard to find. with them explaining that you would your dive training, red is the first colour to small area seems to have more critters diving Mecca of the world. There are are easily disturbed or damaged by prefer them not to touch anything. Apart be absorbed by the water. As a result, a than the whole rest of the site. dozens of dive sites serviced by an equal touching or moving them. There are certain critters you can almost from disturbing the animal it also makes bright red colouration, which appears • Bommies – Any feature isolated number of resorts to suit all budgets. guarantee on a muck dive and others for photography very difficult, as the animal gaudy to us under torchlight, actually in the middle of a sandy patch is a great Despite the thousands of dives conducted DON’TS which a little luck and good eyes are is immediately defensive rather than provides some . Examples of place to hunt for critters. This may be a here annually, new species are still being • Use your hands to control buoyancy; required. Almost guaranteed sightings behaving naturally. Finally, it helps if your such creatures are the starry night coral bommie, a felled tree, boulders, found year after year. the water currents you create are one of usually include cockatoo waspfish, demon guide is well connected and can ask their octopus, painted stingfish and patch or even a solitary feather Highlights – Hairy Frogfish, Rhinopias, the main culprits of creating sand storms. stingers ( Inimicus ), frogfish and ghost mates for their last sighting of species on Richardson’s waspfish. star may well be the home of ghost Wunderpus, undescribed and rare It’s better to use fins and BCD to fine-tune pipefish. Some of the harder to spot your wish list! • Find a Good Muck Dive – Usually your pipefish or juvenile batfish! These patches species. your position in the water. species (requiring more than a little luck) • Know your Critters – Spending some guides will know the best muck dives in needn’t be large, it really depends on Operators – Diver’s Lodge Lembeh, • Fin heavily in an up and down motion are mimic and wunderpus octopuses, time flicking through identification books your area, but sometimes you might be what else there is around. Sometimes Kasawari Resort, Lembeh Resort, Paradise as it stirs up the sediment. A better option weedy and paddle-flap scorpionfish to look at muck dive critters will help your searching for a new one of your own. even the smallest patch of is Dancer. once mastered is a frog style kick as the (Rhinopias ) and flamboyant cuttlefish. The brain get used to seeing these animals Certain tricks can help find them. I have enough to attract a host of highly 2 Blue Heron Bridge, West Palm Beach, water eddies created by the fin go thrill of muck diving is that you can never and help you find them. Learning where found that the point where small rivers camouflaged creatures. Florida, USA – Muck dives were backwards into the water column rather see it all. Even after hundreds of dives to look and the habitats they are found feed into the ocean on a beach and • Not all Glamour – Whilst in search of originally considered an Indo-Pacific than down into the sand. dedicated to muck diving I recently saw are important if you want to find some of deposit debris can be a good place to new sites or even on established ones I speciality but this dive off Florida in the for the first time a pitted stonefish ( Erosa your own animals. start, especially in bays. Piers and jetties have seen some decidedly mucky sights. Caribbean has recently grown in fame. Creatures :: erosa ) and long-finned waspfish. • Colour profiling – Commonly the colour are notoriously good muck dives too as Since many muck dives are around jetties Due to the Caribbean’s isolation over Considering that muck sites at first glance of the algal, sponge or coral growth in they are often in sheltered locations. or near villages it’s inevitable that millions of years the critters here are quite appear to be completely devoid of life, Making the most of your Muck Diving :: the area will be the predominant colour Shelter from strong currents can be good sometimes you’ll see rubbish. Rubbish isn’t different from those in Asia. It is a brilliant they harbour an amazing diversity of • Find a Good Guide – This makes a of many resident animals. For example, too, but without some flow sites necessarily a bad thing as the creatures dive but slightly off putting that it’s located forms and types of animals. Some of the huge difference. For me one of the most where orange abound frogfish can be just too silty to be a good muck seem to weirdly relish it, but occasionally underneath a four-lane bridge! creatures would fit perfectly in a Sci-Fi important attributes of a good guide is an and scorpionfish will mimic these, dive. you may also see the unexpected. On Highlights – Red-lipped batfish, Sea movie and many are deadly poisonous! ability to find critters whilst not turning whereas in locations dominated by • The Sweet Spot – During a muck dive one dive I saw mandarin fish, frogfish, Robin, Caribbean Stargazer, Caribbean There are some commonalities between over every rock and prodding everything pinkish elephant ear sponges the animals you will find that certain areas are much nappies and a shark head. On another a long-arm octopus and juvenile fish. many of the creatures that inhabit muck to find them. Guides are often trained to will become this colour. richer than others. It’s tempting to keep blue-ringed octopus and a dead rat! Operators – Shore Entry. dives. A large number are ambush touch and manipulate the creatures for • Night Critters – At night a whole cast of searching, as the thrill of the chase takes 3 Horse Shoe Bay, Komodo, Indonesia – predators and others are highly photographers to get the best shot. If your new creatures emerge. An interesting over, but it’s worth noting these areas and My top 5 muck dive locations :: Horseshoe Bay is most well known for the camouflaged to their surroundings to guide is too hands on and harassing the feature of these animals is that many are spending some extra time searching for 1 Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, dive site Cannibal Rock, but equally avoid their predators. This explains why animals it is better to have a quiet word red in colour. As you may remember from hidden gems. Sometimes a relatively Indonesia – Lembeh Strait is the muck amazing in my opinion is the black sandy sportdiving magazine june/july 2011 divetheblue.net 006

Left to right: The starry night octopus beach only a few hundred metres away Operators – Tawali Resort, Star Dancer, (Octopus luteus); Coral outcrops are like called Torpedo Alley. It is named after the MV Golden Dawn. an oasis for the life on muck dives; A small electric torpedo rays that emerge at 5 Gold Coast Seaway, Surfer’s Paradise, hides against a sponge. night by the dozen. Australia – This great shore dive is easily Highlights – Ambon Scorpionfish, Torpedo accessed from the huge tourist destination rays, Stargazers and Bottletail squid. of Surfer’s Paradise and is only an hour Operators – only - Komodo or so from Brisbane. The southwest wall top 5 muck sites Dancer, Arenui. at the inside tip of the spit is best dived at 4 Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea – high and is a smorgasbord of Milne Bay was one of the first areas to amazing creatures. become famous for muck diving. Many of Highlights – High-Crowned seahorse 2 the creatures that have now been found (Hippocampus procerus ) is found only in 1 1 Lembeh Strait throughout Asia were seen here for the southeast Queensland, Slender Seamoth, 3 4 2 West Palm Beach first time. Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish, 5 3 Komodo Island Highlights – Harlequin shrimp, Imperial occasional Hairy/ and 4 Milne Bay shrimp hitching a ride on Nudibranchs, plentiful juvenile fish. 5 Surfer’s Paradise Pegasus seamoths and ghost pipefish. Operators – Shore Entry.

sportdiving magazine june/july 2011 divetheblue.net