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Green turtle
Chelonia mydas
The green turtle is a large sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae.
It is the only species in the genus Chelonia and is found throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Their common name derives from the green fat underneath their shell.

Unlike other members of its family, such as the hawksbill and loggerhead sea turtle, C. mydas is mostly herbivorous, feeding mostly on various species of sea grasses.
Adult green turtles grow to 1.5m, but larger individuals have been caught that reached weights of up to 315kg., average weight is 110–190kg.
They migrate long distances between feeding grounds and hatching beaches.
Many islands worldwide are known as Turtle Island due to green sea turtles nesting on their beaches.
Females crawl out on beaches, dig nests and lay eggs during the night, sex determination is temperature dependent during the time the turtles are developing in the eggs.
Those that reach maturity may live to age 80 in the wild.
Harlequin Ghostpipefish
Solenostomus paradoxus
Also called the Harlequin ornate ghost pipe fish, Solenostomus paradoxus.
Member of the family Solenostomidae found in the Western Pacific and the Indian ocean along reef edges prone to strong currents. Found in pairs or family groups on coral drop-off's and rock faces along coastal reefs, usually close to soft corals or sea grass.

Ghostpipefish swim heads down searching near the bottom for crustaceans. They can usually be found amongst sea grass, between the arms of criniods, black corals and gorgonians.
They can reach a maximum length of 12cm.
Their diet consists mostly of shrimps and other small crustaceans.
Females carry the eggs in their pelvic fins that are modified to form a brood pouch.
Frog fish
Histiophryne psychedelica
A newly discovered (first described in 2009 by Ted Pietsch) species frog fish of the family Antennariidae.
More than a dozen have been seen in Ambon Harbor, Indonesia, since divers with Maluku Divers first spotted one in January 2008.
The psychedelic frog fish can reach a length of 15cm and it's diet consists of shrimp and small fish.

They don't so much swim as hop and the skin is covered in a protective mucus to avoid tearing when rubbed against coral.
Unlike most angler fishes it lacks the luring appendage on its forehead and pelvic fins.
They have a flat face with a mouth smaller than that of most angler fishes and forward-facing eyes which may provide it with binocular vision.
The female lay a cluster of about 220 eggs.
Like all members of the genus Histiophryne, the female wrapped its caudal, dorsal, and anal fins around the cluster of eggs, hiding it from view.
Ragged-finned fire fish
Pterois antennata
Pterois antennata is one of several species of venomous marine fish of the family Scorpaenidae, commonly known as Lion fish.
They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines, and have a generally striped appearance in different colours.
Found singly or in small groups, at depths between 6 and 50m, on coral and rocky reefs, caves, drop-off's and sandy areas.
They feed on small fish and crustaceans and can reach a length of 20cm.
They are widespread in the Indo-Pacific ocean.

Lionfish can be found during the day, hovering above the ground, in caves or crevices, often upside down.
At night they are out in the open hunting.
When disturbed they raise their feathery fins as a warning and will usually move off out of harms way, however, if cornered they are able to charge at considerable speed.
Their beautiful feathery pectoral and dorsal fins are highly venomous.
Undulated moray
Gymnothorax undulatus
Of the family Muraenidae with a maximum length of 1m.
The largest specie is the giant moray, Strophidon sathete, with a length up to 4 m.
Morays usually live in warm waters, and subtropical coral reefs to depths of 150 m, where they spend most of their time concealed inside crevices and alcoves.

Morays open and close their mouths to move water through their gills for respiration.
They are carnivorous and feed primarily on other fish, cephalopods, mollusks, and crustaceans.
Moray eels are ocean spawner's and appear to share territory with the opposite sex during the mating season. They congregate in groups when spawning.
Groupers, other morays, and barracudas are among their few predators.
They are prone carriers of Ciguatera, a naturally occurring poison that passes up the marine food chain.
Some humans do eat certain species while their flesh can be poisonous and people have died after eating them.
They are very shy creatures and will only attack if provoked!
The white tip reef shark
Triaenodon obesus
A requiem shark of the family Carcharhinidae, the only member of the genus Triaenodon.
Found in shallow tropical and warm temperate water around coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific oceans.

During the day, they rest mostly inside caves, unlike other requiem sharks, which rely on ram ventilation and must constantly swim to breathe, this shark can pump water over its gills and lie still on the bottom.
At night, white tip reef sharks emerge to hunt bony fishes, crustaceans, and octopus in groups, their elongate bodies allowing them to force their way into crevices and holes to extract hidden prey.
The white tip reef shark is viviparous;
once the developing embryos exhaust their supply of yolk, the yolk sac is converted into a placental connection through which the mother delivers nourishment for the remainder of gestation. Gives birth to 1-5 pups, 60 cm, per litter.
This species is reported to grow to 2.3 m in length but adults over 1.6 m long are rarely seen.
Their maximal reported age is 25 years.
Fearless and curious, white tip reef sharks may approach swimmers closely but are seldom aggressive unless provoked.
Peacock mantis shrimp
Odontodactylus scyllarus
This mantis shrimp is the only member of the family Odontodactylidae and is known for its formidable "punch" over 50mph, the fastest recorded of any living animal!
It reaches a length of 18cm and lives between 1 and 50m deep all over the Indo-Pacific with several burrows to hide in.

The Peacock mantis shrimp is an active hunter with a diet of gastropods, crustaceans, and bivalves, which it will repeatedly smash with its club shaped raptorial appendages until it can gain access to the soft tissue for consumption.
Females lay eggs in her burrow which hatch after about two weeks into planktonic larvae.
Mantis Shrimps have excellent eye sight with large eyes mounted on stalks these can swivel to give almost 360' vision.
They can often be seen with their heads raised like a 'praying mantis', they also raise their tail as a warning.
Mantis Shrimps have been known to attack and wound divers who approach to close.
Coconut Octopus
Amphioctopus marginatus
Also known as the veined octopus is a cephalopod belonging to the genus Amphioctopus.
The main body of the octopus is typically around 8 cm in size, and, with arms, 15 cm.
It is found in tropical waters of the Western Pacific Ocean.
It commonly preys upon shrimp, crabs, and clams.

Researchers observed their bipedal walking gathering and using coconut shells and seashells for defense and shelter.
This behavior was observed and filmed in Bali and North Sulawesi in Indonesia between 1998 and 2008.
You can see the A. marginatus collecting coconut shells, discarded by humans, from the sea floor, carrying them up to 20m, and arranging the shells to form a spherical hiding place akin to a clamshell.
Although octopuses often use foreign objects as shelter, the sophisticated behavior of A. marginatus when they select materials, carry and reassemble them, is far more complex.
Maroon Clownfish
Premnas biaculeatus
Also known as Spinecheek Anemonefish, a member of the subfamily Amphiprioninae.
They are found in pairs or family groups in the Bulb Tentacle Anemone - Entacmea quadricolor, on coral and rocky areas of coastal reefs.
Maximum length 17cm with a colour variation from red to reddish brown.
They are found throughout the Asian Pacific.

Anemonefish are specialized damselfish that live a symbiotic relationship with various anemones; each providing a number of things to benefit the other.
The anemone protects the Clownfish from predators, service as nesting ground for the eggs as well as providing food through the scraps left from the anemone's meals.
In return, the Clownfish defends the anemone from its predators, and cleans it from parasites.
Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning that they develop into males first, and when they mature, they become females.
The bull shark
Carcharhinus leucas
Also known as Zambezi shark, member of the Carcharinidae. This shark is common worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers, in circumtropical and subtropical waters.
It is found to a depth of 150m but does not usually swim deeper than 30m.

They are not bothered by brackish and freshwater, and even venture far inland via rivers and tributaries.
Because of these characteristics, many experts consider bull sharks to be the most dangerous sharks in the world.
Bull sharks can reach a length of 3.4m and pups are 56-81cm.
They are viviparous, producing living young, with a litter between 1 and 13 pups.
Bull sharks get their name from their short, blunt snout, as well as their pugnacious disposition and a tendency to head-butt their prey before attacking.
They will eat almost anything they see, including fish, dolphins, and even other sharks.
They frequent the turbid waters of estuaries and bays, and may attack people inadvertently or out of curiosity.
Dugong
Dugong dugong
Dugong dugong, the only species of the Dugongidae family, and one of only four species of the Sirenia order, the others being manatees.
Distinguished by their tail morphology, which is fluked and whale-like in the dugong and more rounded in the manatee.
All Sirenia are more closely related to elephants than to marine mammals.
Length between 2.4-2.7m, new borns 1m; their habitat is in the shallow coastal waters of tropical seas.

Dugongs and manatees are the only herbivorous marine mammals living today feeding almost exclusively on sea grass hence their nick name “sea cows”.
Feeding takes place at depths of 1-5 m and they cannot hold their breaths for long periods of time; most dives last around 1-3 minutes.
The average swimming speed is around 10 km per hour.
Gestation period is between 13-14 months, after which females give birth to a single calf (twins are rare).
Sexual maturity attained as early as 6 years but may be delayed until 17 years. Due to their large size, dugongs have very few natural predators (other than sharks).
They have been known to live for more than 70 years in the wild.
The tiger shark
Galeocerdo cuvier
Is a species of requiem shark and the only member of the genus Galeocerdo.
Tiger sharks are relatively large macropredators, capable of attaining a length of over 5 m.
It is found in many tropical and temperate oceans, and is especially common around central Pacific islands.

The tiger shark is the only species in its family that is ovoviviparous (rest is viviparous, see white tip reef shark); its eggs hatch internally and the young are born alive when fully developed.
A litter, between 10 to 80 pups, develops inside the mother's body for up to 16 months. A newborn is generally 51 centimetres to 76 centimetres long.
It is unknown how long tiger sharks live, but they can live longer than 12 years.
The tiger shark is a solitary, mostly night-time hunter. Its diet involves a wide range of prey, including crustaceans, fish, seals, birds, smaller sharks, squid, turtles, sea snakes, and dolphins.
Tiger sharks are considered a near threatened species due to excessive finning and fishing by humans.
Only recently the bad reputation of big sharks, like the Tiger and the Great White, is dwindling, thanks to many good nature documentaries.
Human attacks happen, but who is really to blame?
Porcelain Crab
Neopetrolisthes ohshimai
They are found in the Indo-Australian region, Hawaii, Indo-Pacific region including Indonesia, living at a depth between 1 and 25m.

Small creatures, 2.5cm, that share a symbiotic relationship with many Anemones living in pairs between the Anemones’ tentacles.
The Porcelain crab uses its big claws to fend off Anemone fishes since it does not want to share the Anemone. However during many dives we encountered both species in a single Anemone.
The Anemones provides shelter in exchange for food and a nice cleaning service.
They are members of the infra order Anomura and are considered false crabs; they have a longer abdomen and the back legs are modified or reduced so hardly noticeable.
These crabs include the hermit crabs and squat lobsters.
Many thousands of species live worldwide in sea water, fresh water and on land.
Elegant Firefish
Nemateleotris decora
These fish belong to the family Microdesmidae, or Wormfishes. The family has 36 species of eel-like fishes that include the closely related Fire dartfish, Nemateleotris magnifica.

Firefish are found in the Indo-Pacific: Mauritius to Samoa, north to Ryukyu Islands, south to New Caledonia.
They can reach a maximum length of 9cm and are often found in pairs at the bases of reefs, over sand and rubble patches and in deep coastal to outer reef drops-offs subject to strong currents at a depth between 25 and 70m.
They are monogamous fish and feed on zooplankton, especially copepods and crustacean larvae.
Darts into a hole when alarmed.
Their elongated dorsal fin is used to signal other firefish as well as a "locking device" similar to the triggerfish.
Thornback cowfish
Lactoria fornasini
This beautiful creature is from the Ostraciidae family, commonly known as Boxfishes.
Ostraciidae is a family of squared, bony fish belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, closely related to the pufferfishes and filefishes.
They occupy the Western Indo-pacifis ocean.

They come in a variety of different colors, and are notable for the hexagonal or "honeycomb" patterns in their skin.
Boxfishes swim in a rowing manner and not very fast because of their heavy scales. Found between 3 and 50m singly on rocky reefs and estuaries on sandy slopes with mixed sponge and weeds.
They feed on invertebrates and worms and reach a length of 15cm.
The bodies of Boxfish are covered in a toxic mucus which can be released when stressed.
Although the adults are in general quite square in shape, young Ostraciidae are more rounded. The young often also exhibit brighter colours.