Achilles Tang

Here's the final shot of the Mola to share with you guys.... and the many reef friends he has! and if you look closely at its skin... you'll see why he needs help!

Here's a video of the Mola Mola... its 5mb... so take your time to download but its worth it! http://www.sgreefclub.com/video/video-molamola.avi

Gorgeous fish! This Mola was a medium-sized specimen... about 2 metres long and probably 2 metres tall as well. A truly weird looking creature - floating fish head!

Bellyshot.

My favourite shot of the Mola! Notice the scar on its face... did a boat propeller hit it?

The fish was totally unafraid and I went over, under, sideways, even face to face!

I actually got close enough to reach out and touch its tail and feel how rough the skin was.... through a hole in my glove! I could see white dots on its body... "my gosh... what giant ick it got!" and the scrapes & open wounds on its tail probably from scratching against rocks to get rid of the parasites!

Unafraid of the divers surrounding it... including two carrying cameras with strobes.... just eager to have fishes start their work....bannerfish, angels, moon wrasses, cleaner fishes swarm the Mola Mola!

Approaching the reef wall that stretched down into the darkness... many common reef fishes came up to greet it, eager to start pecking on the many parasites that seemed to plague sunfish...

Out of the blue... came a sunfish or a Mola-Mola... my heart pounding with excitement at my first ever sighting of this very rare fish.....

Frankly, i think the fishes look quite common... even the flasher wrasse looks like something I've seen before in one of the fairy wrasse books!

January? why not now? it is the Mola Mola season! I heard my friend said she saw 15 molas at one location!!! How cool is that?!!!

Yup, Nusa Penida! Current wasn't that strong, saw the Mola Mola at 20m. Water was bloody cold due to thermocline. We decided that was the last dive after seeing the sunfish! (was supposed to come back to the same spot the next day!)

Glad you like it.... It's just to inspire everyone that the sea is a wondrous place... and our marine tanks will never come close to what Mother Nature has underwater... the only way to appreciate it is to be there yourself!

That's all for today.. just a preview of what's to come tomorrow....

For you crab lovers! The size of my closed palm?

oops...Neptune dropped some money! Sand dollar!

Plasticky-looking nudibranch!

wished I was able to take a better shot of this ghost pipefish with better contrasting background but the current was too strong at this point.

I did say transparent didn't I?

... when out of the corner of my eye... under an overhang was.... a hundred of its babies!!! Transparent, hovering 1 inch duplicates!!!

I was shooting this coral banded shrimp inside a dark alcove....

Yellow Frogfish - close up!

All tucked in and ready for bed!

Perfect camouflage... watch where you put your hands, a juvenile scorpionfish could just put you in hospital...