Weird Fish of the Lembeh Strait

Lionfish

  What a wonderful world underwater can be. Making our way out to Sulawesi Island after 2 plane stops, driving another hour to the port village, and then a 10 minute boat ride to Lembeh Island makes me wonder in amazement at travelers that would come to these places 50 or 60 years ago. The world is truly at our fingertips now. I can only imagine what travelers in 50 or 60 years from now will think about us. Maybe they will be shocked that we would spend days traveling to these places when all they have to do is teleport.

Pygmy Sea Horse

Common Sea Horse

  Sometimes the destination makes the journey worth it and many times the journey itself is worth it all on its own. Lembeh is a bit of both. The drive across Sulawesi is through little villages and past giant volcanoes covered in forest.

Ribbon Eel

Snake Eel

But underwater is how Lembeh really shines. The variety of fish in these waters is mind blowing. You can see a lot of reef fish you might see in aquariums but it was the outlandish, and often times rare species of fish we were after.

Flying gurnard

Just by taking a look at these pictures you can get an idea of the variety of body shapes, sizes, forms, and colors of fish species in these warm tropical waters. Like I've said before, the underwater world never fails to inspire wonder.

An ornate ghost pipefish