Spiny Devilfish usually, as one can guess from their highly camouflaged appearance, do not move very much.

I came across three of them in quite an excited state on a dive this week. There was one big one, the female, and two smaller ones, the males, and the males were obviously very excited about the female and kept chasing her around.

As she was moving around, escaping the attention of the two males, more male devilfish kept appearing out of nowhere!! First there was a third male joining the group, then a fourth and finally a fifth!!

They would all chase her around, then she would stop, they all pile on top of her then everyone stayed very still…until the female swam off again, and they all repeated their actions..

One of the most bizarre fish, anywhere in the world, is the Pegasus Sea Moth.

These little fish, about 10cm long when fully grown, often hang around in pairs (or more), and ‘walk’ along the sandy bottoms, looking out for small crustaceans to eat.

They seem to have legs, wings, a bird-like beak and a weird lump between their shoulders, making them a truly unique fish and always a firm favorite.

What makes this bit a video even more interesting is that the Sea Moths are one of the critters that always swim way from you when you try to get video or photos. There must be 1000s of photos of their behinds!!

I was extremely lucky to find one this week that allowed me to film it from the front, enabling us to see it’s mouth.

These wonderful crabs really know how to hide. They are an Arrowhead Crab and stick bits of Halimeda Algae on their heads so they can blend into their habitat.

They can’t move very fast and always looks very funny when the current hits them and they get pushed onto their backs by the huge bit of halimeda sticking out from their head.

As adult, Egg Cowries are not the most exciting of critters. Most divers would swim over one, as the do not ever seem to move, and are completely covered by their black mantles. They sit on leathery soft coral, which they eat.

The juveniles, however, are very beautiful, and very occasionally we catch one moving. These lovely molluscs have big bulbous papillae sticking out, coloured yellow and white.

Egg Cowries get their name from their shells. You never really get to see much of the shells, but underneath the black mantle is a large and completely white shell which resembles a boiled egg….

These bizarre shrimp have an elongated rostrum which gives them a beak-like appearance, and from that their name.

They really are quite extraordinary critters and are always a joy to find. This one was found on my first dive of 2012, a great way to start the New Year.

These wonderful little crabs are really called Soft Coral Crabs, but the guides in Lembeh have always called them ‘Candy Crabs’ and it’s easy to see why.

They live on soft coral and are pretty rare and hard to see. This one was one of the biggest I’ve seen, about the size of a large pea!!

Nudibranches, sometimes known by their much less attractive name of ‘Sea Slugs’ are one of the wonders of the underwater realm. Unlike their land-based cousins, these ‘slugs’ are incredibly beautiful and exist in 1000s of different varieties.

This is a macro collection of some of the Nudibranches I saw this week in Lembeh.

Have you every wonder what Box Crabs eat?? Well, maybe you haven’t but I did find out this week.

Box Crabs usually spend their time buried in the sand, with just the tips of thier eyes exposed.

I caught this one out and about, and was lucky enough to see it just after it had caught a clam.

Clams have pretty tough shells, so it was amazing to watch this Box Crab literally rip the clam to pieces to get at the soft orange flesh inside.

The Crab doens’t hang around slowly savouring it’s lunch, but quickly devours it than scoots off to bury itself once again, before something tired to eat it!!

You would probably swim over the top of one of these small sand-covered conch and never give them a second glance…

..but if you did, and they were hungry, you would get to see this wonderful and surprising trunk-like appendage swaying around, looking for a good meal!!

They also have beautiful eyes and goes to show why moving slowly and looking at everything is so important when you are ‘muck’ diving in Lembeh, as so much is worth a second look

These lovely little shrimp are often looked over. Due to their white heads they can be difficult to see and, when you do see them, difficult to see past thier heads. Their white heads help them camouflage themselves perfectly.

For both video and photographs they are a challenge, as the contrast between their light heads and the darker parts of their bodies make capturing images tricky…and they live at the bottom of Mushroom Coral polyps that are swaying back and forth!!

But they are worth the effort, as they have a wonderful shape and great textures.