A Dive Blog of a Different Kind

Over the weekend, I completed my Padi Open Water Diver Certification with four amazing open water dives. As my course mates quickly filled up their dive logs with all of the aquatic life they encountered, I was limited by my knowledge of the underwater world.

Anyway, here is my account.

The White Charly

The White Charly, as its name suggests, is a pale-coloured docile species that can grow up to 158cm long. It moves relatively slowly but is fluid in its movement.

The species is passive and does not pose any threat to smaller specimens although its large size means it can easily, accidentally harm corals while navigating the shoreline. They are generally amiable and pleasant to swim up to.

The Mo-Ni-Kah

Another docile species spotted was the Mo-Ni-Kah. The Mo-Ni-Kahs are tiny little thumb size fishes that float and hover around weightlessly. They are generally shy and try to avoid divers. Although the one I saw, kept on perching itself in front of me.

Once acclimatized to a familiar surrounding, the Mo-Ni-Kah is known to have interacted with divers. Although reported to be a highly intelligent species, the Mo-Ni-Kah is not known to recognise a diver in distress.

Benthos

As its name suggest, the Benthos is a bottom swimmer. As with the Flatfish and Stingray and other bottom swimmers, the Benthos is capable of concealing itself under the sand. Sometimes, if not careful, the Benthos is capable of burying others as well.

The Benthos also has a mechanism to expel ben-thane gas. Little is known of the purpose of this low-frequency sound burst that cannot be heard by the human ear. Some divers have reported to have spotted the flatulence by a steam of rising bubbles. 

Local divers are studying the possibility of fishes suffering from heartburn

The Maeah

A number of divers reported seeing a bizarre fish off the southern reef on Sunday morning. Although I did not witness it for myself, returning divers spoke of an adorable high fore-headed fish with tiny human hand-like fins on either side of its body.

The divers described it to be moving in a sequence of springs and bounces, landing and launching from the sea bed. The locals have named the species the Maeah. Although it is said to be harmless, even friendly, the Maeah’s haphazard spurts across the sea bed was said to have damaged much corals.

The Marcellian

Since they are known to have originated from Swiss lakes and crossed many a seas, I was lucky to have spotted the Marcellian on Saturday evening's boat dive . Marcellians are a picture of grace, looming gently along the reefs.

In a single season they can be spotted all around Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia. Those wanting to dive with the Marcellians are encourage to go to Philippines this weekend.

Ceerils

Ceerils are extremely friendly and playful creatures of the underwater world with immense ability to socialize.  The Ceeril I spotted immediately established a bond with me, helping me descend and pointing the way.

It was able to grunt to communicate, flap its fins and display certain expressions understood by humans. Diving with Ceerils are extremely comforting and reassuring.

Mer-wendee

Although largely believed to be mythological, an encounter with a Mer-wendee was reported by a fellow diver. True to folklore, the diver spoke of the mischievous creature sneaking up and over from behind to steal air.  

It has not been agreed if the Mer-wendee should be feared but locals all agree that whether tame or wild, the Mer-wendee is mostly led by curiosity.