Anilao Things to Do Tips by muddybok

Most established dive sites at Anilao are quite shallow and with proper decompression stops, you should be able to keep on diving.

During the decompression stops, the residual "microbubbles" present after every dive will be reduced from diver's body through the lungs. If they are not given enough time to leave safely or more bubbles are created than can be eliminated naturally, the bubbles will grow in size and number, and it will cause the symptoms and injuries of decompression sickness. [Danger]

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You may notice my pictures have got some white vertical and horizontal lines. Especially on those nice macro shots that taken by my dive buddy (some by me). Since she allows me free use of her pictures, I must use responsibly that they must not be widely copied by others.

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Painted Anglerfish (Antennarius pictus) is often mistaken as Frogfish, but they are not the same except both are ugly & weird looking fishes. Often seem living around sponge & great in mimicking the sponges pores and oscules.

The 2 front modified fins behaving like legs and sometime it will looks really acrobatic trying reaching out and hanging on sponges. The modified front fins also help in leaping on sandy bottom while the tail is always seem curled for no particular reason.

This is one fish which is hard to come by if you only dive in Malaysia East Coast or Thailand dive spots.

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When I show my nephew this picture, he straight away says this is Powerpuff Girls kind of fish. This has given me the inspiration to write about bigeyes. I first thought that this fish is a squirrelfish, but my search in the net show that it's more of a Priacanthidae (bigeye), no further classification of its name.

If you click on the extra pictures, you will see some other bigeyes being compiled and the funniest of all will be the Priacanthidae Bok (translate: bigeye bok) who lose his permanent dreamy eyes once he put his dive mask on for scuba diving.

Also the Powerpuff Bee with her Cressi-sub Big-Eye series dive mask and one big school of bigeye snappers swimming passed us when Aimees, her Dive Monsters buddies & us diving at one of the Anilao dive sites.

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Nudibranchs are sea slugs belonging to the suborder Nudibranchia, the largest suborder of the order Opisthobranchia. There are more than 3,000 described species.

Nudibranchs are jelly-bodied snails, without a shell. They are carnivorous. Some feed on sponges, others on hydroids, others on bryozoans, and some are cannibals, eating members of their own species. There is also a group that feeds on tunicates and barnacles.

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When I was diving back in Malaysia, I only seen one nudibrach (pointed out by dive master) after more than 30 dives. In Anilao, I cannot believe by myself I can spot many nudibranchs in every dive. This really gives me a boost in confidence that I too can be great naturalist underwater.

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The Common Lionfish has very long pectoral and dorsal fins. The body is covered with red to black bands on a pale background.

This species has extremely venomous dorsal fin spines. When disturbed by a diver it often makes little effort to swim away. Instead it points its dorsal fin spines towards the intruder.

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The Zebra Lionfish can be distinguished by a combination of characters including its long pectoral and dorsal fins, its colouration, the number of scales in the lateral line and the number of pectoral fin rays.

The striking colouration is a "warning" to potential predators that this species has poisonous dorsal fin spines.

fish facts from net

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Anemonefishes are protected from possible stings by a special substance which is present in their external mucous covering. This substance does not actually protect them from the stinging cells. Instead, it lowers the threshold of nematocyst discharge. (fish fact from net)

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Many friends of mine who found out that I dive more regular lately will normally ask whether I see nemos when I am diving. I will normally quite surprised with that kind of question and will say "huh?" because I don't normally look out for anemonefishes unless I really want to take photos of them. Believe me, it's not easy to capture picture of them when they are such a dynamic fishes among the ever-moving anemones.

In short, clownfishes/anemonefishes are like granted for every dive so long you can find some anemone patches at the sandy bottom. I normally look out for something else, but nemos.

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Corals
Corals are animals. Yes, Corals are of the Class of Anthozoa (Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Cnidaria) and breed by spawning, with many corals of the same species in a region releasing gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon. Corals are major contributors to the physical structure of coral reefs, which in term are the breeding ground for most marine lives.

Giant Clam
Giant clam has been long misunderstood and known as the killer clam or man-eating clam. Today research shows that the giant clam is neither aggressive nor particularly dangerous, so far there is no account of a human becoming trapped and drown by these clams.


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I like to call it sea squirts because it's easier to pronounce and no need to be too technical about it. Just look the beautiful array of colors found on these sea squirts. If I didn't share information about them, I will be considered failed to become a responsible diver.

This tip is one of the FYI tips, and you don't have to rate it.

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Urochordata (sometimes known as tunicata and commonly called urochordates, tunicates, sea squirts or cunji) is the subphylum of saclike filter feeders with input and output siphons.

Most tunicates are hermaphroditic. The eggs are kept inside their body, while sperm is released into the water where it fertilises other individuals when brought in with incoming water. The eggs stay inside the body until they hatch.

Tunicates have two openings in their body cavity: an incurrent and an excurrent siphon. The incurrent siphon is used to intake food and water and the excurrent siphon expels waste and water. The tunicate's primary food source is plankton. Plankton gets entangled in the mucus secreted from the endostyle. The tunicate's pharynx is covered by miniature hairs called ciliated cells which allow the consumed plankton to pass down through to the esophagus.Tunicates are also the only Animals able to create cellulose.

(facts from wikipedia)

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I have mentioned earlier that corals are animals and I personally prefer soft corals than hard corals, with the exception of Gorgonian Sea Fan. I like to see the soft corals sway from side-to-side whenever the currents cause them to. It gives me that kind of graceful moves, but don't get me wrong and I didn't say that I admire the attitude of infirm (easy to sway). Corals are mostly catch on sturdy surface and they will not give way (or break) unless we divers kicking on or anchors landed on them.

Philippines has wide array of soft corals that I have never seem in Malaysia. The corals gardens at Philippines are consider much healthier than those that I see in Malaysia (and possibly Thailand) due to the immediate drop into very deep channels around its 7000+ islands.

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Come and dive in Philippines and i am looking forwards for next dive season to be opened coming this 3rd quarter. I believe Aimees will still welcome me to join her Dive Monsters group to dive in Anilao.

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Gangsters Paradise - Coolio

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life and realise there's not much left
Cause I've been brassing and laughing so long that
Even my mamma thinks that my mind is gone
But I ain’t never crossed a man that didn't deserve it....

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Sorry, I almost got carried away by the song. Here I mean to say that although the underwater world is beautiful, there are always some ugly looking, nasty characters, nice looking, but carnivorous nudibranchs and things like that.

Top of the list will be the bad-teeth Moray Eel which can be seen almost every dive in tropic waters. Of course there are uglier fishes such as deepsea angler fishes and some sharks and rays.

Lionfish (Scorpion Fish) will be one of those popular venomous marine fishes and voracious predators in tropical waters. When they are hunting they corner prey using their large fins and then suck the prey down.

Stonefish is probably the most dangerous of known venomous fish and its venom causes severe pain with possible shock, paralysis, and tissue death depending on the depth of the penetration. Lets test you eye sight see whether you can outline the shape of the stonefish in one of the extra pictures?

Titan Triggerfish is probably the most hated fish by divers found in tropical water. The Titan Triggerfish can be very aggressive towards divers and snorkellers. Especially during reproduction season it is very territorial and will guard its nest, vigorously against any intruders. Due to its size and strong teeth it can inflict serious injury to divers or intruders to its nest. If you ever see Titan Triggerfish hover on top of sandy bottom, you're advice to dive down and away so that you will not swim into its invisible cone shaped territory set around its nest.

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But the greatest underwater gangster none other than..
(click here to find out)

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