DIVE LOG Australasia

Very happy to encounter this paddleflap rhinopias, but we had more in store later in the week.

common was a dozen other boats or more. In saying that it was only occasionally where other divers seemed be on top of us. There is no shore diving at Padang Bai itself, the little harbour that the village is located on is far too busy with boat traffic to allow that, all diving here is done by boat. Our first dive was in Blue Lagoon, only a few minutes boat ride to the north, and just around the first corner. It was here I managed to get my first shots of a paddleflap rhinopias ( Rhinopias eschmereri ) on the first dive. To say I was expecting to see this rare scorpionfish ten minutes after entering the water would be a massive overstatement. But I did. Ayra, one of the dive guides, had spotted it and waved me over. I must admit that I thought he was pointing to the large day octopus that was moving about the reef changing colours at will, but as soon as I saw this 15cm long fish waddling along the bottom I changed target immediately! We did around five dives on this site whilst we were here, and saw a lot of different critters, as well as getting the rhinopias on four of the five dives. But on one day we were lucky. We dove Blue Lagoon as the second dive of the day and for the first time my group didn’t find her. On return to the boat another dive group from our boat had found her, and she had a little red friend! Excited, we organised a trip back to try again that afternoon. And this time our luck was in. I’m assuming the little red friend was a male, as he was following her closely and with great interest. We spent the entire dive with them and were rewarded with several times where they were together for long enough for us to get some shots of the pair. Especially lucky, as when we returned to this site next, only the large female was to be found, her red companion nowhere to be seen. I have heard that there is a theory that the paddleflap and the weedy rhinopias ( Rhinopias frondosa ) are male and

female of the same species, but I can’t believe that. These two paddleflaps were definitely showing interest in each other. I believe there is a video of the paddleflap and weedy mating, but that may not be as unusual as we think, as these two species are not common anywhere and hybridization can occur in that instance. Also, if those two species were really one, what would be the pair for the closely related lacy rhinopias ( Rhinopias aphanes )? The deep red colouration of the smaller individual that I assume to be the male makes me wonder if it spends most of its time in deeper depths, beyond sport-diving limits. It would virtually be invisible in a dark recess in the reef a couple of hundred metres down. Perhaps like some other species these fish come into the warmer shallows to mate and lay eggs? I needn’t have worried about the rest of the week. The dives around Padang Bai produced some gems. White

This beautifully patterned tessellate moray stuck it’s head out from the reef.