Mola-mola (Ocean Sunfish)
This is the purpose we came to Bali for diving. We are lucky that we saw this giant fish in our very first dive at approx. 36m deep.
Diving in Bali is really an experience. The water is so cold until i dont feel like jumping into the sea. The coldest was in my 5th dive. The temperature was only 21 degree celsious. I think i am not going to dive again in Bali unless i got a more than 5mm wet suit :)
"The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.
Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate.[1] Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish)"
Manta Ray
The second precious in Bali dive is to search for Manta Ray. So happy that we spotted 3 of them in our 2nd dive. I am so near to it.
"The manta ray (Manta birostris) is the largest species of the rays. The largest known specimen was more than 7.6 metres (25 ft) across, with a weight of about 1,300 kilograms (2,900 lb). It ranges throughout tropical waters of the world, typically around coral reefs. They have the largest brain-to-body ratio of the sharks, rays and skates (Elasmobranchii),[2] a brain which is kept warm during lengthy dives to as deep as 500 metres in cold water.
Mantas feed on plankton, fish larvae and the like, filtered from the water passing through their gills as they swim. They catch small prey organisms on gill rakers, flat plates of russet-colored spongy tissue spanning spaces between the manta's gill bars. An average-sized manta is estimated to take in 20-30kgs of plankton per day.
Manta rays frequently visit cleaning stations where small fish such as wrasse, remora, and angelfish swim in the manta's gills and over its skin to feed, in the process cleaning it of parasites and dead tissue. Like other species in the shark family they must swim to keep from sinking, so that their stay at a cleaning station is characterised by slow circuits.
Large sharks and in some circumstances orcas, are manta's main predators.[11]
Mantas breach the surface and launch into the air. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manta_ray)"
