Marine creatures Archives - Dive Timor Lorosae

Posted February 18, 2025 1202

Creature Feature – Ornate Ghost Pipefish

Fact File of the Ornate Ghost Pipefish Scientific Name: Solenostomus paradoxus Habitat: Associated with soft corals, gorgonians, floating weeds, crinoids Relatives: seahorses, seadragons, pipefishes Top sites: La Casa, Tasi Tolu, Dili Rock A...

Posted March 4, 2023 1011

Whale Communication

Whales verbal communication Whenever psychologists try to define the most distinctive feature of human nature, a complex and articulated system of verbal communication is mentioned in the first place. By comparing any human language with any...

Posted May 27, 2022 1328

The Funny Sponge Crab

Alias, the crab that carries our cousins on his back Date: 25th of April 2022 Dive Site: Dili Rock East. Time: 08:11 pm. Action: night dive. Divers: Dorothee, Stephane, Chriss and Sam . Dive guide: Giovanni. Depth: 5 m. We are on a long...

Posted April 28, 2022 865

Sex Change in the Underwater World

During the past few decades a large debate concerning gender identity and sex change has been raised in the western world, involving many different sectors of our society: politics, medicine, psychology, physiology, philosophy, religion etc. The...

Posted February 10, 2022 906

Nudibranchs!

Nudibranchs, colloquially called “sea slugs”, are the candy of the sea. With over 3,000 described species – and counting –, the incredible variations in their colours and shapes seem like what would happen if a glass blower teamed up...

Posted September 8, 2021 641

Night Dives in Timor Leste

Sundown When the sun starts to set down, below the surface starts a frenzy, some rush to get a safe hidden place to spend the night without get eaten by random night hunters and others stretch their fins ready for the active darkness...

Posted February 24, 2021 1924

The Frogfish – Ugly but loveable!

When I was first shown a frogfish, I had to look three times to realise what I was seeing. Then my thoughts were ‘what a weird looking fish’. It was like when god was moulding all the animals out of plasticine, he squelched it a bit and...

Posted November 28, 2020 1295

Orcas – The biggest dolphins in the world

Orcas are commonly known as Killer Whales and they are the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. Luckily for us we have seen them while whale watching in Timor Leste. Why are Orcas called Killer Whales? Orcas are apex predators...

Posted October 27, 2020 677

Finding Nemo in Timor Leste

Dive Timor Lorosae had a great Brazilian Instructor called Sato and when he returned from his first dive I asked him ‘How was your dive?’. I was half expecting him to be excited about the seahorses or the rhinopious, but he replied...

Posted September 6, 2020 1020

Russian Roulette and the pufferfish

Yellowbellied pufferfish by Jose Cortez When I first got to Timor Leste one of my first scuba dives was along the beautiful wall at Bobs Rock. On the return leg the current had picked up a bit so we were having to fin against the current, when I...

Posted July 13, 2020 1420

Dugongs – The Mermaids of East Timor

The dugong is a large marine mammals which together with the manatee are part of the order of Sirenia. The sirenians are actually closer related to elephants than any other sea life. The average size they grow to is around 3 metres in length and...

Posted October 28, 2015 783

Feel Safe to Dive in Timor as there are Non Letal Jellyfish.

Jellyfish Jellyfish are part of the Phylum group Cnidarians. This is a widely diverse group that include hard and soft corals, anemones, hydroids, sea fans and gorgonians etc. Despite the diversity they all have a basic body plan, with larvae...