Hairball (Lembeh Strait) — Bunaken

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Overview

Black volcanic sand slope on the Sulawesi side of the Lembeh Strait, considered the flagship muck dive of the world's macro-diving capital. From 3 m to about 25 m the bottom looks barren until your guide starts pointing — hairy frogfish, mimic and wunderpus octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, ornate ghostpipefish, harlequin shrimp and a procession of nudibranchs all hide in the rubble. Currents are usually negligible, making it a favoured perch for macro photographers running 60-105 mm lenses.

Briefing note

Dedicated muck site — bring a pointer stick, a focus light, and a macro lens. Look but do not touch: hairy frogfish camouflage so well that finning the sand will bury one within a metre. Buoyancy discipline matters here more than anywhere else in North Sulawesi.

What you'll see

7 species curated

Hairy frogfish
year-round
Mimic octopus
seasonal
Peak: Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov
Flamboyant cuttlefish
year-round
Wunderpus octopus
seasonal
Peak: Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Ornate ghostpipefish
year-round
Harlequin shrimp
year-round
Blue-ringed octopus
rare

Sightings evidence

1 record on file

Hairy frogfish
high confidence
Last confirmed
May 2026
Recent records
130 within 10 km

Sources & methodology

How we summarise this

We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.

Sources

Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
FishBase — FishBase Consortium
Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation

Conditions

Month	Water	Visibility	Current
Jan	27–29 °C	8–15 m	mild
Feb	27–29 °C	8–15 m	mild
Mar	27–29 °C	10–18 m	mild
Apr	27–29 °C	12–20 m	mild
May	27–29 °C	12–20 m	mild
Jun	26–28 °C	12–20 m	mild
Jul	25–27 °C	10–18 m	mild
Aug	25–27 °C	10–18 m	mild
Sep	25–27 °C	10–18 m	mild
Oct	26–28 °C	15–25 m	mild
Nov	27–29 °C	15–25 m	mild
Dec	27–29 °C	12–20 m	mild

Season calendar

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Peak season highlighted · current month outlined

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