Planning a trip?
Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Mabul location page.
Overview
Shore-accessible sandy slope directly off the resort jetties on Mabul. Artificial reef pylons and sea-grass beds harbour seahorses, frogfish, blue-ringed octopus, and gobies on shrimp. The classic unlimited-dive house reef.
What you'll see
4 species curated- seasonalBlue-ringed octopus
- year-roundPygmy seahorse
- year-roundFrogfish
- year-roundCrocodilefish
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- medium confidenceBlue-ringed octopus
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 45 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 We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.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 | 28–30 °C | 8–15 m | none |
| Feb | 28–30 °C | 8–15 m | none |
| Mar | 28–30 °C | 8–15 m | none |
| Apr | 29–30 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| May | 29–30 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Jun | 29–30 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Jul | 29–30 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Aug | 29–30 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Sep | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Oct | 28–30 °C | 8–15 m | none |
| Nov | 28–30 °C | 8–15 m | none |
| Dec | 28–30 °C | 8–15 m | none |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Macro light — Night dives reveal a different cast of critters.
Next step
Book your trip to Mabul
Hotels, liveaboards, dive operators, gear recommendations, and travel logistics for the whole region.
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