Planning a trip?
Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Tulamben location page.
Overview
Shallow sloping reef west of the Liberty wreck, seeded with artificial reef structures and bommies that host an unusual density of cleaner shrimp, frogfish, and juvenile fish. Ideal as a checkout or night dive with calm conditions and 5 to 15 m depth range.
What you'll see
4 species curated- year-roundPainted frogfish
- year-roundHarlequin shrimp
- year-roundMandarinfish
- year-roundGarden eels
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidencePainted frogfish
- 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 We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.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 | 15–25 m | none |
| Feb | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Mar | 28–29 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Apr | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| May | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Jun | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Jul | 25–27 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Aug | 25–27 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Sep | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Oct | 27–29 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Nov | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Dec | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Macro light — Best on night dives when mandarinfish display.
Next step
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