New Marine Life Keeps Appearing in Kushimoto!
Summer is in full swing in Kushimoto, bringing excellent diving conditions.
The water temperature was 26–27°C (79–81°F) at the bottom and around 29°C (84°F) near the surface.
Today we enjoyed a relaxed one-on-one fun dive with one guest, while another group experienced Kushimoto’s underwater world through our Discover Scuba Diving course.
With the sea now calm again after the recent typhoon, we’re starting to find more and more exciting marine life on every dive.
The first highlight of the day was young Midnight snapper .
I had been expecting to see one soon and had been searching carefully over the past few dives. Today, I finally found it!
The moment I spotted it, I couldn’t help shouting, “There it is!”
It was an adorable juvenile, only about 2 cm long.
We’re also beginning to find more tiny sea slugs again.
Today we came across Siphopteron nigromarginatum for the first time in quite a while.
It was only about 1 mm long. Maybe my eyes are finally getting trained to spot these tiny creatures!
Despite its tiny size, it moves surprisingly fast, so quick reactions are essential if you want a good photograph.
Its beautiful colors make it one of my personal favorite sea slugs.
After finding this sea slug, something unexpected happened.
We had just finished observing an Yellow mouth moray when I glanced behind me and noticed something large swimming straight toward us.
“What is that?!”
It turned out to be an Giant frogfish.
It kept swimming closer and closer until it finally landed right on my knee!
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Maybe frogfish really like the material of my wetsuit!
This unusual encounter became the main topic of conversation after the dive.
Moments like this don’t happen every day, but even after countless dives, surprises like these are one of the reasons diving never gets old.
Summer has also brought this year’s new generation of Anemonefish.
Tiny juveniles, about 1 cm long, are now appearing around many anemones.
These cute little fish can usually be seen from now until around September, making this a wonderful season for underwater photography.
Many tropical species that survived last winter have also grown significantly.
A few days ago we introduced Lesson's thicklip, and over the past two days we’ve also been seeing larger Whitespotted devil.
It seems that many tropical fish successfully overwintered last year, so we may even start seeing adult individuals that were rarely observed here in the past.
We’re looking forward to seeing what appears next.
Since the Kuroshio Current returned closer to Kushimoto, the diversity of marine life has continued to increase.
From tropical species to temperate marine life, the underwater scenery is becoming more vibrant every week.
From now through October, fish life will continue to increase, making this one of the best diving seasons of the year.
If you’re planning to dive in Japan, this is a fantastic time to experience Kushimoto.
We look forward to welcoming you underwater!
Today’s Sea Conditions
- Weather: Sunny
- Air Temperature: 27–33°C
- Water Temperature: 26.6-27.1℃
- Visibility: About 12-15m
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Recommended Exposure Protection
- 5mm wetsuit
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