Marine Life Cleaning Stations

Coral grouper at a marine life cleaning station in Raja Ampat with Coralia Liveaboard in Indonesia

Various marine life regularly visit cleaning stations. A cleaning station is where a special type of cleaner fish or shrimp live. At these areas on the reef these cleaners offer their services! On a scuba diving liveaboard in Indonesia, such as Coralia Liveaboard, you can witness this amazing behaviour at many dive destinations. In the photo above a coral grouper has a cleaner shrimp inside its mouth. We find it amazing the trust between the cleaners and the fish. One big gulp and this shrimp could be a tasty meal for the grouper!! Coral groupers are a regular on the reefs in Raja Ampat and other places like Komodo. They are usually quite shy fish but here our Cruise Director […]

Wobbegong Shark Raja Ampat

an adult-size wobbegong shark resting between corals in Raja Ampat

In Raja Ampat, Indonesia it is fairly common to see the wonderful tasselled wobbegong shark while scuba diving. Raja Ampat is right in the centre of the coral triangle and has the highest biodiversity of fish and corals in the world! Coralia Liveaboard can take you on a diving cruise to look for wobbegong sharks! Origin of the Name Experts think the name wobbegong could come from the Australian Aborginal language, meaning ‘shaggy beard’. Its scientific name Eucrossorhinus dasypogon also refers to the growths around the mouth of this amazing shark. Discovery A Dutch ichthyologist first described the tasselled wobbegong shark in 1867. The name dasypogon comes from the Greek ‘dasys’ meaning hairy and ‘pogon’ meaning beard. In 1908 a […]