Diving Bonaire 2018: Seeking the Elusive

Do you see what I see?

The hunt for the ever-elusive frogfish and seahorses continued this season during this- our fourth- stay in Bonaire.

I have been diving for three years, logging 91 dives.  Dan has dived for four years and has 147 dives under his belt. Early on, we both studied Bonaire’s Dive Site booklet descriptions that noted seahorses among the reef and frequented those sites without much success in finding any.  We soon realized that this booklet was not only out of print, but the information was sadly out of date.   So, we began going to sites where other divers reported seeing them within the week, found the seahorse(s), and noted their habitat. Then we searched independently and finally got more skilled at locating them.  Surprisingly, the easiest to find were usually on the bottom of Kralendijk’s mooring field at a depth of about 20 feet. There they clung to a bit of coral rubble and blended in, much like chameleons do,  by turning drab hues of grayish-beige and brown. 

The seahorses pictured below were  a few of the ones found this season.

                          

Neither of us had ever spotted a frogfish.  Over the years, I have even gone to great lengths to scour our dive photos with hopes that a frogfish had been inadvertently captured in a shot somewhere within the reef’s countless colorful nooks and crannies. Needless to say, I haven’t noticed any yet.  We have seen a few while diving that other divers had pointed out, but had never discovered one on our own.  Dan was not as driven as I to find a frogfish, so he humored my efforts when I began the quest in earnest.  The more experienced I became in diving, the more slowly I moved along the reef, stopping often to check out small blobs I thought might be a frogfish.  Frogfish have a lure-like appendage on their head that they wiggle to attract fish, and then they gulp them down.  So, when I’d see a blob that looked similar to the specimens in our fish identification book, I’d gently fan my hand over the blob to activate the lure or nudge the frogfish to move.  Still- no success.

These two photos were taken of a frogfish that was tucked into the reef behind our boat.  A friend who knew I was DESPERATE to find one told us exactly where to look for it.
               
I refused to give up, though, and during our last few weeks in Bonaire this season, I finally saw a bright yellow blob tucked into the reef that I thought might be a frogfish.  I didn’t fan this one; however, I did take several pictures and showed them to a friend who teaches a Fish Identification class in Bonaire.  She confirmed that this creature was indeed a frogfish and I had found it during it’s juvenile stage which was rather unusual!