The Sea of Flores in the sun is like a clear turquoise, and the waves of water refract the light to depict the crystalline lines of this gem. Originally, the blue sea always appeared at the same time as the blue sky, and the blue sky was as blue as the sea was, but here, the color of the sea always dwarfed the sky, as if the sea water temporarily stole all the blue of the sky.
Komodo National Park has one of the best marine ecology in the world
Our boat glides on ripples like skating, except that the ice is replaced by crystals that emit salt. I slowly lifted the drone into the air, and in the endless bird's-eye view, the 29 large and small islands in Komodo National Park are scattered on the sea, and in the vast space of 1733 square kilometers, life is not only surging between the mountains and mountains, but under this sparkling liquid space, a new, vibrant world is throbbing.
In daylight, the crystal clear waters take on a crystal turquoise color
A brown round-headed boulder protruded from the sea, and the volcanic eruption of seventy million years ago not only gave birth to the Komodo Islands, but also created this seabed peak, and the earthquake caused by the volcanic eruption caused the boulder to split from the middle, and the sea slowly rounded its top and eroded its interior. Batu Bolong, which means "hollow stone" in Indonesian, is too boring in appearance, and its existence is even a little unworthy in this brightly colored sea, but I saw its real color in the eyes of the guide Miguel and fellow American biologist Matthew, which is the color of the entire coral triangle, the color of the ocean, and the color of life.
The seemingly inconspicuous Batu Bolong is a cracked seabed peak where cold and warm currents meet, creating a rich and healthy ecosystem
Batu Bolong, it is the flag of the most fertile ocean in Komodo National Park, just as the sky gives blue to the ocean, Batu Bolong will also settle colorful underwater. This dull boulder hints at life, gives birth to life.
The marine ecology of Batu Bolong is thriving
Gas cylinders, BCDs, fins, "fully armed", I took a step and melted into this blue. I'm the least good at stepping into the water, the gas cylinder hit the back of my head hard when I entered the water, I'm afraid I'm going to get a bag, what does it matter? As a large string of bubbles dissipated, a royal blue outside the mirror, each time into the water is from clear to chaotic crossing, and here is the reverse, compared to the mist-shrouded water surface, the sea is transparent, visibility is more than 30 meters, even floating particles are not seen. I held out my hand, as if to make sure there was really water in the blue space, but I couldn't touch anything. Batu Bolong, the sea shares the same name as the raised hollow stone, has unparalleled water quality and is the best dive site in Komodo National Park and the world. I'm in her water, what else do I want to touch? Let her touch me. A warm ocean current whispered, caressing the back of my head when I was hit by the gas cylinder, the pain suddenly reduced a lot, the weight of the gas cylinder on my back also disappeared, I took a deep breath, this blue world may really have no water, otherwise why is the vision so clear, why is the breathing so smooth? A large flock of trevally swims, spreading rapidly in the water by the current, and the unique silver light flashes in the blue, like the stars in the night sky.
The silver trevally is illuminated by the refracted sunlight, reflecting the blue water like stars
Diving is probably the same as astronautics, people can swim in the infinite blue space, without relying on it. Homo sapiens, in order to draw a clear line between the highest animal and other animals, we built cities, painted the earth as a prison, and instead coveted the birds and swimming fish that could cross the cage, and looked up at the sky and the sea under the guidance of the two, looking at the two most expansive spaces in the world, and the body and mind could finally temporarily leave the limits of the earth.
Schools of fish can be found everywhere in Batu Bolong
Look up at the sea. There is a god three feet above the head, and once the gaze looks up with the raised head, it becomes admiration, and there is a sense of sacredness in the heart. Dive into the water to look up at the sea, just like looking up at the sky. However, diving and flying do not mean that we have conquered the ocean and the sky. Nature preserves her dignity and allows us to learn and master some of her powers. As soon as we commit transgressions without permission, assuming that we abuse her tolerance, severe punishment will come. We swim with the trevally, the sea looks down on us overhead, dissolving the sunlight in the sacred and majestic blue, in her eyes, we, like these fish, are just a tiny embellishment in this blue, and our different ways of breathing are only fleeting whispers, she creates life, but also destroys life, in 70 million years or even longer, life in countless cycles of birth and annihilation into the glorious aria of this sea, We are a note in the accompaniment of the aria, at this time Batu Bolong is singing and dancing.
Brightly colored surgeon fish, coral provides a rich feed for fish
A bone-chilling cold current struck, and then a warm current came from the opposite direction, and the confluence of cold and warm ocean currents caused nutrients in the ocean to float up, attracting a large number of plankton, so that fish food was plentiful and varied. Miguel motioned for us to dive, I adjusted my body to a vertical state, held down the exhaust pipe and lifted it overhead, buoyancy immediately let go of the lift, and the body slid down. At this time, there was an ink blue above the head, still clear, as if the night sky was clear, and the trevally suspended under the ink blue gradually shrunk and became a real star. Displayed on the dashboard: Depth 20 meters. When the sky gets dark, Batu Bolong lights up.
Batu Bolong is a colorful marine ecosystem, and coral is the foundation of all life and the lifeblood of the ocean
In a high-pressure space with 2 times the pressure of the air on land, life began its throbbing. The vibrant erection was visible to the naked eye, and the scene was close to crying with joy, and I heard my breath screaming. Strangely, as the depth deepens, the visible light will become less and less, but the field of vision is like a neon light, and the rich colors sway, intersect and render with the ocean currents. If you look closely, corals of different shapes crawl all over the Batu Bo dragon stone, and use this as a starting point to stretch and grow along the seabed, forming a huge coral group. The absorption of color by the sea water in the spectrum does not weaken the magnificence of the coral, the warm red, the delicate pink, the rich orange, the bright yellow all shine in the luster of this sapphire.
Green turtles inhabit coral reefs
Cuttle fish is a master of color change
Hidden in coral reefs, the morey eel is a ferocious marine life
This colour is derived from zooxanthellae in symbiotic relationship with polyps, which provide a hermit for zooxanthellae, which provide oxygen to corals through photosynthesis and the carbohydrates and proteins they need. Zooxanthellae are rich in body pigments, and it is this pigment that makes corals colorful. Symbiosis is a close and mutually beneficial survival relationship between different organisms, and it is also the most common relationship in the ocean, and even the starting point of marine life. The most important cornerstone of this starting point is the coral. As an animal with a special form, the polyp provides a habitat and breeding place for more than 100,000 species of marine life, and it secretes viscous liquid organic matter to feed microorganisms, forming the basis of a rich marine ecosystem.
Corals with different shapes and hermits have pigments in the body of zooxanthellae, creating different colors of corals
Several clownfish deftly travel through the anemones (a type of coral) and swirl among the dancing tentacles of the anemones. The orange-and-white tunic resembles a light dance dress under the enchanting dance of the anemone. Nemo the Clownfish, the protagonist of my favorite movie Finding Nemo, has a symbiotic relationship with the anemone, whose tentacles are not only its dance partner, but also the place where it depends. Clownfish feed on parasites on their tentacles, and a strong sense of territory drives clownfish to attack fish that approach anemones to feed on them, while the spines on anemone tentacles protect clownfish from predators.
Clownfish have a symbiotic relationship with sea anemones
In reality, the protagonist of "Finding Nemo" is only a member of the coral ecosystem, and the coral is the real protagonist. Small polyps come together, come and go, reborn on the coral reefs of their deceased predecessors, and generously accept offerings. That colorful color is the color of life blooming, and it is also life itself.
We hovered above the corals, Miguel and I in a group, Matthew and Lao Xu in a group, and we gently paddled up and down with our flippers to avoid kicking the corals. Together with the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Indonesia forms a coral triangle in the Indian Ocean, each with at least 500 species of reef-building corals, the cornerstones of which together sustain the diversity of marine life in the Indian Ocean, known as the "Amazon in the Sea". This lush undersea "forest" spreads deep along the cliffs of the seabed, and the forest is full of colorful fish. These fish gush out from the center and back of the coral in groups, as if the design is similar, the distribution of fish, the color matching is so pleasing to the eye, in the blink of an eye, the colors and arrangements are recombined to form a new picture. On the right hand side, a group of emperor angel fish swim by, the strong golden yellow on their fan-shaped tails is gilded along the blue stripes on the body, and under the strong contrast between blue and yellow, the stripes suddenly have a bit of a string-like texture, and in this symphony of the ocean, they must be team harpists;
Colorful emperor angelfish
Blue girdled angelfish
The lemon-yellow flute fish is closely behind, how can this magnificent movement be less melodious than the flute? Yellow-brown round swallow fish, scarlet tomato clown fish, purple-red capshot fish, and parrot fish that are all rainbows all emerged at once, and the symphony orchestra's playing position could not be arranged one by one, but the color of each fish was a note, and the dance of each fish was a melody, and these notes and melodies were arranged and combined in an instant, and in the constant rotation, diffusion and aggregation of colors, they became the music of Batu Bolong's life.
Tomato clown fish
Peacock fish
Parrot fish, this fish will disappear all the color after death
The Amazon in the sea, it has all the character of the Amazon - enthusiastic, lively, wild, fierce. But the Amazon is ultimately confined to land, which is the cage of Homo sapiens, and it surges outside the cage, it collects colors and creates colors, it is the rainbow and the sky outside the cage. From sunny days to storms, it's also in the blink of an eye.
A black cloud pressed in front of it, and in the ocean current, the black cloud quickly turned into a tornado—it was really spinning at high speed, and everywhere it went, the colors disappeared without a trace. This black tornado engulfed and compacted the space in front of us as it approached.
In upwelling waters, Jackfish storms are common
Instead of dodging, Miguel lightly stepped into the water and entered the eye of the storm. We followed closely, and in the eye of the storm, thousands of jackfish were gathering in huge cylindrical clusters, swirling around us, speeding past. The strong upwelling gathers a large number of plankton, attracting a huge number of jackfish, which prey in clusters, which is efficient and safe for jackfish. The four of us held hands tightly, feeling the impact of the confluence of cold and warm ocean currents, trying to maintain neutral buoyancy to overcome the upwelling of the upwelling. Under high pressure, a large amount of nitrogen is dissolved in our blood, and once it rises too fast, the nitrogen will become bubbles due to rapid decompression, causing embolism, that is, diving disease. Severe diving sickness can be life-threatening. Miguel was an experienced diver who guided us out of the upwelling current.
A dive guide enters the Jack Fish Storm Eye
At this time, the Jack fish storm suddenly dispersed, and a gray three-toothed shark rushed out of the school of fish. It swung its slender spindle-shaped figure through the eye of the storm. The white dot on the dorsal fin and the top of the tail is its signature feature, hence the name White-capped Reef Shark. It's a relatively docile shark, but there's also a record of attacking people, and Miguel signaled us to keep our distance.
The grey trident shark, a tropical shark loved by divers
In the process of diving, not getting close to and not touching any kind of creature is the basic rule of divers, in addition to preventing damage to marine life caused by bacteria on human hands, more importantly, "any kind of animal can be an unexpected danger", Miguel said more than once before entering the water. The veteran diver, who has traveled countless times with tiger sharks and bull sharks in the Bahamas and Fiji, has a tattoo with a moray eel pattern that hides a scar. "The moray eel is dry," Miguel said as he showed his tattoo on the boat, "but I didn't expect that after so many dives with the world's fiercest sharks, it was a humble moray eel that finally bit you." Miguel warned himself of his frivolous actions with the assailant's tattoos. The perpetrator now hid between the crevices of the coral reef, occasionally sticking out his head and half-opening his mouth, revealing his sharp teeth.
The leopard-print moray eel, hidden in coral, has a strong sense of territory
Keeping one's distance is also a form of awe, and the sea will punish any act of great disrespect in unexpected ways, at a cost as unforgettable as a tattoo. The grey trident shark swam up to us, then swung its tail warily and disappeared into the water.
The shark posed no threat, but at this point Miguel took my hand and slammed into the water, as if trying to escape. I looked back and there was a large, broad, flat fish swimming towards us directly behind us, wasp-like diamond stripes intertwined all over the body, and the wide yellow-brown dorsal fin and tail paddling the water vigorously. The strange fish has raised eyes, human-like upper and lower lips, and its mouth is half open, revealing its large sharp teeth. Brown Scaly Fish, also known as Titan Trigger Fish, this kind of territory fish is a desperate pursuit as soon as it is provoked, and its huge fangs can easily bite off human fingers, which is the nightmare of all divers. Miguel once said, "I'd rather meet a shark in the water than provoke this guy." "The Titan Trigger Fish was grumpy and rushed at us irreversibly like a bullet fired after pulling the trigger, and it seemed that we had strayed into its territory. I pedaled the water as hard as I could, but the paranoid fish kept following, almost biting my fins. At this time, Miguel suddenly slammed into the water, and the force instantly aroused a huge amount of energy, and the trigger fish turned around and fled.
The aggressive Titan trigger fish is the largest of the trigger fish
The Titan trigger fish's large teeth are enough to bite off a person's finger in one bite, and you must avoid this fish when diving
Miguel later told me that the trigger fish didn't really want to attack us, but only warned us that if it made up its mind, we would not be able to dodge it anyway, and it would attack creatures much larger than itself. Yes, how can man escape the power of the sea? She will not give in or pity for the weakness of any creature, but at the same time she will give you the most just warning or punishment for the extent of your transgression.
Titan trigger fish attack jellyfish
The four of us swam next to each other along the reef, where new fish were constantly being found, dancing with new colors and music, giant green sea turtles and manta rays swimming gracefully along to the rhythm, and Titan trigger fish patrolling below like guards, keeping us afraid to get close. Be an audience member and keep a certain distance from the stage to see the performances and dances. The colours of Batu Bolong are overwhelming, the colors of life, made up of thousands of marine life and corals.
Cruising green sea turtles
Rare tortoiseshell turtles, which are endangered due to human hunting (shells used to make expensive ornaments). Please refuse to buy tortoiseshell products.
Giant Ashio manta ray
The largest of the manta rays, the Pelagic Manta Ray, nicknamed the Black Samurai, is a gentle marine giant
In Blue Planet 2, Sir David Attenborough looks at the heartwarming colors and explains affectionately and worriedly: "The ocean is warming, and if the sea temperature rises by 1-2 degrees and remains there for a few weeks, the coral will excrete plant-like cells, losing its color and losing its source of plants." The heat of the ocean can cause corals to fade and die, and in this world, more than half of the corals have faded. Since 2016, two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef has faded, and marine biologists expect that if the ocean temperature continues to rise, corals will disappear by the end of this century..." Coral bleaching is the premature death of its life, and the white of the Great Barrier Reef is the death of this gorgeous creature that has a life cycle of more than 100 years old, and it is the helpless sigh and wheezing of the sea." A closer look at Batu Bolong's coral formations doesn't seem to show signs of bleaching yet, but the surge in carbon dioxide stretches out like death to every corner of the ocean. So this brilliant color is the color of hope, and with corals there, there is hope.
The brilliant red corals are due to the absorption of iron oxides in the sea to form the big red and coral above the lionfish, which is poisonous
Batu Bolong beautiful coral, may she live forever