Fauna of the Celebes Sea

An inter-island sea in the western Pacific Ocean. Located between the islands of Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Mindanao, Sangihe and the Sulu Archipelago. It washes the coasts of the Philippines and Indonesia. It stretches 675 km from north to south and 840 km from east to west. The sea area is about 453 thousand km², depth up to 6220 m, temperature in February 27-28 °C, in August - 28-29 °C, salinity at the surface is about 34.5 ‰, which is lower than oceanic, and is caused by the fact that precipitation over the sea exceeds the level of evaporation. The tides are irregular semidiurnal of up to 2. The weather in the maritime areas is usually hot and humid, with frequent showers and thunderstorms.

Popular Celebes Sea inhabitants

The sea is home to a wide variety of fish and aquatic life. Its tropical climate and warm, clear waters make it home to some 580 of the world's 793 species of reef-forming corals. The sea is home to whales and dolphins, sea turtles, sea snakes, worms, crustaceans and mollusks. The latter are represented in a huge variety. Here you can see cone snails, they have a beautiful shell, which is very expensive, and nautilus mollusk, which looks like a snail. There are familiar but no less interesting octopuses and cuttlefish.

Interesting inhabitants of the Celebes Sea

In the deep waters of the Celebes Sea, animals unknown to science have been discovered, such as the black jellyfish, the floating sea cucumber, and the shrimp-like Eurythoe complanata. This creature has a dozen tentacles growing from its head. The presence of the ancient fish Indonesian coelacanth was found in the Celebes Sea. These are the only Coelacanthus that have survived almost unchanged to this day. The small but dangerous Black Swallower lives in the sea. It can swallow prey much larger than itself.

Sharks in Celebes Sea

Among the most famous representatives of the Celebes Sea fauna are: sharks. The Celebes Sea is home to such predators as the large plankton-eating whale shark, the tiger shark, the slow and inactive nurse shark, the shallow-water blacktip reef shark, the loner great hammerhead shark, the active blacktip shark, the dangerous scalloped hammerhead shark, the nocturnal hunter whitetip reef shark, and the swift gray reef shark. 

Fishing at Celebes Sea

Fishing is a common commercial activity in the Celebes Sea. Mahi-mahi, giant trevally, swordfish, black marlin, striped snakehead, humphead wrasse, bonefish are caught in the waters of the sea. Yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna, longfin tuna, Pacific bluefin tuna, bigeye tuna, great barracuda, Indian mackerel are also found in abundance. At night under artificial light, houndfish can be caught, this fish is considered dangerous and fishermen are afraid of it because of its large size, tendency to jump out of the water and cause puncture wounds with its beak. 

Diving at Celebes Sea

The Celebes Sea has beautiful, almost untouched corals and many small caves that are very interesting to look into. In them you can see unusual and colorful sea creatures: Pontoh's pygmy seahorse, rare mandarinfish, striated frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, yellowfin scorpionfish, spotfin lionfish, leafy seadragon, reef triggerfish, red lionfish, moorish idol, stonefish, ocellaris clownfish, humpback anglerfish, yellow tang, bluestreak cleaner wrasse and longhorn cowfish. Between the coral you will find lobsters, unusual species of shrimp, giant crabs, snails and perhaps even the largest holoduck - the Spanish dancer. At depth there are giant oceanic manta rays, spotted eagle rays, giant morays, ribbon eels and the unusual ocean sunfish.