p1554

Nice trip report. I always thought that the larger Mandarin fish was the male and the females sequentially mated with the male. I have photos from the Philippines showing the smaller Mandarin fish bulging with eggs and the eggs coming out of the smaller Mandarin fish as the pair rose in the water. Where did you get the information that the smaller ones are the males?

I have the Nexus Zoom gear for the tokina 10-17. I also have the nexus 10-17 compact dome port. I will sell both for $650. Shipping is $52 including insurance. I will sell the gear only for $50 plus $13.75 shipping.

Reef Fish Florida and Caribbean is a new iPhone app that has 444 photos. It will run on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

#1 is Hippocampus severnsi. Nice photo - I wish I had found one. 2 & 3 look like Hippocampus pontohi. I found the id in the following reference: ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) Copyright © 2008 · Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Zootaxa 1963: 54–68 (2008) www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Three new pygmy seahorse species from Indonesia (Teleostei: Syngnathidae: Hippocampus) SARA A. LOURIE1 & RUDIE H. KUITER2

reef photo has pre-owned gear which they pressure test. Reef Photo

May 8 - 19, 2010 at Peter's Dive Resort in Southern Leyte, Philippines. Pros: - Beautiful coral reefs, both hard coral reefs and soft coral reefs. - This is the slow season and there were max 8 people at the resort at this time. We were there for 10 days, but others came and went - a maximum of three days per party. We had reports of not enough accommodations in the town two months earlier. - Whale sharks were still to be seen. - Great night diving at the jetty in Padre Burgos 10 minutes from the resort. - Dive boat was roomy and shady. - Rental gear looked good although we did not use it, others were pleased with it. - nice room for dive gear storage. - Nitrox available at $5 extra/tank. - Dive briefings were good. - Good rinse tanks - separate tanks for cameras, wetsuits/BC's, and regulators. - Large rinse tank on dive boat for cameras. The entire 10 days we were the only 2 people with SLR housed cameras. Cons: - Fish are afraid of divers. They are subject to subsistence fishing locally and the marine protected areas are new and small in size. - Dive guides were not very interested in finding critters for divers. The policy was to find the one pygmy seahorse, point to it and swim away. No attempt to show the next person, or assist in any way for anyone to get a photo. In a nutshell, two out of three dive guides we had just watched us. - Boat might be difficult for some to board from shore - a ramp swaying from the side of the boat into the water. Additional information: There are both A/C and non A/C rooms, so be sure to ask if you want A/C. Some renovations were started during our visit so the dining and reception areas were moved. The resort takes MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Philippine Pesos, and US Dollars. The rooms were serviced once every 2-3 days at which time the power would probably be turned off and the batteries being charged would not charge. Best to request that they leave the power on after servicing the room. The resort had an adequate restaurant, and there were several other places to dine within short distance.