Today we had a busy day in the field. Two teams joined different boats today, and both came back with some amazing stories and data.

William, Irianies and I joined Scuba Republic, while Sihar and Rika joined Uber Scuba. The interns task today was to deliver manta briefings to the divers, and both teams delivered this task excellently. Their second task was to help these divers become citizen scientists by recording their marine wildlife encounters. 

Today is full moon, and this means strong tides. When the tide is rising, it carries nutrient-rich waters from south Komodo, and a rich source of food for the manta rays. We predicted that this food would mean lots of manta sightings today.

Today’s citizen scientists found a lot of exciting species, including green turtles and bumped parrotfish. And our prediction proved correct, with 24 individual mantas recorded during a single dive at Karang Makassar!

Watch these videos to see what our teams found today.