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Ultimate Diving Adventure in Malaysia - Sipadan January 2011

Ernst, Karsten and several others went to Sipidan in January. Karsten was doing his National Geographic speciality and took lots of photos and videos. In particular, he did a survey of the variety of turtles and focused on finding the patterns and variations on their shells.

Really looking forward to seeing some photos of the biodiversity and an analysis of the turtles!

Tags: National Geographic, Sipadan

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Permalink Reply by Karsten Roettger on July 12, 2011 at 4:43am

On any given dive around Sipadan, one can easily encounter 10 to 20 turtles. You will find turtles in various situations of turtle life like feeding, sleeping, mating or getting their shell cleaned by Surgeonfish in one of the turtle cleaning stations.

Species of turtles you will find in Pulau Sipadan are Loggerhead, Hawksbill and Green Sea Turtles.

Intense conservation efforts by the Malaian government which include limitations on diving activity in the area have helped to turn Sipadan in a sanctuary for turtles and many other marine life. To protect the future of this special place, many efforts are being made to designate Sipadan as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Currently, the Borneo Marine Research Institute of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah is conducting studies on the population (tagging, morphometric studies) and the dietary preferences of the turtles around Sipadan and Mabul. For updates on those efforts, you can follow the project on Facebook: Mabul Sipadan Turtles Project

Here is just a small selection of turtle pictures taken during our 20+ dives. You will quickly realize that the patterns on a turtle's shell are as unique as a humans fingerprint and can therefore be used to identify and follow specific turtles. In addition to the patterns there are signs of external impact on various shells. These can stem from natural predators like sharks or human impact, especially propeller and boat collisions.