Acknowledgements

As with most projects, the results are not the result of a single person, and this project is no different.

First and foremost, I have to thank my partner for her unending patience as a dive partner! With sharp eyes, she is also a good "finder".

Few divers formally recognise that most of what they see is the result of the sharp eyes of dive guides. Through their familiarity with the reefs they guide divers over, their eyes are not distracted by the "newness" of the reef and can see much detail visitors miss. All guides are not the same however and some have an outstanding ability to spot the most intesting and unusual animal. In my opinion, it is important to show interest in what the guides find, and at the end of dives show any pictures you have taken. That awakens their interest and shows the guides that you take them seriously.

The Tabalong family has guided us through many years of diving in Indonesia. Maxi Tabalong of the Lumbalumba Resort south of Manado, North Sulawesi has been an huge help, and in honour of his efforts, I was able to get a new species of crab he found named after him. Andres Tabalong also seems to be able to find anything anywhere, showing us amazing creatures across much of eastern Indonesian both in the Lembeh Straits and on the Amira.

All the guides in the Villa Markisa Resort in Bali were exceptional in finding nudibranchs, ladybugs and tiny members of the headshield molluscs. Through the coaching of nudibranch expert, Christiane Waldrich, the guides know the scientific names of much of what they find.

Rampant overfishing in Romblon in the Philippines has removed a lot of predation on shrimps and nudibranch. It is probably one reason for the huge diversity of these groups on the reefs in the area. Fabia Imhoff of the Three P Resort on Romblon has the sharpest eyes of all, even finding 3mm long nudibranchs on coral polyps where the nudibranch had the same surface colour and apparent structure as the coral.

Eliane and Kurt Gross of Cape Paparu were a fund of knowledge and had a deep knowledge of the species rich reefs of Pulau Saparua and Pulau Molana to the East of Ambon.

Many of the guides working for Raja4Divers have also very good spotters, and the resort goes out of its' way to support divers interested in unusual reef creatures.

Many other guides have been of great help, but not over such long periods.

Photographic help came from a number of friends, but three people have been a great influence. Kurt Amsler has given endless professional advice and tips. An enjoyable single evening with Thomas Haider also brought many new ideas and techniques to the fore. Alan Powderham introduced me to macro-fisheye photography, a technique that has been excellent for recording sea fans.

Various researchers have helped in the identification of some of the more obscure creatures. Russell Kelly of ByoGuide fame has given excellent guidance on coral genus identification. Mark Erdmann has given much help with the variable dottybacks while Gerry Alan identified a very obscure cardinal fish living in symbiosis with fire anenomes. Sammy De Grave of the Museum of Natural History in Oxford University helped with many palaemonid shrimp identifications. Sancia van der Meij reviewed the gall crabs and the ovulid cowries. Peter Ng Lee Kin of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum helped with some of the crab identifications. Christiane Waldrich also helped with the identification of some nudibranchs.

Last but not least, ideas for various aspects of this website have come from the Weavers Space community. The friendly and generous help of Joe Workman, Davide Fanchin, Chris Powers and others have made this site a lot more interesting than it might have been otherwise.