Other marine life
Banded sea krait
Laticauda colubrina
A black-and-blue banded sea snake, highly venomous but placid toward divers and rarely defensive. It breathes air, so dives are punctuated by trips to the surface. At a handful of Indo-Pacific sites, including Hunter's Rock off Apo Reef, they gather in large numbers to breed.
- Max size
- About 1.5m; females noticeably larger than males
- Habitat
- Coral reefs, rocky islets and submerged pinnacles across the Indo-Pacific. Amphibious — hunts eels and small fish underwater but returns to land or rock to digest, shed and lay eggs.
Best places to dive with Banded sea krait
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | peak season |
| July | peak season |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
The Hunter's Rock breeding aggregation is the specific draw and is reported to peak in June and July, which is also when the habagat starts making the 20km run out there unreliable. Individual kraits are seen on the main reef through the year.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | commonly seen |
| February | commonly seen |
| March | commonly seen |
| April | commonly seen |
| May | commonly seen |
| June | commonly seen |
| July | commonly seen |
| August | commonly seen |
| September | commonly seen |
| October | commonly seen |
| November | commonly seen |
| December | commonly seen |
Resident at Manuk year-round, but the island is only reachable inside the two liveaboard windows. Counts of 8-25 per dive are typical, with reports of 40-50 in the strongest weeks. Most active over the shallow rubble and coral slope, and they surface constantly to breathe, so encounters happen throughout the water column.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Sea snakes are reported around the Penanjung Wreck and occasionally on the other hulls. Coded occasional — operator listings mention them as a feature of one site, not as a general certainty.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Seen regularly on the shallow reefs around Nusa Penida and Lembongan, working along the coral or heading up for air. No seasonality reported — it is a reef resident rather than a migrant.
| Month | Likelihood |
|---|---|
| January | occasional |
| February | occasional |
| March | occasional |
| April | occasional |
| May | occasional |
| June | occasional |
| July | occasional |
| August | occasional |
| September | occasional |
| October | occasional |
| November | occasional |
| December | occasional |
Seen hunting on the reef and coming up to breathe at Balicasag and on the Pamilacan shoals. Regular enough that most divers encounter one over a week, but not a per-dive sighting.
Sources & last checked
Checked August 2026
This is a researched draft, not yet human-verified. The seasonality and logistics are drawn from the sources below — confirm specifics (permits, fees, closures) with an operator before you book.
- Apo Reef diving guide — Underwater Asia
- Map of dive sites in Apo Reef, Mindoro, Philippines — Starfish.ch
Note on the data: Conservation status recorded as least concern from general reference rather than a fetched IUCN Red List page — worth confirming on the verification pass.