Meet Scarlet, the very rare scorpionfish (Rhinopias fondosa), which was discovered near our PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Centre on Gaya Island, in Kota Kinabalu - the result, we believe, of persistent environmental conservation programs.

The Tunku Abdul Rahman Park is a government gazetted and protected marine park a mere 10 minutes by boat from the shores of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in the northern part of Borneo.

Being so close to a bustling city, many visitors, and even divers, write off the park before they get to know it, simply because of it's proximity to the city.

However, because of the public's increasing environmental awareness and cleanup efforts by concerned corporate citizens such as Downbelow, plus the protection and clean-up efforts of Sabah Parks and participation of local communities, the TAR Park is in fact in ever improving good shape.

The amount of sensitive and unusual creatures we've discovered recently, such as the seagrass bed, is testament to the fruits we are reaping from our conservation efforts here.

Scarlet is another very rare example of other environmentally sensitive creatures that are returning to the recovering TAR Park.

Rewards such as this beautiful, unique scorpionfish, Rhinopias fondosa, inspires us to continue our quest of raising awareness of our precious ocean and involving local communities in clean up and conservation projects.