Fat & Flat At Pulau Hantu.....

Was out diving with The Hantu Bloggers at Pulau Hantu today again.

It was a good dive with good vis of about 4m. The first dive was at the western fringing reefs and the second at the North jetty.

Okay,okay.....You must be wondering why Fat and Flat right? Here's why.....that's because the Nudibranch that we saw looked fat and juicy and the Flatworms were out and about. :op

So here's the Nudibranch that we have seen;


The white one with black rings/dots is a Polka-dot nudibranch(Jorunna funebris) and the orange one is a Bornella sp.


Then, we have a pair of Black-margined Nudibranch(Glossodoris atromarginata). And the bottom one was laying egg masses! Here's the close-up.


We also spotted quite a number of Gymnodoris rubropapulosa. Looks like they are in season now. And I particularly like this one. It has a smiley face! Don't you think so?


So there you are, all the fat and juicy looking Nudibranch!

Here come the Flat stuff. The Flatworm galore!


Besides the Flatworms and Nudibranch, we also have these;

My volunteer dive guide and buddy, HB, pointed out to me this tiny Acropora crab(Tetralia nigrolineata) hiding among the branching Stag Horn coral(Acropora sp.).


It has been known that this tiny crab protects the coral against the coral-eating Crown-of-Thorns Seastar(Acanthaster planci) by pinching the seastar to the point that it ended up leaving the acropora alone. Amazing! And guess what? There's even a Acropora Goby hiding in this coral! However, it was hiding pretty deep in the branches and moving about quite fast that I cannot get a pic of it.

I think I have came across the pregnant Papa Tigertail Seahorse that I saw last month again! As I found it at the exact same spot. It looks like his pouch had gotten bigger. And I guessed that the babies will be dued soon as male Seahorse carries them for 10-45 days in the pouch.


When diving at the North jetty, we will always try to look out for commensals on the Sea Fans and Sea Whips. And today, we saw some.

Here's a Allied Cowrie(the white elongated thingy) on a Sea Fan.


A delicate-looking Shrimp(Hamodactylus sp.) on a Sea Whip.


And here's my second time sighting of the Gorgonian/Sawtooth Shrimp(Tozeuma armatum) on a Sea Whip!


Thanks HB and other volunteer guides(Ivy and MS) for the findings! Well, that's all for today. Now I shall go and revise my hand signal for Seahorse so that I will not be misunderstood to have spotted a tiny Mola mola at Pulau Hantu next time.:oP