They Have Been IDed.....

Remember the Melibe nudibranch that made me so excited when we saw it at Cyrene in April and subsequent trips?

They have been IDed! Thanks to Dr Bill Rudman of The Sea Slug Forum!

Dr Bill IDed them as Melibe viridis. The one found during a Semakau guided walk is also of the same species.

Unknown Nudibranch From Big Sisters.....

is now being IDed by Dr Bill Rudman of The Sea Slug Forum as Flabellina sp. 9

Trying To Keep Clear.....

of a field of Long-spined Sea Urchins!


Yes, that was what I was trying to do for most of my dives at Pulau Tioman over the weekend. So much so and in addition to the not-so-good vis, I decided to skip the night dive.

See the vis at Marine Park! I thought I was diving at Pulau Hantu!



Anyway, with so many Urchins, it was not hard to find Urchin Clingfish among them.


They are much bigger than the one I have seen at Hantu.

Came across relatives of Sea Urchin like.....


Sea Cucumbers



and Sea Stars!

Other stuffs like.....




different species of Anemone and Anemonefish!


Giant Cuttlefish!


A Blenny who refused to face the camera. :oP

Only get to see a few Sea Slugs on this trip.



A couple of Phyllidia nudibranch


A first time encounter with this Chromodoris nudibranch (probably a Chromodoris magnifica.


And a Twin-tailed slug (Chelidonura amoena)

A Comical Worm.....

When comes to worms, most of us will go "Eeeeeeeeee...gross"!

But look at this worm that I came across at Changi on Sunday, it has a comical "face"! I think it looks kind of CUTEEEE!

Quick Trip @ Cyrene Reef.....

Today's evening tide trip to Cyrene reef was a short one hour exploring. Nonetheless, still managed to see a couple of things.

Found this Hermit crab not far from the landing point.


Heehee.....apparently it was not happy to have its pic taken. Just look at its grumpy look!

Of course, you can't miss the Knobbly Seastar on Cyrene. Currently, these Seastar are tracked and monitored by the Star Trackers.


And it was wonderful to come across "Blondie" Seastar too!


It even has a tiny tiny Brittle star on one of its arm.


Found this small Scaly Seastar(Nepanthia sp.) among the Seagrass. Can you see its fish scales-like surface?


Besides the Seastars, saw some of its relatives too. Here they are;




A White Sea Urchin, a Pencil Sea Urchin and a Orange-brownish Sea Cucumber.

Crabs such as this Red Egg Crab, are out having their dinner.


And this little Hairy crab was enjoying its Bristle worm dinner.


Saw two Black margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata)


and this teeny-weeny Sap-sucking Sea Slug. It's about 1cm and I love its blue pointed rhinophores. Cuteeeeee! 1st time coming across this Sap-sucker for me.


And last but not least, as we gathered around for the boat, found this beautiful Olive snail.

Reef Survey @ Pulau Satumu.....

Another reef survey was conducted by ReefFriends today. This time at the southernmost off-shore island of Singapore, Pulau Satumu, where Raffles Lighthouse is located on.



The area around the island is a restricted zone and thus an access permit from MPA is needed. Perhaps because of this and its distance from mainland Singapore, the reef is at least somehow well protected. Thus, one can find amazing variety of corals here.

This is also my first dive at this island. My previous trips to the island were for intertidal documenting. Having seen the corals coverage and diversity at intertidal, I must be crazy to volunteer to do the LIT and coral genera records at the shallow transect.

Nonetheless, I quite enjoyed it even though I had to swim against the strong currents that never seen to stop throughout my dive. I was like swimming for 2 meters before being pushed back by 1 meter by the currents while writing on my slate.

Due to the diversity of the coral, I also had a hard time at some point trying to figure out which genus is that coral. Thus, took me one and a half hour to finish recordings one tape at the shallow and another at the deep transect. On the other hand, seeing some coral genus in a different life-form is a plus for me.

As I was concentrating to finish the transects before running low on air, these are the only pics I managed to grab as I swim along the transect line:

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A Whale Shark Who Wants To Be Swimming FREELY In The BIG BIG Ocean And NOT Some Glass Tank (NOT In A Stomach Either).

This Morning At Kranji Trail.....