First Pulau Hantu Dive For Year 2009.....

Had my first Hantu dive for this year with The Hantu Bloggers today. However, did not see any new stuffs but nonetheless is happy that the usual ones are still there.

First up, the Tiger tail Seahorse. Especially happy to see the ones at North Jetty again after missing them out in my previous 2 dives there.


There were also some beautiful Flatworms



and of course, nudibranch!




(From top-down,L-R) : The Phyllidia sp., the Red-papulose Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris rubropapulosa), the Ceratosoma nudibranch that we affectionately called "The Godzilla" (Ceratosoma gracillimum), the pretty Reliable Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris fidelis) and the tiny Dermatobranchus sp.

Was trying hard to look for the Tritonia nudibranch (Tritonia bollandi) on the Sea Fans but only managed to see the Allied Coweries.


And while at the shallow part of the reef, I spotted some very tiny creatures (the red thingy in the pic) moving about on the silt covered rock surface.


Wonder what are these? Some kind of Crustacean? Hmmm....anyone?

Talking about Crustancean, there's also this big prawn sighted.


Here's a video of it swimming about;

Music: L'autre Valse d'Amélie by Yann Tiersen

A New Species Of Bornella Nudibranch?.....

Have seen the Starry Bornella nudibranch often in our water be it underwater or intertidals.



All along, thought that the two nudibranch in the above pictures are variations of the same species, Bornella stellifer.

Recently, Dr Bill Rudman of the Sea Slug Forum has done a revision on the Bornella species with a revised species that looks like the one in the lower pic. Thus, I sent in some pics asking for his comments.

Dr Bill commented that the one in the upper pic could be a colour variation of Bornella stellifer. See his message here.

I have also sent him an additional pic of another Bornella nudibranch that we spotted at Beting Bronok with red rhinophores and gills.


Dr Bill commented that the nudibranch (both in lower pic and from Beting Bronok) looks similar to the revised Bornella hermanni but yet somehow different in certain aspects.

So he has put them as Bornella sp. 2 and see his comments here and here.

Wow! This is so exciting! But of course, the exact ID can only be determined by further examines the internal anatomy of the nudibranch.

Strange Looking Sea Cucumber.....

Spotted this Sea Cucumber in between a rock crevice on top of an Anemone @ Pulau Semakau today.


Could this be a Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber (Holothuria hilla)?

Here's a look from another angle:


Similar looking ones were also being sighted by JL at Changi before.