Stingrayed @ Beting Bronok.....

Yes, I was kena poked by a Stingray this morning. :o(


Got 2 holes at my left ankle now.

Before I tell you what happened, let me thanks everyone who were there this morning for the helps and supports!!! I am very sorry to put everyone thru such ordeal and the trip has to be ended pre-maturely. SORRY!


Thanks Kok Sheng and James for the "support" to help me to the boat. And the rest for carrying our stuffs to the boat too!


Thanks Ria and Macus for accompanying to the A&E and sending me home!


They get to meet Stripy and here he must be wondering why I did not bring back the ray for him as breakfast. :p

So.....here's what happened; The sky has just turned slight bright and tide has turned. I was trying to get across to another exposed site but there's a pool of water in between. So I drag-tread in the knee-high murky water to get to the other side. At that time, Ria who was coming back from that side, told me that I was in a deeper water and should walk slightly outward to the shallow. And she said cos the deeper water might have Stingray.....And guess what? Just when she finished her words at "Stingray", I felt a sharp stab into my left ankle and I know I got stung! (I was kidding to Ria later that the ray must have responded to her calling by flipping its tail and maybe I was just at the wrong place at a wrong time :p)

I could feel the barbs inside my flesh and tried to stay still and hoped that the Stingray will eventually pull its barbs out. After given a little twist and slow lift to my left leg, the Stingray finally let go. I moved to the dry land and I realised the whole booty was soak with blood. After removing it, the next sight was just scary! The blood was spurting from the punctured wounds like a fountain! My first thought was that the barbs have punctured an artery. But thanks to Kok Sheng, who applied pressure to the wounds, it stopped eventually. Phew!

Managed to make it to the boat with helps of Kok Sheng and James. And then enduring the 45mins journey to Changi before Ria rushes me to A&E. Got treatment of soaking the wounds in hot water and vinegar, given a Tetanus shot and dressing of the wounds.

Thank God that the whole thing is over (I hoped, just keeping fingers crossed that there will be no secondary infection). I just have to be more careful next time. And sorry for all the stress caused, guys!

That aside, I still get to see the beauty of Beting Bronok before I kena stingrayed. And here are some of the stuffs;


The shore is littered with Biscuit Sea Star!





There were other Sea Stars sighted like (Top-down) : the Cake Sea Star, the Knobbly Sea Star, the Spiny Sea Star and the Scaly Sea Star.


A beautiful red Sea Pen!


Kok Sheng spotted this Cowrie which I have no idea of its ID.


A dish-sized Whipray was seen too.


At Beting Bronok, it seen that you can come across more than one sighting of a Baler Snail. They can be very big!


Found this Hermit Crab that I have not seen before. Love the blue spots on its pincers.



There were two Spider Crabs that I came acrossed. One (Top) is covered with tiny bits of rubbish or delicate algae. While the other (bottom), is an Arrow-head Spider Crab that has Zoanthids growing on it!

Last but not least, my favourite! Sea Slugs!!!


First up is a Sap-sucking Sea Slug, The Bushy Slug (Polybranchia orientalis)


This Hairy Sea Hare (Bursatella leachii) is my last shot of the day before I got Stingrayed.

And how can have Sea Slugs without the mention of Nudibranch?


The first nudibranch spotted for me is this Starry-mouthed Nudibranch (Bornella sp).


When you see such orange Hydroids, try to find for the Cuthona Nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae. Haha.....and there's a tiny Squid just beside the Nudibranch.


A Blue Dragon Nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina) that feeds on Hydroids too.


A Nudibranch that looks much like a piece of sponge. It's the Purple Foot Nudibranch (Atagema spongiosa)

And the highlight finds of the day would be these two first sightings for me.


A Kanga Nudibranch (Hypselodoris kanga)!


And a teeny weeny (about 1cm) Aeolid Nudibranch that I have no idea of. Probably a Flabellina sp.

**Pics of my Stingray ordeal were taken by Ria.

Exploring A New Part Of Tanah Merah.....

Went out to explore a new shore today. I was rather impressed from the sightings I would say for the area being a reclaimed land. Well.....I guess it shows that if given time, our shore will slowly recover. :o)

So what did I sighted today?

Since we were on the shore at ungodly hours, I maneged to get some easy shots of fishes as some of them were in dreamland. Like this.....


Anchor Tuskfish which is sleeping away among the rock crevice.


There were quite a few sleeping Groupers too.


Hmmm.....this looks like a Rabbitfish.


And a Fringe-eyed Flathead lying motionless on the sand.


So does this Sea Moth/Sea Robin.

While in some tidepools, little fishes like this goby, were darting about


and others, like this Harry Hotlips, a Sweetlips, trying to pretend that it is a little piece of leaf.



Also came across quite a few Moray Eels but no pics cos they were very camera shy. They all retreated into the crevices when I put the camera in front of them. :p And there was also a big Catfish of about 40cm!

Quite a few kind of crabs were seen too;


A small Moon Crab about the size of our 50 cents coin.


A Ghost Crab half buried itself in the sand.


Lots of Swimming Crab too!


Whereas this Velcro/Decorator Crab doesn't seen to be in a mood of decorating itself. :p


There's also this pretty Spotted Hermit Crab.


Penaeid Prawn are also commonly seen.



And at the rocky area, saw two Frilly Sea Anemones.


While a little Carpet Anemone was seen at another part of the shore. There's also another one with a pair of Anemone Shrimps.


Sighted two Persian Carpet Flatworms! They are so beautiful!


And a greenish one spotted among the Seaweeds which is a first sighting for me!


Came across this sight, hmmmm....is the Nerites Snail grazing algae that's on what looks like a Zoned horn snail or is it laying its eggs (as there seen to be some white circle thingy) on the snail?



There were lots of Gong Gong be it ones with thin shell or thick shell.


Button Snails that looks like little jewels were seen too! And it is said that no two Button Snails are alike!


A little Moon Snail with delicated pattern on its foot.


Saw an Octopus hunting among the rocks.


Haha.....when I saw this little Cuttlefish, it was trying to pretend to be a part of the Sargassum Seaweed.


And last but not least, a Sea Hare! Looks like an Extraordinary sea hare (Aplysia extraordinaria).