No, Uncle I Am Not Waiting For.....

a 3kg fish. In fact, I was waiting for this Spotted Hermit Crab to come out of its hiding.


We came across 3 men, each with a big net and a styrofoam box in their hands, at Tanah Merah while exploring the shore yesterday. They went passed me at one point and then I started to hear conversations among them. They were speaking in Hokkien which happened to be a dialect that I understand.

So here's a brief of what they were talking;

Man A : That girl has been standing at that part for quite a long time liao leh.
Man B : She must have found something, if not why stay there for so long.
Man A : Are you sure? How to see with that pathetic light she is using? *They were all equipped with bright LED torchlights*
Man B : Then why is she standing there for so long?
Man C : I bet she must have found some big fish lah....maybe at least 3kg one lah.
Man A & B : Why don't you ask her what she is looking?
Man C : Mai lah(Don't want lah)...cannot communicate...don't know how to speak English lah.

Then Man A and B suggested to go to another part of the shore but Man C refused to give up unless I move. But eventually, he reluctantly moved on after I have spent standing at that spot for 15mins.:p

So there you are, uncle, I am just looking at Hermit crab not a 3kg fish! From their earlier conversatons, I understand that they were looking for fishes, shrimps and squids. At one point, I heard something like 20kg of shrimps could be sold for $XX. But I did not get to see what's in their box as it was still dark. Sigh.

Okay, back to the shore exploring. This is the 3rd day of exploring Tanah Merah for this week's low tides. So what did I see?




I came across various fishes hiding among the Mermaid's Fan Seaweed. Some like the Carpet Eel Blenny, Rabbitfish and Variable Fang-Blenny (Top to Bottom).


A Long-spined Black Sea Urchin under rock crevice.



Saw a Dolphin Shell Snail.


A small Brown Egg Crab.


Lots of Feather-duster Worm/Fanworm.


Ohhhh...look! Whose eyes are these?


They belong to this Sea Hare. Probably a Aplysia extraordinaria


The only nudibranch saw was this Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata).

And besides these creatures on the 3rd day trip, here are some highlights of the previous two days trips;

















Tanah Merah is sure worthwhile to go back again despite the nasty Sandfiles!