Last Dive For Year 2009....
Did my last dive for this year at Pulau Hantu with The Hantu Bloggers this morning.
Not much currents and Vis was about 3m, so it was some comfortable divings. Here are some of the highlights from today's dives;
Fishes!
This little Filefish was not camera shy! Stay pretty still even though my camera was about 5cm away pointing at it.
Couple of Six-banded Angelfish.
Looks like a sub-adult Harlequin Sweetlips.
Took only one shot of this Carpet Eel Blenny before it came out and went into another crevice.
Saw two types of Pipefish. The top one looks like Ocellate Pipefish while the other looks like a Winged Pipefish.
How can you not mention Tiger-tailed Seahorse when diving at Hantu?
And the other "Fish" that I came across is the Cuttlefish! :p
Saw two today and they were about the size of a golf ball.
A camera shy Spotted Hermit Crab.
Sighted two types of Sea Cucumber. A white Synaptid Sea Cucumber and a Orange Sea Cucumber.
Flatworms! In variety of colours!
And Nudibranch too!
Lots of big Phyllidia nudibranch (Phyllidia spp.) around.
Two kind of Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris spp.) were sighted.
Tiny and cute Polka-dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris) can be seen too!
Looks like it is the Tambja nudibranch (Tambja sp.) to be in season.
And on the Giant Hydroids, one can look out for the Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.)!
Another mollusc besides Cuttlefish and nudibranch sighted, are Cowries and Ovulids!
First is this one that HB had pointed out to me on a Soft coral.
It's an Ovulid or Allied Cowrie.
This looks like an Onyx Cowrie.
And I am glad to have another Tiger Cowrie sighting after more than a year from the last sighting.
It was palm-sized! About 10cm across!
Well.....hopefully I will get to see it and the others next year again!
Unfortunately, for some creatures or at least one, did not make it to 2010. I went back to check the Giant Clam that I sighted last month for ML. But what I saw was this;
Yes.....an EMPTY shell! The Giant Clam is dead!
According to ML, this clam might have fallen from the shallow (I found it around 8m depth when they are mostly found in 2-3m depth) and landed on a wrong spot where there's little sunlight.
Sunlight is needed so that the symbiotic zooxanthellae living inside clam's tissues can make food and share it with the clam. Sigh.....guess filter feeding by itself is just not enough to keep this clam alive. :o(
Not much currents and Vis was about 3m, so it was some comfortable divings. Here are some of the highlights from today's dives;
Fishes!
This little Filefish was not camera shy! Stay pretty still even though my camera was about 5cm away pointing at it.
Couple of Six-banded Angelfish.
Looks like a sub-adult Harlequin Sweetlips.
Took only one shot of this Carpet Eel Blenny before it came out and went into another crevice.
Saw two types of Pipefish. The top one looks like Ocellate Pipefish while the other looks like a Winged Pipefish.
How can you not mention Tiger-tailed Seahorse when diving at Hantu?
And the other "Fish" that I came across is the Cuttlefish! :p
Saw two today and they were about the size of a golf ball.
A camera shy Spotted Hermit Crab.
Sighted two types of Sea Cucumber. A white Synaptid Sea Cucumber and a Orange Sea Cucumber.
Flatworms! In variety of colours!
And Nudibranch too!
Lots of big Phyllidia nudibranch (Phyllidia spp.) around.
Two kind of Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris spp.) were sighted.
Tiny and cute Polka-dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris) can be seen too!
Looks like it is the Tambja nudibranch (Tambja sp.) to be in season.
And on the Giant Hydroids, one can look out for the Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.)!
Another mollusc besides Cuttlefish and nudibranch sighted, are Cowries and Ovulids!
First is this one that HB had pointed out to me on a Soft coral.
It's an Ovulid or Allied Cowrie.
This looks like an Onyx Cowrie.
And I am glad to have another Tiger Cowrie sighting after more than a year from the last sighting.
It was palm-sized! About 10cm across!
Well.....hopefully I will get to see it and the others next year again!
Unfortunately, for some creatures or at least one, did not make it to 2010. I went back to check the Giant Clam that I sighted last month for ML. But what I saw was this;
Yes.....an EMPTY shell! The Giant Clam is dead!
According to ML, this clam might have fallen from the shallow (I found it around 8m depth when they are mostly found in 2-3m depth) and landed on a wrong spot where there's little sunlight.
Sunlight is needed so that the symbiotic zooxanthellae living inside clam's tissues can make food and share it with the clam. Sigh.....guess filter feeding by itself is just not enough to keep this clam alive. :o(
