Another Good Vis Day @ Pulau Hantu.....

Same as last month dive, I enjoyed another good visibility dive at Pulau Hantu with The Hantu Bloggers on Sunday! It was about 5m and we did two dives at the South Jetty!


The vis actually looked better than the pic shows. :p


Came across quite a number of Cushion Stars!


Lots of little Brittle Stars on Sea Fans!


Found a Basket Star on a Sea Fan too!


Haha.....luckily I spotted this well camouflaged Scorpionfish before I put my fingers on the substrate for support.*Phew*


Found the Winged Pipefish on the usual pillar.



Found a couple of Sea Pens on the seabed.


Allied Cowries are still around to be seen.


Have been seeing these kind of Flatworms on such Ascidians.



Found this small Anemone. Its body column has spotted pattern. Hmmmm.....wonder if it is an Alicia sp.?


The Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) are in season.


The same goes to the Snakey Bornella nudibranch (Bornella anguilla). CT said she saw at least 10 of them!


A Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris sp.).


A few Eyed Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidia ocellata) were seen.


A Cuthona Nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae).


A Red-lined Flabellina nudibranch (Flabellina rubrolineata).


The unknown Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.) on a Hydroid.


It has been some times that I see the "Godzilla" at Pulau Hantu! It's the Slender Ceratosoma nudibranch (Ceratosoma gracillimum)!


Looks like a Chinese Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris sinensis).



Lastly, we saw two kinds of Glossodoris nudibranch. Top: a Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata) and bottom: a Girdled Glossodoris nudibranch (Glossodoris cincta).

The Air Is Better Underwater @ Pulau Semakau.....

Another reef survey trip by BWV ReefFriends yesterday morning. This time we surveyed the 2nd site at Pulau Semakau.


It was a hazy day, we could hardly see the nearby islands and there's a burning smell in the air. Haha.....that is why I think breathing compressed air underwater is much better and plus we had a comfortable visibility of about 3m!




As usual, I was recording the benthic at the deeper end. Here are some corals that I came across. Some were covered with Acoel Flatworms!


Another kind of Acoel Flatworm here. It was swimming when I saw it and here it was landing on my glove.


Allied Cowrie and a Solitary Hydroid.


An Eye-spotted Sea Cucumber.


A few of these Sandfish Sea Cucumber were seen.


Spotted this strange looking "lump" on one of the Sandfish Sea Cucumber. Mmmmm.....wonder what is it? Some kind of parasite?



There were lots of these tiny shell-like thingy littered on the seabed. They are Foraminifera. Each one is about 1-2mm big.






A few Nudibranch (top 1 to 4): Lined Chromodoris nudibranch(Chromodoris lineolata), Bullock nudibranch (Hypselodoris bullocki), Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.), Pimply Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa) and a Sap-sucking Slug(bottom)(likely Thuridilla gracilis)


A juvenile Batfish!

At the end of transect two, there were some fishing bubu and they looked like abandoned ones. Some of them had started to breakdown. But there's one that was still intact. Thus, with a pair of trusty scissors, I cut a hole and let the fish free!


After dealing with the bubu, I swam back to continue with my benthic recording and somehow I decided to take a look again at the inside of the bubu to see if all the fish have swum out. Just then, I saw a familiar shape inside and across the bubu!

It's a Frogfish! Wah.....my second time seeing one underwater locally!:p So with a little help, We relocated the Frogfish out of the bubu to a spot nearby. And here's the fish!


So Cuteee! :p


By the time I have finished my recording and swam back to the spot where I last left it, it had moved to a nearby coral.