Monday, November 21, 2011

Tiny To Big Big Nudibranch @ Pulau Hantu.....

Yesterday, I was out diving with The Hantu Bloggers again! We did two dives at the South Jetty. The visibility was about 2-3m. Haha.....as usual, my search subject would be the Nudibranch! And we saw quite a few! Ranging from tiny tiny one (about 3mm) to big big one(about 150mm)!


This is the tiniest of them all. About 3mm! It looks like a Goniodoriella nudibranch (Goniodoriella sp.)


Wonder if this Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) is a different species from the ones that we usually see?



The Tambja nudibranch are still in season although much lesser than that we had come across fortnightly ago.


Found a Snakey Bornella nudibranch (Bornella anguilla) on a Sponge.


A elegant looking Bullock nudibranch (Hypselodoris bullocki).


An Eyed Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidia ocellata).


A Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata).


And this is the biggest nudibranch that I encountered during yesterday's dive! It was slightly more than the size of my palm! It was about 150mm from front to back when I measured it with my pointer!



Here are its underside and frontal shots. It is likely to be the Bumpy Dendrodoris nudibranch (Dendrodoris Tuberculosa). Wow! Finally saw it underwater after many sightings during intertidal trips!


And guess what? There were TWO! This one was just next to the one above but part of it was hidden underneath a crevice. It could be much bigger that the above one! Wow!

There you have it, tiny to big nudibranch sightings! Other than nudibranch, these are the other creatures that we saw at Pulau Hantu!



Allied Cowries on Sea Fans!


A yellow Wing Oyster on the Hydroids.


A tiny Basket Star on a Sea Fan.


A curious Filefish that swam forward to check out what was that thing pointing at it!


On the other hand, this False Scorpionfish was a bit camera shy!


Came across a pair of Ocellate Pipefishes (looks like)! Most of the time, I only saw solitary ones!


Saw this big Red Claw Cuapetes Shrimp (Cuapetes tenuipes)? under a crevice.



Reddish Gorgonian Shrimps can be seen on the Sea Whips/Sea Fans if you look carefully!


Thanks to our volunteer guide, JG, we get to see these Ocellated Tozeuma Shrimps? on a Giant Hydroid! Their colour matched the Hydroid underwater rather than orangy like this in the picture. Thus, making them look like part of the Hydroid's "branches"!


Here's a close up on one of the shrimps!