COLOURFUL CLOUDS

龍年快樂!!!.....

2012-01-22T13:15:00.002+08:00

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly.....

2011-12-25T04:33:00.003+08:00

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

2011-11-21T20:00:00.003+08:00

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!

Sargassum Nudibranch @ St John's Island!.....

2011-10-02T15:44:00.015+08:00

Was out checking the shore on St John's lsland yesterday evening. The Sargassum seaweeds are back in season! Most part of the shore were covered with the seaweed and it makes walking among the seaweed pretty difficult. We have to be very careful not to step onto the seaweed as we do not know what lies underneath it! Maybe there's a Stingray or a Stonefish?!?! Scary......

Haha.....I can't help but to look carefully at the Sargassum as I was looking for a nudibranch that was found among the seaweed. The last time I have seen the nudibranch, was 5 years ago at St John's Island! And finally, I get to see it again! Can you see it in the picture? It looks like part of the Sargassum!

We saw four of them! Here they are:

These are the Crosslandia nudibranch (Crosslandia sp.). We also called it the Sargassum nudibranch/sea slug. They feed on tiny Hydroids that live on the Sargassum.

A close up on one of them.

Besides the nudibranch, we saw other creatures too!

There were a few of these Pygmy Squids!

As the night falls, Octopus big and small came out to hunt/explore the reef!

Only saw this Flatworm while we were heading back.

Lots of small fishes around!

Found a big Hermit crab in this big Topshell.

Lots of Shrimps/Prawns too!

A Red Egg Crab. One of the most poisonous crab you get to see in Singapore.

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

2011-09-28T00:15:00.023+08:00

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.....

2011-09-12T21:58:00.001+08:00

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.

Good Vis Day @ Pulau Hantu.....

2011-08-28T23:53:00.028+08:00

After missing out diving with The Hantu Bloggers for three months, I re-joined their dive at Pulau Hantu this morning. It was a good dive as the visibility was good! About 4m at least! It was still bright at the deeper end!

And good vis means that we can shoot fish! I mean.....taking photos of fish. :p

Like this big Batfish! Wow! This is the biggest Batfish that I have encountered in local water so far! Some divers said it is at least 80cm to 1m!

A closer look at it! Hmmm.....wonder if it is a Hump-Headed Batfish or a Oribicular Batfish???

And it has a little "friend"......a Remora!

This looks like a Teira Batfish. In fact, there's about 3 of them swimming around us! Haha......lens not wide enough to capture all 3 in one frame. :p

Managed to shoot some Gobies before they darted into their holes.

A Winged pipefish!

Other than fishes, we spotted other creatures too!

Hmmm.....a Swimming Anemone?

Small Icon Sea Star!

Sea Fan with lots of Brittle Stars and a couple of Allied Cowries!

Colourful Flatworms!

This big Cuttlefish came into my view as I was keeping my face close to the reef looking for small critters. For a moment, I think we both were stunned by with each other. Haha :p

And of course, there's always the Nudibranch!

Top: Pimply Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa) and Bottom: Eyed Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidia ocellata).

The Snakey Bornella nudibranch (Bornella anguilla) were out in full force! Both CT and I saw at least 6-7 of them in one dive!

These Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) are also in season!

A Tambja nudibranch (Tambja sp.)

A small Reliable Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris fidelis).

This looks like a Painted Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris infucata).

There were quite a few of these tiny Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.) on the Hydroids!

A Cuthona Nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae)

This looks like another kind of Cuthona nudibranch (Cuthona sp.)! This is my 2nd encounter with this nudibranch. The first time was last month at Pulau Semakau.

Overall, it is a good dive! But on a sightly sad note is that it looks like something had been crushing onto the corals at Pulau Hantu!

Quite a big chunk of these Ringed plate coral had been crushed!

And during surface interval, we saw this large piece of debris floated by Hantu.

It was at least 1.5m by 5m in dimension! Hmmm.....wonder where did it come from?

First Visit To Sentosa-Serapong Reef.....

2011-07-08T21:24:00.018+08:00

My first time visiting this reef at Sentosa last Monday. We are grateful to Shao Wei, Xi Lin, Sheila and Sylvester for arranging this special trip and sharing the shore with us!

Some parts of the reef are colourful!

There are lots of soft corals as well as some good hard corals coverage that I have seen so far for a shore so near to mainland. Like this big patch of Staghorn coral!

There are also other hard corals:

Among a branching coral, Mama Cuttlefish had deposited some of her eggs!

A Spider Conch!

Came across a couple of Octupus. Here's one,

Can you see it?

Nudibranch! Top-down: a Lined Chromodoris nudibranch Chromodoris lineolata), a Pimply Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa) and a Black Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella nigra)

Flatworms!

A Peacock/Tube Anemone!

Red Crinoid/Featherstar is aplenty on this shore!

Two poisonous crabs! A Brown Egg Crab (Top) and a Mosaic Crab (Bottom)!

Fishy Fishy! Top-down : A Damselfish, Carpet Eel Blenny and a Scorpionfish!

And a beautiful sunrise to end the trip!

Reef Survey @ Big Sisters Island 2011.....

2011-06-12T22:44:00.015+08:00

BWV Reeffriends is back at Big Sisters Island to conduct a reef survey today. The visibility was about 1-2m but there were little currents! As usual, I was doing the Line-intercept Transect (LIT) at the deeper end.

Eight months ago, when we had the reef survey here, the Bubble Tip Anemones were still bleaching. But look like they have made a recovery! But did not see any Tomato Anemonefish.

Saw a small Ringed plate coral partially bleached.

Came across a dislodged Sea Fan! It was quite a big one! Hmmmm.....wondering if it had been dislodged by fishing line? There were quite a few fishermen on the seawall casting their lines when we arrived at the dive site.

Some Corallimorphs.

Tiny Tiny Featherstar/Crinoid.

An assortment of Featherstars/Crinoids on a Soft coral.

Flatworm!

A few of these Sap-sucking Sea Slug (likely Thuridilla gracilis) were sighted. Probably in season.

A Blue Dragon nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina)

A Bornella nudibranch (Bornella sp.)

A Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata).

While doing the 5th transect tape, spotted this nudibranch which I have not seen before! A new sighting for me! From The Sea Slug Forum and reference books, it could be a Porcupine Sakuraeolis nudibranch (Sakuraeolis nungunoides).

Here's a frontal shot. When disturbed, this nudibranch would straightens its cerata as well as britles them and point the red colored tips at the source of the attacker. Just like Porcupines bristle their spines at the attacker. Thus, it was named 'nungunoides' after the Swahili word for the porcupine -nungunungu.

Happy World Oceans Day 2011 !!!.....

2011-06-08T21:15:00.004+08:00

Happy World Oceans Day !!!

Reef Surveys In May 2011.....

2011-05-31T20:08:00.002+08:00

The reef survey by BWV ReefFriends started a bit late this year as there were no suitable dive windows in the earlier part of the year. Well.....better late than never, we had the first reef survey on 15th May at Pulau Semakau and the second one, last Saturday at Pulau Jong!

For Pulau Semakau, the site is located between the channel of Pulau Semakau and Terumbu Raya. It was my first time diving there. Thus, I was in for a bit of a surprise that the seabed at this site is at 6-7m only! Haha.....I was thinking that I was either at the reef flat when I was laying the transect tapes or my dive computer was giving me wrong depth. :p

Anyway, the visibility on that day was great! At least 4m!

And some of the creatures that I came across while doing my Line-intercept Transect (LIT) recording along the tapes:

The only nudibranch along the tapes. It's a Black phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella nigra)

Ha! I see you! It's a Cuttlefish!

Flatworms!

There were lots of Long-spined Black Sea Urchin around! Thus, one had to keep a lookout for them while swimming along the tapes while recording. If not, it will be nasty pains if you got 'punctured' by one.

A Whip Shrimp!

The False Clown Anemonefish was too shy! Kept hiding from the camera! :p

Looks like an Ocellated Pipefish. Saw two of them that day!

And lastly at Pulau Semakau, saw these Razorfish while I was reeling in the tapes.

For the second survey of the year, it was at Pulau Jong. The dive window was okay but the visibility was not as good as we had at Semakau. It was about 1-2m. Nonetheless, we managed to finish the survey in one dive and had an exploratory second dive.

What did we see? Here they are:

A Blue-spotted Fantail Stingray!

Hard Corals! In different kind of growth forms! Encrusting, column, branching and submassive (Top-down). The Staghorn coral (2nd pic from bottom) had lots of tiny crabs among it, can you see them? Alas, I also saw a small patch of bleaching Anemone coral (bottom pic).

There were a big patch of Anemones along one of my transect tapes!

This Featherstar/Crinoid was 20cm outside the counting range for Invertebrate survey.

The usual tiny Basket Star on a Sea Fan was spotted.

Someone else was on another Sea Fan! It looks like a tiny tiny swimming Anemone!

Someone was on this Sea Whip too. Can you see it?

It's a tiny Squid! Probably a Pygmy Squid!

Phyllid nudibranch big and small.

An Emma nudibranch (Hypselodoris emma).

A Ornate Leaf Slug (Elysia Ornata).

Another kind of Leaf Slug. It looks like a Woolly Leaf Slug (Elysia sp.)

A tiny Flatworm!

Along one transect tape, I saw what looks like a Celebes Sweetlips staying stationary at one spot. So I went closer to try to take a photo, but it swam away. Then, I saw these two Shrimps! Hmmm.....don't think I have seen them before! Ahhh.....they look like some kind of Cleaner Shrimps, so this spot could be a cleaning station! Guess what? After I swam away and went back to that spot, the Sweetlips was there again! But it was still too alert for me to get a picture.

Here's a closer look at one of the shrimps! Looks gravid!

Ssshhhhhh.....@Pulau Hantu.....

2011-05-24T21:56:00.018+08:00

Yes, it was somehow a bit quiet underwater at Pulau Hantu on Sunday compared to my previous dive there. Nonetheless, it was still a good dive with The Hantu Bloggers!

And here are some of the stuff that we came cross:

At the seabed (at about 11m) of the western reef, saw this tiny patch of seagrass. Hmmm.....wonder if these are Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis) or Hairy spoon seagrass (Halophila decipiens)?

This kind of Flatworm can be commonly seen at our reefs.

Not sure what is this that was on the green Sponge. Isopod???

A Sea Cucumber on the Hydroid.

A tiny tiny Icon Sea Star!

A Basket Star on a Sea Fan! Here's its underside.

A Featherstar/Crinoid that has a commensal! It's Brittle Star!

There are also Brittle Stars on a Sea Whip! Haha.....together with a Whip Goby!

Saw about 3 Saw-tooth Shrimps/Gorgonian shrimps on couple of Sea Whips!

And also this Sea Whip Shrimp!

Saw various sizes of Cuttlefish! Ranging from as small as a fishball to as big as a rugby ball!

A Sap-sucking Sea Slug (likely Thuridilla gracilis).

Commonly seen Blue Dragon nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina).

Tiny Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.)

Haha.....I got "slapped" by someone's fins when i was trying to take a photo of this Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris sp.). Glad that the photo turned out okay. :p

Lastly, after looking at more than a dozen Hydroids, finally found this Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.) on one!

Nudibranch Galore @ Beting Bronok.....

2011-05-19T22:58:00.001+08:00

Unlike last year's visit to Beting Bronok where I did not come across a single nudibranch, yesterday's trip is rewarding for me who is crazy over Sea Slugs! :p Came across about seven different nudibranch and with a new sighting for me! :o)

Saw this Aeolid nudibranch often on our northern shores. Looks like a Cratena sp.

Another Aeolid nudibranch which could be a Flabellina sp. was found by KS and James. Had seen this nudibranch here two years ago.

A Cuthona Nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae) spotted by IK.

Found this nudibranch, which looks like a Notobryon wardi. This is my 2nd time seeing it on a intertidal trip. The 1st time was many many years ago at Big Sisters!

Looks like a Rose nudibranch (Dendrodoris fumata).

ML found this nudibranch! Looks similar to the one that KS found at St John. So it could be Discodoris mauritiana or Peltodoris murrea.

And the new sighting for me is this tiny tiny Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.)! Had a hard time taking a picture of it, as the Hydroid that it was on, kept moving about in the water.

Besides nudibranch, Beting Bronok has other wonderful creatures to discover too!

A Bailer snail that we saw when we just landed on the shore!

A tiny little Squid! Can you see it?

A small Octopus!

Flatworms!

An Estuarine Moray Eel?

Poor Grouper got stranded!

Different kinds of Sea Star!

Different kinds of Urchin too!

This is not a Jellyfish but the feeding parts of a Sea Cucumber!

And here's a stranded Jellyfish!

Lots of Sea Pen lying around! And most of them have commensal Porcelain crabs!

A delicate Glass Anemone!

And a beautiful sunrise to end the trip!

Predawn @ Terumbu Pempang Tengah.....

2011-05-17T22:59:00.023+08:00

My second time to this submerged reef off Pulau Hantu today. Last time I was here, it was a daylight trip. This time, we landed in the dark of the night at 4am! You can see the lights from the refinery on Pulau Bukom.

And here are some finds that we came across:

A Snake Eel that was out in the open.

Next to the blade of a seagrass is this what looks like a Variable Fang-blenny.

Cute little Yellow-banded Damselfish!

There were lots of Toadfish around.

So were these Longspined Scorpionfish.

A Copper-banded Butterflyfish.

Varieties of Anemone!

The only Flatworm that I came across.

A Spoon Pincer Crab (Top) and a small crab that I am not sure of its ID.

Found this tiny green Shrimp among a patch of Seagrass and Seaweed.

Common Seastar and Sand Dollar on the sandbar.

A juvenile Noble Volute in one of the tidepool.

A Bryopsis Slug (Placida daguilarensis) that had gone for a swim away from the Bryosis seaweed!:p

KS showed me this nudibranch. Looks like a Black Dendrodoris nudibranch (Dendrodoris nigra).

Highlight of the trip for me is this tiny nudibranch (about 1cm) that was found on the Smooth sponge green seaweed! A new nudibranch sighting for me! Its mantle is sponge-like and I have no idea of its ID! My guess is that it could be from the Discodorididae family. Hmmmm.....could it be feeding on the sponge cells and spicules that are intertwined with the algae?

Clammies @ Terumbu Bemban.....

2011-04-28T23:18:00.010+08:00

Last week on Good Friday (which also happened to be Earth Day), we checked out Terumbu Bemban, a submerged reef off Pulau Semakau.

This is my second time to this reef. We were there last year to help ML search for Giant Clams. But we did not see any at that time, as it was a short trip and thus not thoroughly search. So I am glad to come across two Fluted Giant Clams last week! They are pretty near to each other. One is about 35-40cm big while the smaller one is about 25cm big.

Can you see the Giant Clams?

This is the big one in the background of the photo!

And this is the smaller one in the foreground of the photo!

Other than the Giant Clams, am glad to see that the corals are not bleaching like last year!

In addition, came across other marine creatures too!

Another Starry & Sluggish Trip.....

2011-04-24T21:20:00.021+08:00

this time @ Pulau Jong! Yes, we were out at Jong on Thursday. We had to start the trip in wet weather, but fortunately, the rain stopped and we had a beautiful blue sky to check out the shore!

It has been almost a year since I last visited Jong. I feel that there are lesser soft corals and hard corals in the tide pool at the center zone. Perhaps, some of them did not make it due to the bleaching that happened last year.

Only a small part of this Staghorn coral is still alive.

Did not see many Flatworm. In fact, this is the only one seen.

Only encounter one Jellyfish too! Strangely, cos it is supposed to be Jellyfish season!

A Hermit Crab.

A Mama Red-eyed Reef Crab! See the black egg mass that she carried? Looks like the babies will be released soon.

A tiny Featherstar/Crinoid about the size of a 5cents coin!

Found three of these tiny Seastars! Looks like the ones that I found at Jong and Cyrene last year!

And this time round, they come with six, seven and eight arms!

A Ornate Leaf Slug (Elysia Ornata).

There were quite a number of Pimply phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa).

Small and big Polka-dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris).

There were plenty of these Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.). I counted more than 10 sightings!

A Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata).

Came across these two Reliable Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris fidelis).

A closer look at one of them!

And highlight of the day for me would be the two tiny tiny Sea Slugs that were spotted on the Hairy green seaweed. It is my first sighting of them!

Hmmm.....wonder if this is a Nudibranch or a Sap-sucking Sea Slug!

No idea of the ID for this Nudibranch? either.

No Frog But Stars, Slugs And Others @ Pulau Sekudu.....

2011-04-22T19:40:00.023+08:00

On Wednesday, we were out checking the intertidal at Pulau Sekudu. Joining us were staff and volunteer from Nparks Ubin.

This small islet just off Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin, has been listed as a restricted zone as part of Chek Jawa Wetland with effect from October'07. Thus, a permit must be applied from the National Parks Board if you want to land on Pulau Sekudu or to carry any activities in this zone.

Pulau Sekudu mean Frog Island in Malay. But there's no frog to see (except a rock that looks like one) on the island. Instead, it offers wonderful marine creatures for us to discover!

And here are some that we came across:

Found this tiny Seastar that I have no idea of its ID. Could it be a juvenile Cake Seastar?

A variety of Seastars! From top: Cake Seastar?, Biscuit Seastar, Scaly Seastar, Painted Sandstar and Crown Seastar!

Featherstar/Crinoid

Sea Urchin of various sizes!

Pencil Urchin!

The pink Sand Dollars are still there!

Among some Caulerpa seaweeds, you can sometimes find the Volvatella Slug (Volvatella vigourouxi).

The Ornate Leaf Slug (Elysia Ornata) is in season.

A Geographic Sea Hare.

Looks like a Spotted Foot nudibranch (Discodoris lilacina).

This could be a juvenile Rose nudibranch (Dendrodoris fumata). It is said that it will turn black when it reaches adult stage.

Found two Black Prickly nudibranch (Atagema intecta) near a big boulder. And here's one of them with some Skeleton Shrimps crawling all over its "back".

ML spotted this which looks like a Inorate Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris inorata).

A new sighting of nudibranch for me is this tiny white one about 1cm. It could be a Jorunna sp.

A Cowrie.

A stranded Octopus.

The only Flatworm that I seen.

A fast moving Scale Worm.

Some sort of Spider Crab?

A Pipefish.

Came across this stranded Eel-like fish.

What better way to end a good trip than a beautiful sunrise?

Critters Galore @ Pulau Hantu.....

2011-03-21T13:55:00.047+08:00

Yesterday was The Hantu Bloggers' 7th Anniversary. It is the 5th year that I have joined their Anniversary dive. And once again, it was wonderful dives at Pulau Hantu with lots of sightings (CT sighted a baby Bamboo Shark and PM sighted a 25cm long nudibranch!Wow!!!) with a good visibility of at least 5m!

We started off with the dive at the western reef, then to the North jetty and then to South jetty for the third and night dive. Haha....I particularly liked the dive at North jetty for sightings of many nudibranch! :p

And here are the critters that we had sighted!

Baby Icon Seastar! About 1cm from arm to arm!

Second "star" seen is this Cushion Star.

Then we have the Featherstar/Crinoid.

And here is the last "star" with a Crinoid on a Sea Fan is the Basket Star!

Thorny Sea Cucumber.

Allied Cowries on Soft coral and Sea Fans!

A tiny red shrimp found on Sea Whip.

Another kind of shrimp found on the whips is this Gorgonian/Sawtooth shrimp!

A Face Banded Coral Crab hiding in a Acropora coral.

A crab with soft coral bits "growing" on it was seen during the night dive.

Different kind of Flatworms! Most of them are quite small and with some sighted probably feeding the Ascidians! And first time seeing the maroon one!

Saw two Cuttlefish and here's one of them spotted by JG.

And JG spotted two Tiger-tail Seahorse too!

The Winged Pipefish can be seen at the usual pillar!

At the sandy bottom, A Flathead (top pic) and a Flatfish were trying to bury or blend in with the sand.

While trying to look for nudibranch on this kind of Hydroid, I came across these creatures that I have no idea of moving up and down along the "stalk" of the Hydroid. Wonder what they are?

Of course, there's the Sea Slug sightings. After that slugful day in last November, we had another slugful dives again! This time with about 21 different kinds of Sea Slugs (with one non-nudibranch) sighted!

An Eyed Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidia ocellata).

A big fat juicy-looking Polka-dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris).

A Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris sp.).

This is one of the two different species of Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) that were spotted.

And here's the other species of Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.).

The "Godzilla" at Pulau Hantu! It's a Slender Ceratosoma nudibranch (Ceratosoma gracillimum)!

Could these two be a colour variation of the Painted Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris infucata) or two different species? Hmmm....

My first time seeing a Kanga nudibranch (Hypselodoris kanga) underwater locally! The cross-section and the yellow spots on its gills matches the description of a Kanga nudibranch.

A pretty Bullock nudibranch (Hypselodoris bullocki). Is it feeding on the sponge?

Hmmm.....wonder if this nudibranch is a colour variation of the Bullock nudibranh (Hypselodoris bullocki) or a different species?

This could be a Florens nudibranch (Thorunna florens). First sighting for me!

My second first sighting of nudibranch, in the same family as the Florens nudibranch, is this that looks like a Purple-dotted Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris aureopurpurea) spotted by JG!

What looks like a Burn's Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris burni) was found near the Purple-dotted Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris aureopurpurea).

The third new nudibranch sighting for me is this tiny about 1cm nudibranch. Looking at the thick "in-roll" mantle margin, my guess is that it could be a Murphydoris/Goniodoris nudibranch (Murphydoris sp./Goniodoris sp.).

One of the two Snakey Bornella nudibranch (Bornella anguilla) that PM showed me to.

Red-lined Flabellina nudibranch (Flabellina rubrolineata) are in season.

JG spotted this tiny Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.) on the Giant Hydroid.

While I came across another species of Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.) on another kind of Hydroid.

I was so excited to come across this nudibranch! First time seeing one! It looks like a Tricolor Trinchesia nudibranch (Trinchesia sp.)

My 5th new nudibranch sighting for the day is this one spotted by JG during the night dive. It looks like a Pacific Favorinus nudibanch (Favorinus pacificus).

And the final Sea Slug sighting is this sea bunny, the Hairy Sea Hare! Had seen them mostly during intertidal trip so it is nice to see one underwater. With the hairy bits extended, it looks like a lump of moving algae! Haha.....and that's how I spotted it as I was wondering why that lump of "algae" was hopping! :p

So there you have it! It's another great anniversary dive with The Hantu Bloggers! Thanks Debby and her volunteer dive guides' effort in showing what Pulau Hantu can offer! Looking forward to the 8th! :o)

P.S. : Thank you for the surprise cake again! :o)

Happy Year Of The Rabbit !!!.....

2011-02-03T00:48:00.000+08:00

2011 First Dive @ Pulau Hantu.....

2011-01-23T23:59:00.017+08:00

This morning, I joined The Hantu Bloggers for their first Pulau Hantu dive in year 2011. Just yesterday evening, I was on the island with Ria and the group for a intertidal walk. See some of their blog posts here, here and here.

The visibility was about 1-2m. But if you go slow and look carefully, you can still get to see stuff even in this poor vis! So what did we see at the deeper end of Pulau Hantu today?

Icon Sea Star!

Lots of Crinoid/Featherstar of course!

A Flatworm that can be commonly sighted in our waters!

Talking about worm, here's part of the long feeding proboscis from a Bootlace Worm!

At 10m depth, came across this Seahorse. Probably a Tiger-tailed Seahorse.

Can you see anything in the pic? No? Yes?.....In the center of the pic is a small Cuttlefish! See the eyes?! So Cuteeee!

One of the highlights for today would be this Allied Cowrie on the soft coral! Pretty isn't it?

These Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris sp.) look like they are in season!

Here's another one with a Blue Dragon nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina) crossing its path.

A small little Polka-dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris).

A tiny Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) performing a disappearing act! :p

Found this Reliable Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris fidelis) on the seabed.

Lastly, probably a Furtive Thorunna nudibranch (Thorunna furtiva). First time seeing it at Pulau Hantu for me!

Merry Christmas And A Happy 2011 !!!.....

2010-12-25T00:26:00.001+08:00

The Whale Sharks Wish You

A Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year !!!

Last Dive For Year 2010 @ Pulau Hantu.....

2010-12-21T09:47:00.019+08:00

Yes, I was back underwater on Sunday after finishing the reef survey for the year at Kusu Island the day before. This time round for leisure dives with The Hantu Bloggers at Pulau Hantu! We did our two dives at the South Jetty and the visibility was a comfortable 3m.

I also tried out a DIY reflector (thanks to a flickr's contact on this trick) with my camera. Verdict is that I can now get closer to the subject in macro mode without having pics that turned out in total darkness due to the shadow cast by the big port of the housing when I use flash! Yeah! :o)

Anyway, here are the creatures that we saw;

The resident Tiger-tailed Seahorse!

CT pointed out this Winged Pipefish on a pillar.

Also managed to see two of the other Pipefish, think they could be Ocellate Pipefish.

Not many Flatworm sighted compared to North Jetty the day before. This is the only one that I came across.

Colourful Crinoids/Featherstars! Big and small!

Allied Cowrie on Sea Fan.

Many of these tiny tiny orange snail around.

The nudibranch have been reproducing! Here's one egg ribbon!

And here's another one in the laying process.....

.....by a nudibranch that I have no idea of and first sighting of it for me!

A closer look at it. My guess is that it could be another Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris sp.) from the shape of its gills. Anyone would like to shed some lights?

Found two of these Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris sp.). Second time seeing them in our water for me. The first time was almost three years ago during Hantu's Blogger's 4th Anniversary dive!

A closer look!

And on the same piece of rubble with the two Chromodoris nudibranch is this which looks like a Bolland's Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris cf. bollandi). It was about 5mm big!

And another tiny nudibranch is this Savigny's Goniodoridiella nudibranch (Goniodoridella savignyi) which I saw the day before too!

There were quite a number of these Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) out on the reef!

And on the Giant Hydroids, couple of Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.) can be seen too!

And that wrapped up another year of great diving in our waters! Looking forward to more of what our reefs can offer us in 2011!

Finishing Reef Survey For 2010 At Kusu Island.....

2010-12-20T19:49:00.019+08:00

On Saturday, BWV ReefFriends carried out the last reef survey for 2010 at Kusu Island. We have an experienced team and so the survey was done in one dive! Good for us as the skipper said that the currents will be stronger later in the afternoon and thus not dive-able at Kusu.

The visibility looked good on the surface and not too bad underneath. About 3m.

I was doing the Line-intercept-transact (LIT) and the first creature that I saw at the start of the first transect tape is this;

An Icon Seastar!

Along the way, saw this. A solitary Tubularian Hydroids (Ralpharia sp.)?

Flatworms! And first time seeing the one on top!

Only came across some Phyllid nudibranch at Kusu.

Glad that the big pink Sea Fan is still around! Kusu is one dive site that you get to see many big Sea Fan at a shallow depth of about 7m!

And with so many Sea Fans and Sea Whips, you would find on them;

Basket Star! This one is about the size of a 5-cent coin!

Whip Goby!

Shrimp!

And of course, the many many Crinoids/Featherstar that clung on them!

But sadly, the coral coverage seen to be getting lesser along my transect tapes this year! Came across several corals in such conditions;

Coral heads overturned and some corals broken partially! Hmmmm....wonder what had happened at the site?

And since we were not able to make a second dive at Kusu, we made a de-tour to Pulau Hantu. Get to dive at the North Jetty which we have not visited for a long time!

and here are some of the creatures that we saw;

More Flatworms!

A Batfish that was not shy!

And of course, more nudibranch!!!

A Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris sp.)

A Lined Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris lineolata).

It has been sometime since I saw a "Godzilla" or Ceratosoma nudibranch (Ceratosoma gracillimum)!

A Red-lined Flabellina nudibranch (Flabellina rubrolineata).

Not far from the Ceratosoma nudibranch, is this Spotted Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris maculosa).

This is the second time that I have seen this nudibranch. The first time was at Big Sisters lsland during an intertidal trip. Dr Bill Rudman of the The Sea Slug Forum had IDed it as a Flabellina nudibranch (Flabellina sp.)

Another second time nudibranch sighting is this nudibranch that I have seen it at Hantu in 2007! Looks like a Savigny's Goniodoridiella nudibranch (Goniodoridella savignyi).

It's A Slugful Day At Pulau Hantu.....

2010-11-29T15:27:00.031+08:00

Went diving with The Hantu Bloggers at Pulau Hantu yesterday. This time round we did a special full day trip.....ie 3 day dives and 1 night dive. Usually full day trip only happen on the blog's anniversary. We did 2 dives each at the west reef and at the South jetty.

And this trip turned out to be a slugful day! Well.....at least for me lah :p. We came across about 16 different kinds of Sea Slugs and yet again, some new sightings for me! :o) Highlights from the other divers including 2 Sharks, one big Blue Spotted Fantail Stingray, a Yellow-lipped Sea Krait and a nudibranch that I have not seen before! Wow!!!!

And oh.....the visibility was good too! About 3-4m at least!

Okay, here come the Sea Slugs sightings (with most of them Nudibranch!!!);

Spotted 2 Emma nudibranch (Hypselodoris emma) on the shallow part of the reef. Here's one the them.

This looks like a young Bolland's Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris cf. bollandi). It was tiny, about 1cm long.

The Reliable Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris fidelis) are still in season. Spotted quite a few around.

Some Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris spp.)

A tiny Tambja nudibranch (Tambja sp.) wandering around.....

And nearby the Tambja, ML spotted a Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.)

JG spotted this on the night dive. It's a Janolus nudibranch (Janolus sp.) This is the second time that I have seen this nudibranch at Hantu. The first time was in 2008 during The Hantu Bloggers' 4th anniversary and haha.....that Janolus nudibranch was also spotted by JG too!

On one of the jetty pillars, spotted this Red-lined Flabellina nudibranch (Flabellina rubrolineata).

First time seeing this Cratena nudibranch? (Cratena sp.) underwater. Have seen them during intertidal trips to Beting Bronok and Changi.

Oh my! The Cuthona nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae) are in season! They were everywhere! Here's a mating pair!

Found this tiny tiny I think is an aeolid nudibranch. It was moving pretty fast and seen to have a very long dark-purplish oral tentacles with some green orangey cerata. Hehe.....can see its eyespots too!

A closer look at it. It also has some white markings on its mantle. A new nudibranch sighting for me!

Found this during night dive. Looks like a Notobryon nudibranch (Notobryon wardi). Have seen a similar looking one before on a intertidal trip to Big Sisters Island.

Once again, found the unknown Doto nudibranch again. Haha.....still trying very hard to get a clearer picture of this nudibranch. :p

ML spotted this tiny Doto looking nudibranch on a Hydroid on the night dive! This is the 2nd new nudibranch sighting for me from the dives!

And here's the 3rd new nudibranch sighting for me!

When spotted this yellowish lump on a pink Candy Hydroid, I was like what the heck and WOW! It looks bizarre! Then it moved abit.....

It's a nudibranch! Probably another species of the Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.)? I don't know.

Here's a close-up. Can see the brownish reticulated markings on the body. The Rhinophores I think are on the left of the pic.

And lastly, the 4th new sightings (not nudibranch but still a Sea Slug) for me is this

Found 3 of these on the substrate moving pretty fast! They were about the size of a rice grain! They look like the Four-spine Siphopteron (Siphopteron quadrispinosum). Their relatives being the Bubble snails, Headshield Slug etc in the same Order Cephalaspidea.

So there you have it, 16 different kinds of Sea Slugs! Isn't Pulau Hantu AMAZING??? :o)

Of course besides the slugs, there are other creatures that Hantu offers!

Flatworms!!!

Big Icon Seastars and plenty of tiny Brittle stars!

Sea Pen!

Allied Cowries on Sea Fan and Sea Whips!

Tiger Cowrie!

And another "Tiger" sighting is the usual Tiger-tailed Seahorse. :p

lastly, found this 3cm long Seahorse hanging onto some Hydroid-like stuff during the night dive. Could it be a young Tiger-tailed Seahorse?

The Good, The Bad And The NOT Ugly @ Little Sisters Island And Pulau Jong.....

2010-11-17T18:58:00.030+08:00

BWV ReefFriends conducted 2 reef surveys this week. One at Little Sisters island on Sunday and another at Pulau Jong today!

So on Sunday, we carried out the reef survey at Little Sisters. And here's where the bad comes in.....Bad visibility, weather and strong currents! The vis was about 1m, we got rained out during the second dive and encountered strong currents where basically, I had to hold on to rubbles to lay the transect tapes!

Here are some pics taken during the dives;

Some hard corals were still bleaching but most of them are likely on the road to recovery!

Bryozoans.

Purplish Lace Stick corals.....

Arms of a Featherstar/Crinoid.

Little Featherstar/Crinoid on a Sea Fan!

While on another Sea Fan, it's a Basket Star!

Only came across a Phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella sp.) and a Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata).

And today, we went out to Pulau Jong. We are blessed with the GOOD! Good weather, slack currents and Good VISIBILITY! About 6m at least!

Check out the Vis !!!

And here what we saw today;

A Mushroom coral with its stalk still attached to the substrate!

Not sure what is the ID of this hard coral. Anyone would like to shed some lights for this one?

Pebble coral (Astreopora sp.)?

Anemone coral with polyps that that look like tiny little flowers!

Pretty Corallimorphs.

Haha.....Zoanthids feeling blue? :p

The stars today are the Icon Seastar and the Cushion Star!

Little shrimp on the Sea Fan!

And also on a Sea Fan is this Allied Cowrie!

Whereas this Allied Cowrie preferred to be on some greens!

At one end of a transect tape, there was this Tiger Cowrie! It was about 8cm long! Happy to see this rare cowrie in our waters again!

A Blue Dragon nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina).

Various Phyllid nudibranch!

A Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymnodoris sp.)

A Cuthona nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae)!

Found a couple of these nudibranch (Doto sp.?) which I have seen during last month Pulau Hantu dives. And both have egg ribbons nearby!

And thanks to ML, I get to see this Girdled Glossodoris nudibranch (Glossodoris cincta) in our waters finally!

So there you are, all the NOT ugly (i.e. pretty and beautiful) creatures that we came across on both trip! Well.....except this one.....:p

A Toadfish!

Just kidding, it is still a CUTE looking fish! Awwwww..... :p

Terumbu Bukom For The First Time.....

2010-11-08T23:01:00.013+08:00

Our first time checking out this patch reef that lies between the channel Pulau Bukom and Pulau Semakau. Here are some of the stuff that we came across;

Terumbu Buran Finally!.....

2010-11-07T12:21:00.019+08:00

After years of passing by this patch reef (located just off Sentosa Cove) on our several trips to the southern islands of Singapore, we finally had a chance to check it out yesterday!

We took sometimes to find a safe spot to anchor as the waters around the reef were with tempestuous currents!

Look at the currents! Yikes!

But thanks to our reliable skipper, Jumari, we managed to land on the reef safely!

We landed quite a distance from the rocks as the reef flat is large and the water is too shallow for the dingy to maneuver though the reef. We had to track carefully among the sargassum seaweeds in order not to step on any *ass*. Opps, I meant *Ssss*, which are Stonefish and Stingray! :p

As the tide was not low enough for us to check out the reef flat, we mainly checked out the rocky shore.

The rocks are full of life! From Barnacles, Limpets to Drills.

Many Sea Slaters too!

Tiny crabs hide among the rock crevices.

And in the tidepools,

Hard and soft corals.

Patches of an unknown Anemone!

Black Sea Cucumbers.

School of tiny fishes!

A shy Anemonefish!

Shrimps with yellow banded legs!

And found a tiny tiny Sea slug (about 4mm) among a patch of Bryopsis seaweeds. A new sighting for me! Ohhhh.....and look at those tiny little eyes! :p It's probably a "cylindrical form" Halimeda slug (Elysiella pusilla). The ones that Ria had seen would be the 'typical' flattened form of this Halimeda slug.

And all too soon we have to leave the reef.....hope we could have a chance to come back at a much lower tide to check out the reef flat!

Morning Walk @ Pulau Ubin And A Passing Of One Of Her Pioneers.....

2010-11-05T22:07:00.015+08:00

Woke up early on Deepavali to go for a walk at Pulau Ubin today.

It's good to go early and leave early from Ubin on a long weekend as the crowds get bigger towards the late morning. When I came back on the mainland around noon, the queue for bumboats to Ubin extended all the way to the ground level at the jetty!

When I reached Ubin, I made my breakfast stop at Pak Ali's shop for their Lontong which only available on Sunday and sometimes on public holidays. And then a piece of sad news was told by a van driver to me that the owner of the shop, the friendly Pak Ali, had passed away last week. :( Sigh.....RIP Pak Ali. You will be deeply missed! More about Pak Ali on November's Pulau Ubin Stories.

After breakfast, I proceed with the objective of this trip, to take macro! And here are some shots;

Spiders before and after the heavy downpour.

Some Leafhoppers.

Not sure what this is. It landed on a piece of leaf to "drink" water.

Haha.....not sure what this is either!

A Katydid with a "duh" look. :p

Flower buds that look like tiny pink bow ties!

Along the way, came across some rare mangroves.

Tumu Putih (Bruguiera sexangula).

Gedabu (Sonneratia ovata).

Tengar Merah (Ceriops zippeliana).

These mangrove trees are listed either Endangered or Critically Endangered on our Red List of threatened plants of Singapore.

Crossing path with a little doggie.

And lastly, a shot of an old gate to one of the last few old houses on the island.

What's That On The Hydroids?.....

2010-10-26T23:00:00.003+08:00

On Sunday, I finally joined The Hantu Bloggers for their monthly dive at Pulau Hantu again after five months absence.

The vis was about 2-3m but due to a overcast sky, it was pretty dim at deeper depths. Nonetheless, we still spotted some delightful creatures! :o)

I was looking at some Hydroids searching for Nudibranch that feed on them. And indeed, there were some nudibranch on them!

Here's one;

It's at the center of the pic. It was about 5mm big.

Here's the side view. It has a white body with tiny black spots and tips of its cerata are a bit yellowish.

Here's a slight close-up of the nudibranch. My guess is that it could be a Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.)

While on another Hydroid, found a slightly different looking one.

Here's a close-up of the nudibranch. It was about 5mm too.

Hmmmm.....could it be another Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.)???

Besides these two new nudibranch sightings for me, also came across a couple of other nudibranch!

The common Blue Dragon Nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina).

A lovely looking Bullocki nudibranch (Hypselodoris bullocki).

And there were two egg ribbons nearby the Bullocki nudibranch. Hmmm.....could it be the egg ribbons of the Bullocki?

Towards the end of 1st dive, found this Cuthona nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae)! Beautiful right?

And just a stone throw away from the Cuthona nudibranch, were two pairs of these Spotted Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris maculosa). And here's one pair which looks like they were mating!

Besides Hydroids, you can find stuffs on Sea Fans too!

And Allied Cowrie is one of them!

PM pointed out this Cowrie to me at the seabed. Looks like a Onyx Cowrie.

Saw a few of this Flatworm too!

And of course, the icon of The Hantu Bloggers, the Tiger-tailed Seahorse!

A pair of White eyes peeked from between the branches of the Staghorn corals. It was a little crab!

Also among the branches is this Acropora Goby!

At the seabed, spotted this tiny tiny little Seastar. It was about the size of a rice grain.

Also, there were plenty of Icon Seastars!

Sadly, I still came across many bleaching Mushroom corals on the seabed!

Ahhhh.....it was a good dive! Looking forwards to next month's four dives at Hantu!

Last Week's Reef Survey @ Big Sister Island.....

2010-10-24T21:18:00.018+08:00

BWV ReefFriends conducted another reef survey last week. This time at Big Sister island.

Was assigned to do the deep Line Intercept Transect (LIT) survey and shallow fish survey. Currents were manageable and vis was about 1.5m to 2m.

So here are what I came across along the transect lines;

Most corals look like that they were recovering from the bleaching. However, there are some that did not make it.

The Bubble Tip Anemones are still bleaching. Hope that they will recover soon!

Fishes like Tomato Anemonefish and Filefish.

Lots of Crinoids/Featherstars out and about! From big big ones to small small ones.

Many Orange Brittle Stars on a Sea Fan!

A Basket Star!

Can you see the tiny Top Shell Snail in the pic? It was about 1cm big!

A few of these Sap-sucking Sea Slug (Thuridilla gracilis) were seen.

Lastly, the Nudibranch! From the top is the Pimply phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa). The middle one is a tiny tiny Dermatobranchus nudibranch (Dermatobranchus sp.) and the one at the bottom is a Reliable Chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris fidelis)

Sad Sights At Pulau Satumu.....

2010-09-29T22:28:00.000+08:00

last week, BWV ReefFriends conducted the latest reef survey at Pulau Satumu/Raffles Lighthouse. Last year, we had to abort the survey due to bad weather and strong currents. This time round, we were blessed with good weather and slightly better current situation!

However, sad sights await us when we started to record our data at the deeper end. Coral bleaching is still ongoing for some corals while others seen to have make a recovery.

Similar to the situation at Pulau Semakau, the Ringed plate corals (Pachyseris sp.) seen to be the worst hit among the bleaching corals.

Another sad sight would be that we noticed that there seen to be lot more coral rubble, broken coral fragments and overturned coral heads! What had happened? Did a boat run aground the reef? Sigh.....

On a slightly happy note, we came across this Anemone. Dr Daphne, a world authority on Sea Anemones, had kindly identified it as the Merten's Carpet Sea Anemone(Stichodactyla mertensii). And this Sea Anemone is likely a new record for Singapore! :o)

Did not take many photo as was busy doing the benthic recordings. Thus, these are the other stuffs that I came across;

A Carpet Eel Blenny hiding under a coral.

So is this Cushion Star!

Lots of Crinoid/Featherstar!

And the only nudibranch sighted are these phyllid nudibranch.

Some Sightings From Kusu Island.....

2010-09-27T21:02:00.014+08:00

two weeks ago.

The Letter Of The Day Brought To You @ Big Sisters Island.....

2010-09-12T15:42:00.019+08:00

is "S"! Read on to find out why! :p

Yesterday evening, we went to Big Sisters Island to check out the coral bleaching situation again. Were there two months ago where we encountered a Hawksbill Turtle. Then, about 20% of the corals were bleached.....but today most of the corals that I came across are looking good and seen to be recovering!

Besides the corals, the Anemones look okay too!

The Giant Carpet Anemone is in its healthy colour.

Wonder if this Frilly Anemone is recovering from bleaching too?

Came across this unknown Anemone. Usually, the ones I saw were with their tentacles tugged. So nice to see one with its tentacles spread wide open.

There were many Flathead in the tide pools.

So are the Toadfishes. Most of them are still pretty small in size.

And the first "S" of the day is.....

A live Scallop edged in between the crevice.

Can you spot the second "S" in this pic?

Yes, it's Stingray! Blue-spotted Fantail Stingray in this case.

The third "S" will be Sea Slugs! Here's a Black phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella nigra).

the other Sea Slugs sighted are;

the Ornate Leaf Slug (Elysia Ornata) and.....

a Sea Slug that could be a Bryopsis Slug (Placida daguilarensis) which was busy feeding itself so that it could incorporate the green chloroplasts of the seaweeds. Once it has incorporated the green chloroplasts, the slug would be green and these chloroplasts would continue to carry out photosynthesis inside the slug and provide the slug with extra nutrients.

The fourth "S" of the day is this small Sea Snake! The Yellow-lipped Sea Krait is a docile creature unless it is provoked. So just leave the snake alone when you come across one at the shore next time.

The fifth "S" would be this palm-size Stonefish! It was barely 10cm from mouth to tail. Awww....so CUTE! (for small one of course! :p).

Haha.....and the last "S" of the day for me would be the massive Sargassum Seaweeds that is back in season! :p But Ria and Ivan get to see another "S". They saw Seahorses!

ReefFriends Reef Survey Dive @ Pulau Semakau Instead.....

2010-08-29T22:13:00.010+08:00

Pulau Jong was originally scheduled for today's reef survey dive. But as heavy rain started to pour when we departed, we decided to switch to Pulau Semakau. This was done so for our safety as diving Pulau Jong in the rain and choppy water might be a bit tricky for a small team.

So off we go to the west side of Pulau Semakau. And I was back to this side of the island for the consecutive days. Yesterday, I was doing a guided walk here!

Once we have allocated the tasks, off we jumped into the warm water to escape from the cold wind that was blowing constantly. I started recording the benthic stuffs for the deep transect as KS and KJ laid out the transect tapes. After finishing tape 1,2 and 3 (KS will do tape 4 and 5), I swam up to help Jeff to record the tape 1 benthic stuffs for the shallow.

As the Sargassum are back in season, it was a bit difficult to maneuver through them to record the reading. Certain time, my fins will entangle with a bunch of Sargassum and I was pulled back when I was swimming forward. But I guessed it's better that it was just seaweed that was pulling me instead of "other thing" since it is still the Hungry Ghost month. :p

I did not take any photo in the first dive as I brought down a camera with flat batteries! But managed to take some in the 2nd dive when I was doing the invertebrates survey at the shallow.

The hard corals at the deeper end (around 6-7m) fair much better to those at the shallow in term of bleaching percentage. The Ringed plate corals are the worst hit with lots of them bleaching in large number at the shallow end! The soft corals are also bleaching in large mass at the shallow too!

Other than that, most corals are doing pretty well.....

such as this Brain coral.

A Cuttlefish had laid some eggs in between the crevices of a partially bleached Carnation coral.

Recorded about 10 Long-spined Black Sea Urchin at the shallow.

Not many Featherstar / Crinoid was seen.....

Quite a number of Fanworms were seen. But this is not an invertebrate that we need to record.

Saw a few of these Pimply phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella pustulosa).

Came across a bunch of Skeleton Shrimps on a Hydroid while fighting against the current. Haha.....and I was not the only one doing it!

So was this little Skeleton Shrimp.

Back To This Part Of Changi Shore.....

2010-07-27T20:35:00.019+08:00

after a long time this morning! More than a year!

The first thing we saw are the colourful and beautiful Sea Fans (okay, plus the nasty looking Stinging Hydroids :op)!

And they seen to be doing pretty well!

A little Hermit Crab perched on a Sea Fan.

Was checking the Stinging Hydroid for commensals and found this thingy on it. Could this be a Lomanotus sp. nudibranch that can be found on such Hydroid? This is the best pic I have as the Hydroid was swaying about and of course, I would not want to touch and hold the Hydroid to keep it still! :op

Found a pair of these nudibranch (possible Cratena sp.)!

and later on branches of a Candy Hydroid, spotted another pair!

Lots of this Flatworm around.

A few Fanworm can be seen in the water.

Came across two of these Spider Crab.

A mama Stone/Thunder Crab hiding in a crevice.

While this little Filefish was hiding among the purple sponges.

The only Sea Urchin that I saw today.

Plenty of Crown/Rock Sea Star can be seen. One with six arms and some as small as my fingers.

The other "Star" sightings are this Spiny Sea Star.....

and this Featherstar/Crinoid.

Saw only one Synaptid Sea Cucumber.

Lastly, a buried Sea Cucumber with its feeding tentacles out grabbing tiny food in the water.

Careful Where You Put Your Next Step.....

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or you will be stepping on what you think is a rock but turned out to be.....

A Stonefish!!!!

Saw it at Pulau Hantu yesterday when we were out there checking the bleaching situation. This fish was lying motionlessly next to some brown seaweeds and it just looks like a piece of rock with all the silt and Ascidians on it!

So remember to check out what is in front of you before you proceed and try not to step on any rock/rubbles if possible. Phew!

Other than this scary encounter, we saw couple of stuffs too!

But first, how's the bleaching situation? Well according to the rest who had been here last month, the condition of the corals seen to have improved.

But some corals are still fighting the "war".....

Hope they can win the "war" and survive!

Big Anemones like the Magnificent Anemone and the Giant Carpet Anemone are in their healthy colours!

And in some Giant Carpet Anemones, hide the camera shy False-clown Anemonefish!

Near the mouth of the lagoon, spotted this elegant Featherstar/Crinoid.

A long Ribbon worm. The stripes on its body reminds me of pyjamas. :p

Lots of Octopus sightings on the reef. Most of them are busying hunting about.

A grumpy looking Mosaic Reef Crab guarded its breakfast tightly as if fearing that we would steal the clam away.

As the tide turns, we slowly made our way back to the high shore. Along the way, we checked out the Burrowing Giant Clam that ML had tagged.

It is still doing pretty well!

Spotted this Black prickly Nudibranch (Atagema intecta) on a brown sponge.

Haha.....and also the cute tiny Strawberry Sea Slug (Costasiella sp.) on the solitary Fan green seaweeds (Avrainvillea sp.).

A Ghost Crab burrowed into the sand.

A lots of these dull looking Anemone can be found on the high sandy shore.

All too soon, the sun rises and we called it a day!

Predawn Trip To Cyrene Reef Again.....

2010-07-13T23:59:00.010+08:00

This morning, I made my second predawn trip to Cyrene Reef.

With me this time were some volunteers from Nparks Ubin. It was nice to share with them this reef that we called Chek Jawa of the South as most of the habitats and creatures found here are similar to those in Chek Jawa in the North.

First, we started with the many Knobbly Sea Stars that you can see at Cyrene!

They come in various colours and number of arms!

The team also saw the Pentaceraster Sea Star after much searching for it among the seagrass! It a juvenile and about palm size! This one looks different from the one that KS saw on Sunday. Wow.....this mean that there are more babies around?

We also came across this unknown Sea Star. It looks like a hybrid of a Knobbly and a Pentaceraster.

We saw other "Stars" too! Like.....

The Spiny Sea Star! My first time seeing it at Cyrene!

And a couple of Cushion Stars!

Various Sea Cucumbers! From top-down : Sandfish/Garlic Bread Sea Cucumber, Remarkable Sea Cucumber and Stonefish/White-rumped Sea Cucumber!

Saw at least three Longhorn Cowfish in the tidepools!

A Flathead laid motionlessly among the Seagrass.

Found these Strawberry Sea Slugs on the solitary Fan green seaweeds again.

Other Sea slugs seen include these two nudibranch! The Bohol nudibranch (Discodoris boholiensis) and Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata)

We also checked out on the bleaching situation.

Lots of the Soft corals are still doing badly!

While the Hard corals fare slightly better. Only a few were bleaching here and there.

Tomorrow it another trip to Cyrene again! But it will be in daylight!

If you like to find out more about Cyrene Reef, visit the "Cyrene Reef Exposed" blog!

And if you are in Facebook, join the "Cyrene Reef Exposed" Facebook group!

Checking Out Changi Shore....

2010-07-13T21:51:00.012+08:00

We checked out a part of Changi shores on Monday morning. The shore still look okay weeks after the oil spill hit it. Well.....at least we still see plenty of marine creatures around.....but of course we still have no idea of the long term effect the oil spill had for them.

There were many kinds of Sea Cucumbers on the shore!

Many small Sea Stars too! From Top-dowm : Rock/Crown Sea Star, juvenile Cake Sea Star?, Sand Star, Spiny Sea Star and Biscuit Sea Star.

Saw a tiny Pencil Sea Urchin, a few of the White Sea Urchin and a large patch of the Black Sea Urchin at one part of the shore!

Most of the Peacock Anemone had these Phoronid worms at their base.

The Pipefish are in season!

Found an orange Seahorse in the tidepool!

A Filefish trying to blend into the background.

From far, we thought this looks like a big Sea Pen! Haha.....upon closer inspection, it was actually the tail end of a dead Shark!

Pulled it out and it looks like a Cat Shark. And also looks like it was dead recently.

Ria found a Hermit Crab that I have so far seen on Beting Bronok. An expert had kindly id it as a Paguristes sp.

The Geographic Sea Hare is still in season.

Lastly, spotted 3 of this tiny nudibranch on some brown seaweeds! Could be a Cratena sp. !