16 Dec guided walk @ Chek Jawa

At the 16 Dec guided walk, There were several surprises. Here are two comical sea animals... Apparently, this garlic bread sea cucumber (Holothuria scaba) got impatient waiting for us to release it, and decided to make a move on its own! These sea cucumbers can grow really big, and thus, they are a popular restaurant delicacy. However, they are really poisonous, and have to be treated first. This stone crab (Myomenippe hardwikki) was very much attached to its plastic container! Nothing would make it budge! Indeed, now I know why its also nicknamed the thunder crab! The striped hermit crab (Clibanarius sp.) is ever common, along with a commensal, the flat slipper snail (Crepidula walshii). While the slipper snail enjoys a continuous flow of freshly oxygenated water (And perhaps scraps), the striped hermit crab seems to ignore its presence. Can you spot the carpet anemone shrimp (Periclimenes sp.) circled here? It was hard to spot for me too! The carpet anemone shrimp sort of replaces the anemonefish (amphiprion sp.)here, since salinity levels here are too low for anemonefish. The carpet anemone shrimp cleans the carpet anemone, and in turn is offered protection from predators, and the scraps on the carpet anemone also serve as a meal. Eat up ;)! These egg capsules found on the mussel are layed by a drill (Family Muricidae). When first laid, the egg capsules are yellowish, but after hatching, the eggs turn purplish. This is probably a red ribbonworm (Phylum Nemertea). Not much is known about these strange worms. As usual, the swimming anemones (Boloceroides mcmurrichi) were very abundant. Their tentacles are very sticky, not to mention fragile, and thus, they fall out easily. Hiding under the swimming anemone is this small hairy crab (Family Pilumnidae). Their hairy bodies trap sediments and dirt, completing their camouflage, and if that doesn't work, these crabs also eat toxic zoanthids (Order Zoanthidea), and surprisingly, these crabs are not only immune to the poison, but use it as their own! These very pretty empty shells should belong to olive snails (Family Olividae). But their shells aren't glossy, and their shells do not have the zig-zag patterns, but net patterns instead. The hunterseekers also found this rather large three-spined toadfish (Batrachomoeus trispinosus). To tell them apart from frogfish is kind of easy. However, at first I didn't even know that frogfish and toadfish were two completely different animals! The toadfish actually has a wider mouth, and has spiny dorsal fins. I think this is an orange sea cucumber (Family Cucumariidae), except that the orange colour isn't so visible. The horseshoe crabs are also in season. I think this is a coastal horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas). There are many encrusting acorn barnacles (Balanus sp.).