2nd December guided tour @ Chek Jawa

I forgot to mention, I'm a guide at Chek Jawa, under National Parks. Today, 1 group misunderstood our online booking systems for guides, so instead of booking a guided tour for 1 group of 4, which costs $60, this person accidentally booked 4 guided tours for 4 people, which costs a total of $240! I wonder if this person ever though if 1 guided tour for $240 is a tad too expensive! Anyway, most of the guides were free today, so on with the animals.

The hunterseekers found several ovum cowries (Cypraea ovum). These snails are quite commonly found under rocks. They keep their shells free of encrusting animals by enveloping it with their enormus mantle.

There were several kite butterflyfish (Parachaetodon ocellatus) found in the seagrass pools near the sand bar.
This appears to be a bristleworm (Class Polychaeta), though I'm not sure what type. Bristleworms may release their bristles into the water, and these bristles cause itchiness and rashes, so do be careful!

Here is probably a seagrass filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus). They blend very well among the seagrass, complete with tiny hairs to mimic the leaves.

The warty sea cucumber (Cercodemas anceps) is often mistaken for a thorny sea cucumber (Colochirus quadrangularis). From their common name, it is easy to find the difference between these two bright pink sea cucumbers. This one has its feeding tentacles extended!
And here is a group photo of 3 echinoderms, the smooth sea cucumber, a common but not well studied sea cucumber. It canrelease slime when stressed, and appears to have no tube feet, which is strange, since all echinoderms have tube feet. In the middle is probably the cake sea star (Anthenea aspera). I mistook it as a biscuit sea star at first! At the right is the ever beautiful knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodosus). They usually come in red, but white, beige, or even blue ones may be seen!
A close-up of the smooth sea cucumber.
On the way to the next stop, I almost stepped on this thunder crab (Myomennipe hardwikki)! Its called the thunder crab because legend has it that if it pinches you, only the roar of thunder will make it let go, thus the name. Of course, this is not true, but it can give a nasty pinch, and its not afraid to do so either!

A rare sight would be this noble volute (Cymbiola nobilis) laying eggs. Alan told me that it should never be disturbed when laying, or else it will stop laying eggs and run away, and it won't continue laying eggs anymore.
Can you find what's hidden among all this seagrass? It's a Haddon's carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni). They are very common on Chek Jawa.
A closer look reveals bulbous tentacles, which don't sting, but are quite sticky instead.

I can't identify this strange red animal, perhaps its a sponge?
Now this is the true thorny sea cucumber (Colochirus quadrangularis).

The hunterseekers also found this dying thread-tentacled jellyfish (Aquorea sp.). This type of jellyfish is rather seasonal on our shores, and I believe they can give a nasty sting similar to hydroids! But I'm definitely not going to be the one to prove that! :)

On the way back I didn't even notice this peacock anemone (Order Ceriantharia) Until I saw some white stuff inside of it! The peacock anemone forms a protective tube out of mud to hide during low tide, where it is exposed.

Back a the information kiosk, a rather friendly wild boar (Sus scrofa) greeted us. It didn't seem shy at all. Perhaps it got used to being fed by humans. This is in fact wrong, because wild boars should not depend on humans too much, or they might lose their natural ability to forage for food.

Well, that's all for today. There is another tour tomorrow, and I hope its even better!