19 Dec sleepover @ Ubin (1) - Bird ID workshop

I went for a sleepover recently at Ubin. Firstly, we went for a bird ID workshop organised by LK (thanks for the workshop!) I'm not good at birds, but now I think I've memorised a few charecteristics of some birds. After the talk, LK laid out a few bird specimens on the tables... This is a wing of one of the larger bird of preys...I don't think I remember their names...there are many types of birds of prey in Singapore...kites, eagles and ospreys. These are the wings of another type of bird...parakeets (I think). There were several other bird body parts, other than wings, too. There were legs and feet... Feathers... Tails... ...and even heads! These feathers were particularly pretty! They are probably for attracting mates. The patterns on the feathers are very beautiful...they seem almost artificial! Well...that's it for the bird ID workshop, but later that day, there would be an evening intertidal walk, which will be part 2 of the sleepover.

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.).

3rd Dec, exploring coral rubble area @ Chek Jawa

Today, before setting off to Chek Jawa, we had a little surprise in store for us. We saw an oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) perched on a papaya tree right beside the volunteer hub! Everyone was scrambling for their cameras as the majestic bird seemed to deliberately pose for shots. Eventually, the hornbill flew away. The way it flies is more like gliding, really. At Chek Jawa, I was chosen to be the hunter seeker, the person who looks for live specimens for the visitors. Coincidentally, the same thing happened today, like yesterday! Once again, 1 group paid a few hundred dollars for just 1 tour! Now everybody is suspecting that there's something wrong with the system. While on the coastal boardwalk, we spotted a monitor lizard (Family Varanidae) walking along the mudflat. It seemed to notice us and started running, but slowed down eventually. After hunter-seeking at the seagrass areas and the mudflats, the hunterseekers took to the coral rubble area. The seagrass pools near the coral rubble area were dotted with hundreds of baby anemones! Jackie mentioned that these were baby swimming anemones (Boloceroides mcmurrichi). While I hunted around the coral rubble area for more animals, I almost stepped upon this Denison's nudibranch (Dendrodoris denisoni)! If you look closely, you can see bright blue spots on its body. There were plenty of these mermaid's fan seaweeds (Padina sp.) too. I managed to see yet another thunder or stone crab (Myomennipe hardwikki). Ali had already caught one earlier on, and just a show of strength and aggression, the thunder crab he tried to catch actually pinched and even bent part of the plastic container! He had to spend quite some time getting it into the plastic container. On one of these rocks was a thumbs up sea squirt (Polycarpa sp.), and something else right beside it... was another type of colonial ascidian, the melted chocolate ascidian (Ascidiacea). This type has strange brown patterns all over it. Te coral rubble area has the richest variety of sponges, like this sponge, which is probably an elegant branching sponge (Haliclona sp.) Then, Jackie called to me and said that he found a stingray. This is a blue spotted fantail ray (Taeniura lymma). I had never seen one alive before, only one dead stingray. We must be very careful when around this stingray, for it gives a really bad sting if stepped on. A close-up shot of this stingray gives a clearer view of its bright blue spots, as well as its gills. There were plenty of thorny sea cucumbers (Colochirus quadrangularis) at the coral rubble area, too. There were several Haddon's carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) to be seen, too, and these were truly bigger than your face! And here are even more sponges, in different colours, too! I found some unidentified eggs here. Perhaps they're some form of sea slug eggs. I also spotted a peacock anemone (Order Ceriantharia) below the floating pontoon. If you look closely at the sand, you'll be able to see a common sea star (Archaster typicus) underneath. Another bunch of unknown egg masses. This time I suspect nudibranchs. This rather large snail is a noble volute (Cymbiola nobilis). It is an active predator, using its large mantle to suffocate smaller snails. The underside of the noble volute reveals its pretty mantle. These two small secretive crabs are the reticulated moon crab (Matuta planipes) and the elbow crab (Family Parthenopidae). The reticulated moon crab is really pretty, I've never seen this species of moon crab before! Contrary to the enormous carpet anemone seen just now, this one is much smaller, due to the low tide. Here are more bristleworms (Class Polychaeta), except these are black! Hmmm...I've never seen black bristle worms before. Can you see what is in the pool above? It is a longspined scorpionfish (Paracentropogon longispinis). It is quite small, and quite active, too! There was also this rather large garlic bread sea cucumber (Holothuria scaba), commonly known as sandfish in trade. These are two more echinoderms, the plain sand star (Astropecten sp.) and I think this is a see-through sea cucumber (Paracaudina australis). The strange part was, the see-through sea cucumber was floating when I put it in the water! weird... This rather strangely coloured soft coral is probably a dying pink flowery soft coral (Family Nephtheidae). I also spotted this ball sea cucumber (Phyllophorus sp.) out of the corner of my eye. I even found this coastal horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas) at the coral rubble area. A closer look reveals a little blob by its side, which is really an anemone! The best find of the day must be this adult tongue sole. Wow! Thankfully, a bird of prey didn't come and sweep it right off the ground! This is the adult version of the smaller swimming anemones I saw previously. And finally, a couple of biscuit sea stars (Goniodiscaster scaber). These can be found at the coral rubble area too. This strange jelly-like blob is probably a dead huge jellyfish. Well, that's all for today. I had a really good time exploring the coral rubble area today!