Highlights of the Lows: May 7-13
The Wild Things were back in force! Exams over, work commitments eased up and off we went to explore some of our favourite shores! Our travels this time brought us from the North to Tuas to the South.
Unfortunately for me, the stingray bite acted up badly just before the trips. So I had to be a good girl and try to keep at least that one foot dry. This meant I lurched Quasimodo-like: putting good foot into deeper pools while stepping withbad foot on higher ground. I also couldn't go where the rest of the crew were happily splashing around....sigh...
But I took it as an opportunity to thoroughly explore the higher shores that I usually hurry past. And was delighted by what I saw ...
Scurrying among the rocks at low tide are Marine spiders (Desis sp.). These amazing creatures are Real Spiders just like the ones we find in dark corners of our homes. Marine spiders hide in crevices when the rocks are submerged at high tide. At low tide, they emerge to hunt. This feisty little spider had caught a shrimp bigger than itself! Among the common snails on rocks are Top shell snails like Trochus maculatus, which has a most endearing face and strange tentacles sticking out the sides of its body. There was also a special Moon crab: so bright and colourful and very different from the usual ones that we see. Could it be another kind of Moon crab? Our books suggest it could be Matuta planipes...got to badger the Crab Experts for an id...
These tiny shells (Clithon oualaneinsis) are washed up high ashore, while the live animals are found further seaward. Their shells are delicately patterned with fine black lines that look like they've been drawn by a very patient artist! No two shells are alike!
Other amazing molluscs include the burrowing Armina nudibranch (Armina sp.) that looks like it's wearing pajamas! These slugs are rarely encountered as they burrow and are only active at night. It is believed that they eat sea pens. The Hairy seahare (Bursatella leachii) were in season and found everywhere. Often mistaken for seaweed, these slugs release a purple dye when they are disturbed. My First-Time Find this trip was this cone-shaped snail. Is it the deadly Cone shell? Another Way to Die, and quite manly, but I didn't really want to add to the casualty statistics. A check with the books suggests it's an Olive shell (Family Olividae), quite rarely encountered on our shores these days...wow!
I even got to see fishes! This Rainbow wrasse (Halichores nigrescens) burrows in the sand and is sometimes exposed at super low tides. Poor thing. But don't touch these fishes. They bite hard enough to draw blood. Another Way To Die: Septic Blood Poisoning from Bite of Tiny Fish...not very manly. Kok Leong spotted a beautiful Feathery filefish (Chaetodoerma penicilligera). It's only the second time I've ever seen it! And Chay Hoon spotted Mr and Mrs Seahorse, while the rest of us were distracted by what we thought was a nudibranch on a seapen (but turned out to be just algae). The black Mr Seahorse looked very pregnant. A male seahorse is usually constantly pregnant, the female being ready with a new batch of eggs when he finishes delivering his babies.
The Southern shores are thick with wondrous living corals. Even in my 'paikah' state, I managed to see the strange bumpy Merulina coral (Merulina sp.), Staghorn coral (Acropora sp.) and my all time favourite, Galaxy coral (Glaxea sp.) with star-shaped corallites.
But the Find of the Week for me was this pair of shrimp and goby, quite high on the shore. Wai spotted them, she has super eyes! Although I've been told the partnership between snapping shrimp and goby is only found in deeper waters, this pair sure looked like they had something going on between them!
It was hard to take a nice photo of them. The snapping shrimp constantly stirred up the sediments as it tirelessly excavated the burrow. While the tiny black-and-white goby hovered near the burrow entrance. The snapping shrimp had cute beady eyes, blue legs with yellow knees and a bright orange band around its body. It always had one of its long antennae touching the goby whenever it bulldozed another load of mud out of the burrow.
Hope the stingray wound heals properly so next series of trips I can go out and play properly...
Unfortunately for me, the stingray bite acted up badly just before the trips. So I had to be a good girl and try to keep at least that one foot dry. This meant I lurched Quasimodo-like: putting good foot into deeper pools while stepping withbad foot on higher ground. I also couldn't go where the rest of the crew were happily splashing around....sigh...
But I took it as an opportunity to thoroughly explore the higher shores that I usually hurry past. And was delighted by what I saw ...
Scurrying among the rocks at low tide are Marine spiders (Desis sp.). These amazing creatures are Real Spiders just like the ones we find in dark corners of our homes. Marine spiders hide in crevices when the rocks are submerged at high tide. At low tide, they emerge to hunt. This feisty little spider had caught a shrimp bigger than itself! Among the common snails on rocks are Top shell snails like Trochus maculatus, which has a most endearing face and strange tentacles sticking out the sides of its body. There was also a special Moon crab: so bright and colourful and very different from the usual ones that we see. Could it be another kind of Moon crab? Our books suggest it could be Matuta planipes...got to badger the Crab Experts for an id...
These tiny shells (Clithon oualaneinsis) are washed up high ashore, while the live animals are found further seaward. Their shells are delicately patterned with fine black lines that look like they've been drawn by a very patient artist! No two shells are alike!
Other amazing molluscs include the burrowing Armina nudibranch (Armina sp.) that looks like it's wearing pajamas! These slugs are rarely encountered as they burrow and are only active at night. It is believed that they eat sea pens. The Hairy seahare (Bursatella leachii) were in season and found everywhere. Often mistaken for seaweed, these slugs release a purple dye when they are disturbed. My First-Time Find this trip was this cone-shaped snail. Is it the deadly Cone shell? Another Way to Die, and quite manly, but I didn't really want to add to the casualty statistics. A check with the books suggests it's an Olive shell (Family Olividae), quite rarely encountered on our shores these days...wow!
I even got to see fishes! This Rainbow wrasse (Halichores nigrescens) burrows in the sand and is sometimes exposed at super low tides. Poor thing. But don't touch these fishes. They bite hard enough to draw blood. Another Way To Die: Septic Blood Poisoning from Bite of Tiny Fish...not very manly. Kok Leong spotted a beautiful Feathery filefish (Chaetodoerma penicilligera). It's only the second time I've ever seen it! And Chay Hoon spotted Mr and Mrs Seahorse, while the rest of us were distracted by what we thought was a nudibranch on a seapen (but turned out to be just algae). The black Mr Seahorse looked very pregnant. A male seahorse is usually constantly pregnant, the female being ready with a new batch of eggs when he finishes delivering his babies.
The Southern shores are thick with wondrous living corals. Even in my 'paikah' state, I managed to see the strange bumpy Merulina coral (Merulina sp.), Staghorn coral (Acropora sp.) and my all time favourite, Galaxy coral (Glaxea sp.) with star-shaped corallites.
But the Find of the Week for me was this pair of shrimp and goby, quite high on the shore. Wai spotted them, she has super eyes! Although I've been told the partnership between snapping shrimp and goby is only found in deeper waters, this pair sure looked like they had something going on between them!
It was hard to take a nice photo of them. The snapping shrimp constantly stirred up the sediments as it tirelessly excavated the burrow. While the tiny black-and-white goby hovered near the burrow entrance. The snapping shrimp had cute beady eyes, blue legs with yellow knees and a bright orange band around its body. It always had one of its long antennae touching the goby whenever it bulldozed another load of mud out of the burrow.
Hope the stingray wound heals properly so next series of trips I can go out and play properly...
4 Comments:
Of course, now we have to get a dead body to see what that tiny little spider we saw on tape was.
And we have to get better footage of it. Right now it can qualify as a documentation of Bigfoot video.
*Cue Alvin Godzilla noise*
You're right.
It looked like it was carrying an egg-case so probably not Desis and Joseph will want the dead body.
But we can try Miss Kodak first to see if she can get sharp sharp pix of the spidey.
Clarification: it was someone else who spotted Mrs Seahorse.
hehe. I think Mrs. Seahorse has a good way to keep Mr. Seahorse faithful. too bad, mr, seahorse. heh heh.
On another note, this series of trips were really fantastic! I got to know some newer members better and it is sooo good to feel that camaraderie and goof off with the older crew members..
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