Changi: stars, dollars and super snails
This morning Changi, as always, was astounding. It reminds us so much of Chek Jawa.
Sand sea stars were bristling a plenty, zipping along speedily on their pointed toes. I still haven't figured out whether these two kinds of stars we commonly encounter are the same species.
Star relatives were also everywhere. The white sea urchins were particularly plentiful and studded the seagrass like prickly golf balls. We also saw a very large keyhole sand dollar, with its intriguing slotted body (the function of which no one really knows). This sand dollar is rarely seen on Chek Jawa.
But today seems to be Snail Day.
Even the clams were pretty, like this one with a smooth shell and delicate patterns. And nestled among the red-purple seaweeds were these sausage shaped egg cases which probably were laid by a mama octopus.
Clams and octopuses belong to the same group--Molluscs--as snails do.
And what amazing snails there were!
We saw not one but TWO magnificent Noble volutes. So appropriately named for the gorgeous shell and handsome body. It's a pity these snails are often taken for their shells. I think the shell looks much better on the snail than on someone's dusty shelf.
This was initially thought, with terpidation, to be a Cone snail. Many Cone snails can inject toxins fatal to humans. It's good to be careful when handling snails, and to know a little bit about our own wild snails.
But it turned out to be an Olive snail, which is quite harmless to humans. But not quite so for other animals on the beach! As the Olive snail proceeded to bulldoze into the sand, tiny Button shells buried beneath started to frantically wriggle out of the way. Chay Hoon's steady hand got great footage of the action.
But of course wildfilms' favourite mollusc are slugs. And for some reason, teeny tiny ones...why? I haven't the faintest.
As usual, my back and arm were challenged by this tiny Gymnodoris nudibranch, delicately spotted and edged in pale orange. It's hardly bigger than a Button snail (which, by the way, litters the entire shore by the thousands).
And in its pajamas, the fabulously striped Armina nudibranch which apparently feeds on Sea pencils (a kind of sea pen) that are very common on Changi's shores. It is a burrower and probably uses its blue shovel-like flap at the front end to slide into the sand.
Tomorrow, another low spring tide, another wild shore...
2 Comments:
Oh Gosh! That looks like a Tripneustes (collector urchin)! That's cool! Have not seen any of that underwater before! Also happens to be a Reef Check target invertebrate. Nice find! Do you see them often in the intertidal area?
I think it's Salmacis. Yah, it's so cute the way they collect. In fact, I find them by their odd collections, e.g., a bunch of tree leaves in the middle of the seagrass, a bunch of seashells in the mud.
The black sea urchin Temnopleurus also collects. These are more common on the Ubin side of Changi, but I've not seen these on Chek Jawa yet.
We've seen a lot of these white ones this year. Many specimens on Chek Jawa and on Changi. Alas, not enough of us to cover more shores during the low spring, so I don't know what's happening elsewhere.
Especially on Changi. I saw about 15 that night on a short 1 hour survey of a narrow patch of the shore that was exposed.
And what's amazing too (to me anyway) is that this year, I've seen them in various sizes from tiny ones to big ones.
Last year, they were more commonly sighted around this time of the year too, but not in such large numbers.
Hey, divers get to see other cool sea urchins us land-lubbers don't.
But that's what's so nice about it, isn't it? The reefs, the intertidal and mangroves. It's all a huge stretch of fabulous habitats that will take several lifetimes to even see much less understand.
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