Chomp!

We've come across the three spot frogfish several times before while exploring Hantu, but yesterday was the first time we ever caught one in action on tape!

Opinions on the appearance of the frogfish differ. Some of us think it's rather cute, with its huge upward-pointing mouth and googly eyes, round ball-like shape, and because of the way it waddles across the sand using its paw-like modified anal fins. Just try turning one upside down and you'll see what I mean. Others think the huge mouth, googly eyes and excellent camouflage resembling an algae-covered rock make them look ugly and sinister.

Yesterday's frogfish was quite cooperative, despite being moved around quite a bit. Chay Hoon had found it under a rock, and we'd shifted it to a couple of other pools of water in our attempts to video it before finding the perfect location in a still pool of water where there was a nice pocket beside another algae-covered rock. It cooperated perfectly, settling in within seconds of us putting it down. The rock had a nice u-shaped pocket, perfect for a frogfish to curl comfortably into and pose for the camera.

As dusk fell and we turned on the light canons, we noticed some small fish in the pool of water. And just as we were watching, the camera pointed directly at the gaping mouth of the frogfish, a small chequered cardinalfish (Apogon margaritaphorus) swam into range! Strangely enough, the frogfish had its lure tucked away, and was obviously tracking the fish, inching closer and closer on its side until it was about an inch away, before quickly gulping it down. It wasn't as fast as I'd thought it would be, having seen another frogfish explode into action before. Sometimes when they strike you only notice the movement, and that the prey is gone, and conclude that it has been eaten. Maybe it was because it was striking from the side, or that it didn't need to strike fast, but you could see it reach up and engulf the fish in its huge mouth.

Having done this, it opened and closed its huge mouth a few times more, as if swallowing - frogfish lack teeth, and swallow their prey whole. It then contentedly ambled back to its nice pocket and resumed looking like the rock, opening its mouth to burp a few times, and hoping for another tasty morsel to drop in.

Frogfish are extremely specialised piscivores (fish-eaters), with several extreme adaptations that help them catch their prey. They eat any fish they can successfully catch, and their mouth can extend up to 12 times its size to engulf larger prey items. They have been known to eat lionfish and scorpionfish without any ill-effects. Frogfish are well-known for their rod and lure technique of catching fish. Their first dorsal spine is highly modified to look like the prey items of the fish they eat. They will wave their rod, and make their lure move amazingly like live prey, all the while relying on their excellent camouflage to prevent the fish from seeing them. When the fish comes closer, they explode into action, employing a technique known as gape and suck to engulf the prey. This takes a tiny fraction of a second, the fastest of any fish, and usually it's hard to see it actually feeding because it moves so quickly. It is said that they can grab fish out of a school without the others noticing that it is missing!

Apparently, from our observations yesterday, the frogfish also has an alternate method of catching fish, actually tracking and sneaking up on the prey. Its excellent camouflage also hides it while it does this, the target fish obviously being none-the-wiser. However, it is unclear when and why the frogfish would choose to exercise either option.


The frogfish (Lophiocharon trisignatus) is shown here, looking just like a rock. Can you spot it? (Hint: the mouth is slightly open) Another small fish is shown here, swimming oblivious to the threat of the well-camouflaged predator.


There it is! The mouth is wide open. Can you see how it uses its modified paw-like anal fin to prop itself up against the rock?

For more fascinating information about this amazing predator, visit this page.

Lucky Day at Sekudu

Pulau Sekudu remains a special treat to visit. Colourful sponges, anemones everywhere. Yesterday, the pink pencil sea urchins appear to be in season, with lots of little ones scattered all over the shores. There was also a placid noble volute, a large snail, hunting for other snails in the quiet lagoon. This particular one, sadly, seems to have suffered a very large crack along the length of its shell. But it seems to have recovered.

The enormous tape seagrasses (with leaves up to 1m long) were blooming! For the first time, we got pictures of the male flowers (the tiny white capsule-like things) still attached to the flower bract. We saw lots of these little white flowers in scattered heaps on the seaweeds on Labrador the day before and couldn't figure out what they were at that time. Now we know!

But of course, our favourite finds are always slugs! Ron found TWO of these beautiful nudibranchs (Dendrodoris denisoni). They have electric blue spots among their many bumps.

And then, there was this rosey beauty which we have no idea what it is. It was very slimy to hold, but a delight to observe.

What a bright lucky find to mark the first day of the Lunar New Year!

49 furry toes at Base Camp

Introducing Mrs Cute who arrived today. They hit it off straightaway.

Mr Cute quickly showing off the place. And all the best ways to chew up reference books,

shed fur on equipment and shred up anything that's not nailed down.



After a while, Mrs Cute got the better of him.

Here she is sneaking up from behind him as he looks for her
while they play hide and seek.



Mrs Cute, maiden name Kimba, is very sweet and good-natured.

An elegant lady with just the right number of toes.

Which is not surprising as she has a famous foster dad,

here seen at his volunteer work with the Vegetarian Society.

New record at Base Camp

The cutest cat has just made Base Camp his new home.

His foster mum, Paula, called him Mr Cute and he does indeed live up to his name. She also calls him Tootsie, which I presume is short for "Too Many Toesies". Paula says he has 29 toes!!

But Tootsie hasn't stayed still long enough for me to count them all. That must be a new record somewhere, certainly is for Base Camp, if not Singapore.

I am sure he will fit right in with the rest of the denizens at Base Camp, including the humans. Some of whom are rather odd themselves.

Of course, regulars at Base Camp will know the arrival of new cats means Luci has gone on to a better place. It was time for him to go. I know I shall miss him, the only furry slug-cat.

Not sure if the rest of the crew will. I am sure they will prefer equipment, reference books and personal belongings that are NOT pre-slimed.

There's space in Base Camp for two more cats. Awaiting to hear of further potential residents.

Slugfest at Sentosa

The clumps of stringy green seaweed (Bryopsis sp.?) are a great place to find tiny juvenile creatures (Though it helps to bring a few super spotters with seeming bionic eyes along...). Chay Hoon and Ron came yesterday and they assaulted Ria's poor camera with a whole host of tiny creatures, all of which were <1cm (see algae for size comparison)! Amazing stuff.


Tiny juvenile Jorunna funebris, especially cute when they are tiny.


The orange-spotted Gymnodoris sp. resembled a tiny lemon, sans the help of close-up filters and digital enhancement.


A tiny unknown Armina beside the Jorunna funebris, and if you look really carefully, a REALLY tiny Aeolid nudibranch beside it. We've seen bigger ones before, crawling on a similarly-coloured sea squirt.


Going down the size scale, here's one that was barely 3mm long. Picture was taken after numerous attempts with a stereomicroscope and my normal camera. No idea what it might be. I like to think of it as the green porcupine nudibranch because when it moves (and quite quickly at that), the swaying extensions on its back remind me of the quills of a porcupine.


The only bigger nudibranch spotted by the rest of us mere mortals with normal vision - a beautiful Discodoris boholiensis. I thought it was a flatworm, curled up around the seaweed, but closer inspection revealed rhinopores and later gills. Really funky-looking fella, underside looks rather like that of an onch.

Farewell to D&G

It was with great reluctance that we bid a final farewell to our favourite piece of equipment: the D&G Bag. Black and sleek when it first came into service, it has stood by us through thick and thin (mostly through thick, i.e., mud, slime, gunk). It is the only equipment that has probably been on every single trip, no matter how remote or dangerous. Unlike its slacker cousins, the girly Gucci Bags, who generally just sit around and look pretty; the industrious and manly D&G Bag is always at work: keeping things together, and handling the most Disgusting and Grungy stuff (hence the D&G). Nothing was too filthy or awful to embrace and hold close to itself, thus keeping the rather more uppety and sniffy equipment clean and mud-free.

After years of quiet, steadfast duty, it's zipper decided to give way. At first, it was only the clip part that you use to pull the zipper open and close (what would be an appropriate technical term for this?). We still refused to give up on D&G and replaced this with a string. But alas, the metal loop that held the string finally also gave up the ghost. Thus the zipper couldn't be operated easily, although every other part of D&G is still perfectly operational.

But while D&G will no longer be joining us on our many adventures, you will be pleased to know it remains useful. Retired from active duty, it still enjoys a long and fruitful career at Base Camp as Cat Rug.

In its second career, it will happily remain just as slimy and disgusting. It is now the favourite spot for Luci, probably the only Onch-like non-marine creature. He drools constantly...Onchidium felis...Tom has dubbed him. Furry and slimy.

Sadly, all our Hunter-Seeker Specialist Tools (we shall not bore with details of these handpicked and painstakingly modified gear), now get ignominiously lugged around in a red shopping bag.

We still can't bring ourselves to get a new D&G Bag. It's much too soon after the loss.

Besides which, the new bag will be CLEAN...gasp...how can we relate to such a bag?!

Rainbow Days

Rain is seldom welcomed on a field trip. But without rain, there wouldn't be rainbows...

Despite the series of showers, the Slug Hunters were out in force. Ivy, Chay Hoon and Han Peng as usual, reliably scared up a few special finds. Some seldom-seen nudibranchs (top left Bornella sp., and bottom right Gymnodoris sp.), a never-seen before flatworm (probably some sort of Pseudoceros sp.).

And of course, when we get bored (e.g., when waiting for the rain to let up), we just stick a whole bunch of the plentiful green sap-sucking slugs (Elysia sp.) in a pot and wait for something to happen. From previous experience, in close proximity, these hermaphrodite slugs generally start...err...mating. Each inseminating the other! We hope it was somewhat consensual. This time we managed to get quite good shots of some Real Action.

Being slugs though, it's all very slow and sedate...

Raid Alert on Sister's Island!

First of all, I wish all of those who read this blog, a very Happy New Year!

Unfortunately, I can't put pretty pictures to illustrate the beauty of the place we visited today. Perhaps I will edit the post when I get them from Ria. Once she's edited them. If you really need to see pictures, you can go look for Cynthia's blog. I should warn you however, that that blog is not exactly PG-13 rated due to language reasons. Consider yourselves warned.

On leaving from Clifford pier, we got an explanation from the boat operator about the report of a bomb (!!!!) found at Clifford Pier that we got from a boat driver on our way home the night before. Apparently a fireworks shell from the New Year's Eve celebration landed unexploded in the sea and was picked up by a boatman.

We were greeted on the island by this really, really friendly Jack Russell Terrier. I must wonder about the family that brought that dog. After all, why would a dog want to spend more time around strangers if his family is nearby? And to make it worse for us, it was runnning round our stuff, threatening to knock over anything in its path, and I think it even knocked itself silly on one of the bench support beams. Even his owners couldn't get it to heel or sit. After a bit of reflection, I have to wonder about that dog and his family. After a bit more reflection, I guess it's not my problem.

Rain threatened to ruin our day all the way there. In fact, just as we were about to leave the designated shelter and start work, both me and Ria were looking up and thinking about putting the cameras back into their bags/boxes. We were right. Rain. For about half an hour. But the tide was still high at the time, so no big deal.

Once the rain stopped, we went to work. We spotted plenty: a mating pair of Elysia Ornata, a Bonella spp., a fair number of octopus, though only the last one appeared to be not camera shy. Or perhaps it was because he had nowhere to hide...

Oh.... highlight of the day... Hanpeng called me over to see a Eunice chomping an Elysia. Thinking I should just get a documentation shot, I started recordng, and seconds later.... The Elysia went byebye, dragged into the lair of the Eunice.

Once we were ready to pack up and go home, we found Alvin sitting at our shelter. "We were raided," says he. Sure enough, our spare camera, which was to be sent in to servicing, was found on the ground nearby, bags were open, personal drugs were strewn about, and worse still, my iPod, in its waterproof case, was missing!

The order we found missing stuff was first, Kelly's (a beachflea) shoes, a bunch of filters that Alvin had not realized was missing (those monkeys managed to open a box that even we have problems with!!!), and my iPod, out of its case, laid out nicely on one of the benches. I guess the monkeys wanted hiphop. Which will never be loaded onto any machine of mine.... :P I've now wiped the thing down with an alcohol swab from my first aid kit. I think the ear phones look a bit chewed up.

So, damage done was to one water proof case, which they managed to bite right through. I guess an investment to make before our next Sister's island trip would be laser trip wires and automatic firing chain guns....

...I can dream, can't I?

Happy New Year from Semakau!

What more could anyone wish for the New Year?!

Blue skies, wild shores, fabulous creatures, good friends.

It was a wonderful day on Pulau Semakau for a public walk. A slow afternoon, out in the wilderness, catching up with friends, planning exciting new programmes for 2006. And of course, the traditional Toast-on-the-Beach with pink champange.

Well, perhaps the weather could have been better...

We got a very impressive lightning show from Mother (Nature), followed by a very good wash. Thus, of course we couldn't actually go out to the shores.

Nevertheless, it didn't dampen the spirits of this very sporting bunch of visitors and guides at Semakau yesterday. We had the traditional toast in the cosy confines of the NEA building. The power of digital manipulation helped complete our wishes.

But I couldn't have asked for a better New Year's Eve.

Looking forward to the new year!

In January, we'll hopefully get a second chance to show these really great bunch of visitors Semakau's shores. And the rest of the year, more wild adventures on the shores.

Happy New Year!