Snippets of the past few months2

Dog-faced Water Snake (Cerebus rynchops) my first sighting at P. Semakau! There's also the Banded File Snake (Acrochordus granulatus) but I couldnt get a good picture of it.
Beautiful sunsets over at Pulau Semakau reefs; there's always beautiful sunsets at good days, one reason why we should let this place be as it is.
Sea cucumber (Holothuria sp.)
Thunder Crab (Myomenippe hardwickii) with no front two claws. Poor thing!

The following pictures are taken from Shrimp Workshop held at DBS:
Spider that lives in the water, i forgot the name >.< Snapping shrimp (Alpheus sp.). Snapping shrimps have one claw bigger than the other. This big claw is used to make a 'snap' sound (which comes at a speed of lightning) that stuns prey.
Skeleton shrimp. Looks so creepy!
These are dead prawns
A misc picture: Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocela jubata), native to Singapore. Saw this at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve

Snippets of the past few months1

Been busy these few months, my apologies!

Trip to Sentosa rockyshore. I'm starting with the ending pictures cuz I realised blogger has a really frustrating way of uploading pictures.

Cliffs and rocky outcrops: I bet most Singaporeans didn't know this secluded part of Singapore.

Behind a rocky outcrop, there's some vandalism. Dated 1974. Wow! Makes me wonder if that person is still alive and remembers the place which he went to that nobody goes to now.

There's pitcher plants! (not sure which species) The brown ones are dried up whereas the green ones are new and fresh.
There's even a small cave! It's made of sandstone, and is a little weak, so it was blocked up for fear of collapsing onto any curious passerby (like me).
I loved the rock formations here. Something that I'd finally get to drool about over in Singapore! At least we have things like these.
A very old, partly demolished jetty made of bricks and stone. Nostalgia!
Frogfish (Family: Antennariidae), named as such because of its fins.
Notice the lure at the top of its head? Cute!
Orange-striped hermit crab (Clibanarius infraspinatus) munching away on algae.
A pair of fan worms (Sabellastarte indica)
Can you spot a fiddler crab's fiddler?
Developments on Sentosa Cove
Red Swimming Crab (Thalamita spinimana)
Beautiful sunrise on an almost clear sky

A well-camouflaged-with-algae Leaf Porter Crab (Neodorippe sp.)

Pulau Semakau 13 June 2010

Hunting Seeking which started at 5am. Everyone was attacked by lots of mosquitoes which took no mercy to any part of bare skin. This was my first individual Hunting-Seeking activity and it was certainly no easy feat juggling the ID chart, data sheet, camera, torchlight, pencil and warding off buzzing mosquitoes with two hands.

Tidal Hermit Crab (Diogenes sp.), the usual, at the mangrove area.

The cast of an acorn worm; it looks like shit!

Flower crab (Portunus pelagicus) trying to squeeze itself between the rocks.

I have no idea what segmented worm this was.

Colonial Ascidians that were orange in colour, my first sighting.

A Flower Crab (Portunus pelagicus) that was in the process of moulting. Crabs are very vulnerable when they are moulting as their new shells are soft and would take some time for it to harden.

Gong Gong (Strombus turturella), with its smooth, clean underside and a mud-covered top.

Hairy Crab (Pilumnus vespertilio) trying, but adorably failing, to conceal beneath a blade of seagrass.

A while later my camera suddenly went berserk and wouldn't release the shutter button. I couldn't take any pictures after that, much less the subsequent creatures, the Red Swimming Crab (Thalamita spinimana) and an Unidentified anemone. Argh!

Pulau Semakau 28-29 May 2010

I uploaded the pictures from the bottom-up by mistake, oh wells, let's start off with a scenic, fresh view of the rising sun over Pulau Semakau:

so pretty!! =D

A huge fishing net was found along the intertidal area, and in it were three dead sharks. The damning work of poachers who just don't care. =( The poachers are from other countries and were fishing illegally in the waters surrounding P. Semakau. The aim of Project Semakau is to convert P. Semakau into a Marine Park which will confer it a higher legal protection and hence, send a warning to those greedy poachers: 'Stay away!'

The very huge net and the very small poachers' boat in the distance. Grrrr!

We all want to tell you that P. Semakau is teeming with a rich biological life. Here's what I found during the Hunting-Seeking survey:

Bulb Tentacle Anemone (Entamacea quadricolor), my first sighting!

Blue-bordered Flatworm that was so tiny it's almost fragile.

Spider Conch (Lambis lambis) playing peek-a-boo! with its pair of eyes and its knife-like operculum. A spider conch 'hops' along the surface using its strong muscular foot and the spines on its shell ensures stability.

A small little cute Sea Hare!

A species of soft coral that looks really pretty (well maybe not in this picture, sorry!)

A Flower Crab (Portunus pelagicus) caught feasting; this one was rather large at about 7cm wide!

Dendrodoris tuberculosa, a species of sea slug, I think.

A fish that got caught stranded in a pool in the intertidal area. It escaped out attempts to 'save' it i.e. move it somewhere with more water but oh wells, the tide was soon coming up anyway.

Zoanthid (Palythoa mutuki.)

Peacock Anemone, Order Ceriantharia. Can you spot the almost transparent tentacles?

Another fish, unsure of its species.

A goby, I think.

A pair of anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis). There was another shrimp with a transparent shell nearby, but I can't spot it in this picture =(

Creepy crawly Marine Spider (Desis martensii)

An unidentified anemone

Probably a Red Swimming Crab (Thalamita spinimana)

Hairy Crab (Pilumnus vespertilio)

An Upside-down Jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.). This jellyfish contains single-celled algae called zooxanthallae in its oral arms (which are exposed when the jellyfish is upside-down) which photosynthesizes to provide food for the jellyfish. The algae gets shelter and minerals from the jellyfish in return.

Pictures taken on 28 May::

The office HQ where we gather, eat, sleep, bathe and shit.

Sunset over the sea (part of Singapore Straits)

Star Jump!

Following are the views at the Southern Tip of Pulau Semakau:

Near the HQ, dark clouds were looming.