Semakau : Transect Survey (20 September 2009)

Always looking forward to Semakau trip, but this Transect Survey on 20 Sept was my toughest and most tiring one as I have to complete 2 Transect Zones at the Coral Reef all by myself.

Actually, I was filled with excitement before the transect as I saw 2 Knobby Seastars while walking towards the Coral Reef. My colleague was so happy as she has never seen any Knobby before.


We reached the Coral Reef and also located the Markers quite fast. While I was helping my colleagues to lay the tape at Transect 1, I spotted a Blue-spotted Fantail Ray (Taeniura lymma) and also a hugh Red Swimming Crab. I therefore told my colleagues that if we could finish the transect before the sky turned dark, we would have some time to hunt for animals and take more photos.


The most common animals that I always found in Coral Reef transect were Hairy Crab (Pilumnus vespertilio) and Black Margined Nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata). They did not disappoint me this time as they showed themselves to wait for me at the Coral Reef.


When I completed the Transect 2, my 2 colleagues were still working on Transect 1 and they only covered about 40%. I therefore took over the Transect 3 and completed it also so that we can complete our Coral Reef transect assignment on time.

The toughest part for me was to do the following alone:
1. Moved the tape from Transect 2 to Transect 3
2. Rolled back the tape when I completed Transect 3

Luckily, my friend Martina who completed her Coral Rubble Transect came over to help me to roll up the remaining 30% of the tape.

By the time I completed Transect 2 and 3, it was almost 7.20pm and the sky was getting dark. Therefore I didn't have much chance to see a lot of animals in this trip.

Luckily, I still managed to find the Dragonfish Sea Cucumber (Stichopus horrens) and the Stonefish Sea Cucumber (Actinopyga lecanora) using my torch while I was walking back to the shore.


Besides the Sea Cucumber, I also spotted the beautiful Peacock Anemone and the Sunflower mushroom hard coral (Heliofungia actiniformis).


Hope that there will be more volunteers involved in the future for hunting seeking and transect survey as working alone is pretty tough and challenging.