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.

Semakau : Hunting Seeking (22 August 2009)

After almost one month since my last visit to Semakau, we went for another Hunting Seeking on 22 August. This round was quite tough as a few of us needed to do the Hunting Seeking alone due to shortage of volunteers. Though it was tough, but we still managed to complete the assigned task on time.

While walking towards our assigned zones, we spotted a Dog-Faced Water Snake wandering around at the Sandy Shores, just next to the Mangroves. It moved very swiftfully and then burrowed itself in the mud and water. This Snake is not poisonous, but I don't think I dare to catch it.

The zones we were hunting were full of Carpet Anemones. Haddon's, Gigantic, Magnificent Anemones all could be found, and there were many of them.

Carpet Anemones can emit toxic substances to sting its prey, example fishes. It will then use its tentacles to move its prey towards its mouth which is at the centre of the Anemone. Its Mouth is also its Anus, which seems to be a bit inhygenic, Yeeeeeee... Though this toxic substances may not be harmful to us, but it may cause irritation to those who have sensitive skin. Therefore, it's still best not to touch it with your bare hand.

 

There were also many Common Seastars found in this area, and saw 2 Seastars moved apart from its mating position. Maybe they were too shy when saw me looking at them, haha!

While at the Coral Rubble, spotted 2 different colour Knobby Seastars.

 

 

 

One coral that looks scarely is the 'Dead Man Fingers' as its 'Fingers' will start to wave at you when they are under water, calling '来吧, 不要怕!'

 

 

 

 

Almost towards the end of the Hunting Seeking, spotted a dead squid with its Green eyes, Ron spotted White-Spotted Reef Hermit Crab. It has an orange body with white spots, that's how its name comes about. When sensed danger, it immediately hided itself, therefore can only see its legs sticking out from the shell.

While walking back to the assembly point, spotted 2 Flatworm (Pseudoceros) almost dried up on a rock. Once I put them back into the water, they started swimming gracefully.

Flatworm gets its name because it's really Flat. It has both Male and Female reproductive organs, and one of the well-known feature is its 'Penis' Spinning. During the mating process, both Flatworms will try to dominate each other and want to take the Father's role. They will spin around and try to use their male organ to touch each other and also to avoid being touched. The one that being touched will have to play the Mother's role until it gives birth. Really amazing!

A Fruitful Inter-Tidal Adventure - Part 1

After staying overnight at Semakau on 25 July, we went for an early inter-tidal walk the following morning at a new area we have not visited before and might give us a lot of surprises.

Indeed, I am pleased to see a Giant Clam burrowed itself in a rock, so beautiful and amazing. Looks like a rock having a big mouth with a green lip, it's really 'A Kiss of Life'.

 

 

Cryptic Rock Star was the first thing we saw when we first climbed down the rocks to the inter-tidal area, and I also found a Horseshoe Crab with it's sharp tail poking upwards, to give us a warm welcome. Unlike the StingRay, the sharp tail of the Horseshoe Crab is not harmful, it's just to turn itself upright when it's in an upside down position. The blood of Horseshoe crab is Blue in colour.

 

 

 

Spotted an Onch crawling slowly on the sandy shore, and it's also one of the biggest I have ever seen. There were also many upsidedown Jellyfish found in this area.

 

 

 

As usual, Swimming Crab is the most fierceful creature and always really to attack any intruder. I still prefer the small Fiddler Crab, especially this particular one who stayed so calm to pose for my macro shot.

 

 

 

It's good to see quite a number of Carpet Anemones in this area, showing a sign of good seawater quality for marine lifes. Missed seeing these Gigantic Carpet Anemones which I previously saw at Chek Jawa. I can find more Carpet Anemones in Semakau now as compared to Chek Jawa.

 

 

 

In my memory, I hardly found any Octopus in the usual inter-tidal area. Most of them I saw there were already caught by the Hunters during the Guided Walk. But in this new inter-tidal area, there were many different colour Octopuses spotted and I could easily see them swimming gracefully in the water. Octopus is the most intelligent creature and it's able to change its colour, camouflages itself well with the surroundings. The ink it releases has 2 purposes:
1. Confuse its preys to let them falls into its trap so that it can easily eat them.
2. Confuse its predators so that it can easily escape from them.

A Fruitful Inter-Tidal Adventure - Part 2

Though this new inter-tidal area has many things to see, but you really need to watch your steps as we spotted Stonefish, which is a dangerous fish that you do not want to step on. If you being bitten and poisoned by a Stonefish, you can basically rest at home for a month as you will not be able to walk.

It was the first time I saw a Stonefish and it's quite ugly and difficult to notice.

 

 

 

 

There were many Nudibranchs found in this area also, and this Black Margined Nudibranch spotted was pretty hugh, but it seemed to be under lots of stress and cramping itself up.

 

 

 

 

A volunteer found a Dog-Faced Water Snake and Ron highlighted that it's not poisonous. He even caught it for our photo shooting. Bravo! I also spotted another Dog-Faced Water Snake near the area where I found the Giant Clam. This area is really full of wonders.

 

 

 

 

The animals really grows well in this area as even the Snails and Slugs we saw are very lively and healthy, and pretty hugh. I found a Big Noble Volute, much bigger than my fist. The Nerites found on the rocks were also seen actively crawling from rock to rock, and I think there were few hundreds of them.

Semakau : Hunting Seeking (25 July 2009)

It's a day of Hairy Crab as more than 10 Hairy crabs were spotted at my Zone in this Hunting Seeking, and also lucky to see a BIG ONE! This was the biggest Hairy Crab I have seen so far, about the size of my palm. I also pleased that it stayed so calm for me to capture a nice photo of its face.
Hairy Crab is 'mild' poisonous due to the food it eats and also the environment it lives, which is near the Sponges. Its hairs is able to stick up the particulars in the surroundings, and therefore camouflages itself well and makes it difficult to be spotted.

Another 3 nice crabs that were spotted are the Orange Swimming Crab, Saw-Edged Spooner Crab and the Yellowish-Green Fiddler Crab.
Swimming Crab is quite common in inter-tidal area, and is also one of the most fierceful as it always in an On-Guard position when senses danger. It has a pair powerful pincers and some of them are poisonous and not edible.

 

Fiddler Crab is an interesting crab as the male crab is usually colourful and has one big colourful pincer and one smaller pincer. The big pincer is not meant for fighting, but it's for scaring away other male crab and also to attract the female crab. The male crab can only use the smaller pincer to eat, and therefore eats much slower than the female crab.

This was the first time I saw a Noble Volute in a shiny blach shell, as usually they are in a brownish stripes shell. Noble Volute is a very fierce predator and feeds on bivalves. It uses its mantle to clamp onto its preys and then uses its long 'tongue-like' mouth to feed on them the moment when their shell open.

While walking back after completing the Hunting Seeking, spotted a school of Catfish swimming near the shore. There were about few hundreds of them and created a very beautiful formation.