Semakau Inter-tidal Walk 31 May 09

I have been absent from Semakau for about a month due my other commitments. Nevertheless, is always exciting to visit Semakau.

I'm back at Semakau today to guide a group of very enthusiastic people exploring one of the few natural shore left in Singapore. The weather today is perfect for outdoor activities...clear blue sky, which also means that we are to prepare to get tan line. :-)

The first animal that we saw was this juvenile horse-shoe crab. Horseshoe crab is having blue colour blood due to the copper that presence in their blood. They are considered living fossil as they have evolved little in the last 400 million years. Wow!
If this little teddy bear look-alike crab decided to stay still, it is almost invisible! The hair on this hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertilio) would trap sediments and made themselves looks like part of the substrate when out of water. When under water, their hair will break their body outline and make it very difficult to be detected. They might have the same name as hairy crabs but this hairy crabs are poisonous and not to be consumed.

Is hard to relate this small clam to a giant right? Well, it is a juvenile Giant Clam (Tridacna squamosa). An matured Giant Clam can grow up to 40cm wide!This beautiful shell with the unmistakable mountain drawing on it is a noble volute. The white gel like thing on the side is the egg capsule.We saw another egg capsule but this is the egg capsules of squid.

This Sun Flower Mushroom Coral with part of their tentacles retracted when out of water due to the out going tide.

During low tide, lots of fishes are trapped within the tidal pool such as this Damselfish.

This juvenile cushion star looks like piece of mosaic. As cushion star grow, the body shape will become rounder and looks like a cushion.The usual Knobbly Star is having five arms but this is the not so common one, having six arms. Knobbly sea star is one of the biggest sea star in Singapore.

Synaptic sea cucumber with the feeding tentacles extended.

During low tide, the fiddler crab will come out from their burrow for feeding. This is the female fiddler crab with two same size pincers.The male fiddler crab is having the super large claw. The male use this enlarged claw to ward off potential competitors and for courtship. However, due to the over sized claw, they can’t feed as fast as the female crabs.

This ball like sands are actually processed sands left behind by crabs.After the walk as we are entering the forest, I saw this insect with a very beautiful colour. I have yet to find out what it is.Is a very hot day, nevertheless I'm sure this group enjoy the walk as I am. Thank you for making today's walk such a lovely one. Thanks for sharing the jokes too.... Aunty, Uncle, .... :-)