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, .... :-)

Semakau Tidal Walk - 8 March 09

This is my 2nd visit to Semakau for the month of March. I have with me - Mindy, RMBR Nature Guide to be and 10 very enthusiastic participants from Boon Lay Sec.We depart from Marina South Pier and the boat journey took about 45 mins to reach Pulau Semakau our one and only landfill left in Singapore.

After short video presentation by NEA of the background and introduction to Semakau Landfill, the participants are thrilled with the landfill tour. The participants get to see themselves the landfill operations as well as the final journey of the rubbish that they generated. The landfill tour end at the entrance to the inter-tidal area and a short safety briefing were given.
We go through the forest in order to get to the coaster area to access the inter-tidal area. The path was dry and covered with red sea almond leaves. It was a short trail and will take only a few minutes to get through. The sea lime were fruiting and those daring participants get to try the sweet, juicy and refreshing fruits.
We continue with our walk and stop at mud flat to look at the crabs that like to wave their enlarged claw – fiddler crabs.

Only 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.
Mindy with the participants at the fiddler crabs station.

Before we reach the sea grass lagoon, we saw this strange looking horseshoe crab. Instead of red, 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.
This beautiful shell with mountain drawing on it is actually a noble volute. We have been seeing noble volute laying egg for the past few months.
Just next to the volute, the four arms common star caught our attention. It has one arm less compare with other common sand stars. Common star have a very unique way of getting their food. Common star feed on detritus. Others usually send their food through mouth to their stomach but common sea stars send their stomach directly to the food.
Hiding below the tube feet of the common sea star is this little dragonet. Dragonets have flattened, triangular heads with large mouths and eyes. Due to similarities in morphology and behaviour, dragonets are sometimes confused with members of the goby family.
Also having a flattened head, was this big flathead (family Platycephalidae).
One of the masters of camouflage is this hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertilio). It is almost invisible if it decided not to move. The hair 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.

We saw 2 different nudibranchs today, a Chromodoris lineolata and a pink colour Dendrodoris fumata. Nudibranchs (means naked gills) got their name from their exposed gills on the back.2 species of sea cucumber was found too, stonefish sea cucumber (Actinopyga lecanora) sandfish sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra).We also saw a seahorse!I still have no clue about the real id of this sea star that make his first appearance on 14 November 2008.

Is a hot day and we enjoy the trip very much! From the look on the participants face, I'm sure they enjoy the trip as much as I had.

Thank you to all the participants... you all are amazing!

'Underwater World' at Sentosa

This was my 2nd time visiting Sentosa within this week. I was here on Sunday, the eve of Chinese New Year for the Sentosa Flower 2009. However, I did not visit 'The Underwater World' of Sentosa where the animals are in captivity but instead I visit the inter-tidal area - the real underwater world of Sentosa where the animals are in their original habitats. The tide was not too low but low enough to go for another inter-tidal walk at Sentosa. From the photo, the Cruise is very close to where we explore.

The hermit crab (Clibanarius infraspinatus) was having fun playing hide & seek. Different from a true crab, hermit crab have long and soft abdomens as such are rely on 2nd hand shells to live on for protection.

I have been seeing this slug (Dendrodoris denisoni) for the last few trips on different shore perhaps is seasonal?The only sea star that I seen on this trip, a Common star (Archaster typicus)There are also a few anemones on the shore.Not a real fish but artificial bait that left behind by someone.Oncidium were out from their hiding during low tide too.On the rock surface at upper shore, nerites are abundance.The half eaten eel and their predator - a swimming crabMy 2nd time seeing this slug (Dermatobranchus sp.)This polka dot nudibranch (Jorunna funebris) is so small that their dots are not so visible yet.A very common sea cucumber that can be found at inter-tidal area - Holothuria leucospilota
Red egg crab ( Atergatis integerrimus) seems to be very common here as well.
and also their close relative - Brown egg crab (Atergatis floridus)A very cute crab that looks like a teddy bear - Hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertilio). This hairy structure give them a very good camouflage on the surface as well as underwater.I took this shot before I leave the inter-tidal area. However, it took me another hour plus queuing for transport before I reach the mainland as there are very crowded.