sgbeachbum

ze great octopus escape - part 1 from BeachBum on Vimeo.


ze great octopus escape - part 2 from BeachBum on Vimeo.


ze great octopus escape - part 3 from BeachBum on Vimeo.

See also http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2008/06/great-octopus-escape-15-june2008.html

snail story @ labrador from BeachBum on Vimeo.
Visit http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/r422.htm for info on Nerite snails.

Here is a recent WildSingapore blogpost on some Singapore nerites
http://wildfilms.blogspot.com/2008/06/nerites-of-changi-and-labrador.html
The colours and variety are simply amazing!

other interesting links :
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2078.htm
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/pub/seashore/text/135.htm

red featherstar @ labrador from BeachBum on Vimeo.

This one was rather small but it was very active swimming although stuck in a small pool.
The months of May and June seems to be the season for Echinoderms as there have been reports of urchins congregating at Pasir Ris, other reports of feather stars and sea stars in great numbers on Cyrene Reef.

Once the tide comes in, this red featherstar will get lifted out of the pool and be free to roam the seas.

FeatherStars are Echinoderms.
What are Echinoderms? Have a look here : http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/p600.htm
http://www.starfish.ch/reef/echinoderms.html
http://ebiomedia.com/prod/BOechinoderms.html

More info :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoid - general info
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Feather.htm
http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Echinodermata&contgroup=Metazoa - must read!
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8168 - about sea lilies being able to crawl away from danger.

snapping shrimp & goby @ labrador from BeachBum on Vimeo.

When you visit to an intertidal area such as the Labrador Nature Reserve Beach, you would almost certainly hear occasional snapping pops coming from the ground. These are from snapping shrimps. They live in excavated burrows lined with small stones as a sort of embankment or reinforcement to keep the surrounding sand in place.

One of the amazing things is that the snapping shrimps usually have a live-in goby fish. These two rely on each other. The goby probably relies on the shrimp for protection whereas the shrimp relies on the goby as a lookout. The goby is seen frequently at the edge or rim of the burrow and darts in and out whenever it feels threatened.

In the clip, you can see a dark banded goby coming out first before the shrimp starts housekeeping by clearing sand which has flowed into the burrows with the waves. If there is a hint of trouble, the goby darts into the burrow.

How does the snapping shrimp make the snap?
Look here for more information :-
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1003_SnappingShrimp.html

another earlier post : http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2008/05/beautiful-cyrene-4-red-snapping-shrimp.html

Eagle @ Labrador from BeachBum on Vimeo.

This one flew in and tried to land on a high tree but it missed it's footing and had to try again. A rough guesstimate would be that this was a white bellied sea eagle. This species is native to Singapore and can be seen at Labrador Park. It is quite likely a resident at Labrador.

More info and pics :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-bellied_Sea-eagle

ze great octopus escape - part 1 from BeachBum on Vimeo.

One of the fishermen along the promenade was busy the whole morning catching lots of tiny fish. He threw some back but kept the others. I wonder how our fish stocks are going to improve if our fishermen keep taking the young fish well before they can mature and produce offspring.

He caused a stir when his line pulled up a squiggly squirmy blob. It turned out to be an Octopus. This must have been one really hungry octopus to have gone out looking for trouble in a super sunny morning when there were sooooo many fishermen around at the promenade and all along the main aisle of the Labrador jetty.

Lucky for the octopus, the fisherman did not want it and freed it from the sharp hook. The Octopus immediately and without hesitation made a straight line for the nearest water. It did not get disoriented and knew exactly where the water was.

How it did this is beyond me. Maybe it instinctively headed for the sunny side of the promenade...but this would have been unusual as an octopus would want to hide (?) in a dark place instead of being out in the open. Maybe it could 'smell' the seawater?

It managed to drop over the promenade onto the granite embankment and got tangled up with some leaves. It stopped for a few brief moments as if to gather it's breath...and probably to psyche itself up for another spurt of energy...and then it continued it's desperate crawl for life.

When it seemed to give up (or rather stop to catch it's breath again), the fisherman came along to give it some help. Once in the water, there was no looking back. Home Sweet Home.

Note : Fishing along the main aisle of Labrador jetty is an offence. Fine up to $5,000!!! This rule was put in place to help protect the sensitive near shore area where there is a good selection of natural corals growing but which may face certain destruction with the numerous fishing lines and hooks crossing it each day (and night) if fishing were to continue unrestricted there. Fishing is allowed further along the jetty.
HELP PROTECT the natural environment and organisms which habit Labrador Reserve.

some interesting links about Octopi:-
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/pub/seashore/text/168.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/c490.htm
info on the eye structure of octopi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus - lots of info about octopi !
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2796607.stm - jar opening octopus
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1529397.stm - octopus arm self-intelligence

caring hands @ labrador nature reserve from BeachBum on Vimeo.

Came across this group of students and their teacher at Labrador Nature Reserve who seemed to be having an outdoor biodiversity survey. Kudos to the teacher as he really seemed to know how to handle the session really well. He caught sight of a tiny fish(?) and gently cupped it in his hands to show his bunch of attentive students. And after he was done explaining about and showing the creature, he just as gently released it into the water.

This is very unlike other park users who fish in restricted locations, plunder the intertidal area for corals or algae covered rocks, intentionally throw their ciggarette butts and litter in all the wrong places and generally treat the nature reserve as a dump.

We need more people like the teacher and students in the clip! :) (and less of the other kind of park 'ab'users)

Found a link which explains what the teacher and students were doing! Look here
http://labradorpark.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/090608-at-labrador-park/

leaf porter crab @ Labrador Nature Reserve 08June2008 from BeachBum on Vimeo.

Neodorippe callida
links :
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2043.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/g326.htm
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/news/labrador/blog/2006/01/special-crabs-at-labrador.html