vimeomontage

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Discovering a new Singapore shore

Went exploring a new shore and was surprised with what I saw in the 90 minutes I was there.
Tide was low at 0.1m.
RT had already gotten to the shore earlier and was busy flashing away at all manner of tiny marine organisms at the far end of the shore.

I decided to head straight onto the shore not at all expecting to sink in knee deep.
Both legs slipped into the soft soft mud so effortlessly and I was suddenly knee deep in mud. Good thing the tide was very low at that point. I looked over to where RT was and she was sooo far away....too far away and out of earshot. The thought of drowning when the tide came back in occurred. Mustering strength from the thought of drowning, I managed to wriggle onto my knees and crawled out on all fours...that was the only way to stop from sinking into the mud.

Happily free I kept to walking on the sandy shore away from the muddy stretches.

















Came across a few small carpet anemones.


and other tiny anemones...








Seagrass was present too with Ovalis patches here and there and even Halodule (probably univervis)




There was also a rather rare sand dollar shell. No live dollars seen though.


Snails were plentiful and their shells were all of a wide variety.


thorny pink sea cucumber :-


ball cucumber


snapping shrimp


ghost crabs - these guys can run very fast! but these chose to play hide and seek



can you see the crab?

other crabs were plentiful too


There was also a horseshoe crab shell. Just one.


striped hermit crab



All in all, it was a wonderful new shore!

Read RT's version and sights here :
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2008/11/rare-sand-dollars-and-other-surprises.html

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sentosa Blue Spotted Fantail Ray 15Nov2008

Came across this small blue-spotted fantail ray on Sentosa. It was swimming in the shallows probably looking for food like small shrimp or bottom dwelling fish. The disc was slightly bigger than my palm. This seems to be a first record for Sentosa's Tj Rimau reef although it is frequently seen on our other Southern islands.

This is a large video so do wait for it to stream fully before viewing! or join Vimeo to download the file. Click on the Vimeo link for better quality viewing.


Sentosa Blue-Spotted Fantail Ray from BeachBum on Vimeo.

As with most marine ecosystems and organisms in Singapore waters, conservation should be a key concern for all Singaporeans. Amazing Singapore!. In which other capital city can you get to see such wildlife?


Want to know more about the blue spotted fantail ray? Visit wildsingapore.com
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/fish/dasyatidae/lymma.htm