2 days of Chek Jawa (27 & 28 May 09)

Was out on Chek Jawa for 2 consective days. 27May for volunteer training and 28May with friends as customers... Had fun!!! I should also mention that i saw a baby civet cat. Photos are not allowed to be posted yet for some reasons. I would post them up once I get the permission to do so!!

OH YES!! one important thing, as you might notice, some of the animals are picked up by the guide to take photos. UNLESS YOU'RE SURE THAT the animals are not dangerous or toxic and YOU KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEM WITH CARE, then it would be fine to pick them up. IF NOT, please take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints!!!!!

As Chek Jawa consists of 6 different ecosystems, the types of fauna and flora various greatly. Other than the really common ones, I always get to see new stuff even going back to the same place!!!

Barnacles. The ones with the longest penis...

Seastar. This seastar has been given a nickname "Ferrari" seastar cos it moves at great speed burying itself into the sand.

Knobbly Seastar.

Button Snail's shell with hermit crab.

Ball Moon Snail (Polinices didyma).

This one got its muscles all out!!!

Developing eggs of Drill Snail. If you have read my previous entries, you would know that the colour of the eggs of the drill snails are yellow, these are slightly purplish. According to Alan, these are in the developing stage. Yellow ones are fresh eggs.

Sand Bubbler Crab??

Sea cucumber.

Ball Sea cucumber.

Thorny sea cucumber.

Sea cucumber in its nature habitat. Most of its body would be buried but some part would be exposed. So, many people would think that it's a really small animal, but when they dig up the sea cucumber they are usually shocked by their size.

Sea hare.

Jellyfish

HUGE OYSTER!!!

Scorpionfish or Toadfish?? Really cool to see these animals. I usually differentiate them from the scorpionfish by the eyes. For scorpionfish, the eyes are usually protruding while it is not so for toadfish.. But this is not a sure way to identify them... You've got to ask the experts...

Fireworm (Chloeia flava). This one doesnt look like the usual fireworm I assumed. But according to Adelle, it is...

Moult of flower swimming crab. Really perfect remains of the crab!!! I learnt that the males get to change their penis everytime they moult too!!! HAHA.

Noble Volute. Oh!!! This cool creature is absolute stunning. Though I do think that they're numbers are rather limited, but i'm relieved to see at least 1 or 2 during every guided walks.

Unknown nudibranch?? We saw at least 2 of these on 28 May... Let me know if you could identify this weird animal!!!

Mudskipper. These animals can stay above water for a really long time. You'll find them in the mangrove habitat.

Evidence of monkey eating durian!!!! Even though the durians have not ripen yet, the monkeys had too a step ahead to harvest them... It feels like monkey also waste food!!! HAHA... I think it's going to be fruiting season.

Fiddler Crab. What's a trip to Chek Jawa without seeing these crabs!!! They are EVERYWHERE!!! They can come in different colours too!! I also learnt that like human, they can be right-handed or left-handed!!! :) The males have one larger claw to attract females and fight off other males... but other than that, that larger claw is of no other use.

Huge Female spider.

Oriental whip snake (Ahaetulla prasina). This snake is such a pretty one!! Its lime green body is so bright but at the same time, allows it to camouflage perfectly on the trees!!! They are mildly venomous and docile animals that can grow up to 2m long... I wish I could take a photo of its eyes!! Maybe next time!! :)

Cotton stainer bug (Dysdercus decussatus). These bugs feed on sea hibiscus (hibiscus tiliaceus). According to Adelle, these bug are irritants to farmer and having red ants could eliminate them from the hibiscus plant. You'll usually find them clustering on the underside of the leaves. At first sight from far, many people would find them really disgusting but a close look at them usually change their mind. They have a really pretty red and black pattern on them. The young one which cant fly (adults can) has a pattern that looks like a smiley face.

Here is a mating pair!!! :)

Of course, coming to Ubin increases your chances to sight the magnificent hornbills. 3 species of hornbills are recorded in Singapore but nowsadays, we only see 2 species. on 27 May, Alan, Christophe, KC and I had a great opportunity to snap photos of a pair of hornbill side-by-side. According to Alan, it is extremely rare to see the mom and dad hornbill to be next to each other!!! HOW LUCKY!! the following day, I saw another pair of hornbills. Might be the same pair but this time they werent together...

27 May

28 May

Seashore nutmeg. Food for the hornbills.

A mysterious reef (Beting Bronok) 26May 09

Hi all!!! I was out to a REALLY pretty intertidal shore yesterday morning from 4.30am to 7.30am. Heard from the Kok sheng that we only visit this shore once a year!! So, i really keep my eye open and try to spot as many faunas as possible!! Practically all the faunas I found were my first sightings of them! *feeling proud!

There were some amount of corals here and there. There were the hard corals.

And also the soft corals

Carpet anemone

Glass anemone (Dofleinia sp.). By looking at it, you could understand why it's common name is glass anemone~

Peacock anemone. These are not true anemone. Something new I learnt from Mei lin!! :)

When I was photo-editing, I found a pair of tiny elbow crab on the peacock anemone!!

Bailer Snail (melo melo) quite a huge snail. This snail is listed as an endangered animal but it seems that it is doing rather fine at Beting Bronok.

Blue Dragon Nudibranch (Pteraeolida ianthina). Pretty nudibranch. Its projections do make it look like it could glow in the dark!!

Denison's nudibranch (Dendrodoris denisoni). This cool nudibranch eats sponges.

Bushy slug (Polybranchia orientialis). At first I thought it was just seaweed, but Chay Hoon's sharp eyes and experiences says that it is a sea slug!!! What a way to camouflage... This is definitely an unusual find!

Starry mouthed nudibranch (Bornella sp.). Another great find by Chay Hoon!!!

Unknown Nudibranch. According to chay hoon, this is a Mexichromis sp. and it's rare. But as this nudibranch is not underwater, it has curled itself up...

Flatworm. Moving really fast.. maybe it was trying to get away from me.. HAHA.

False scorpion fish (Centrogeny vaigiensis). Really really really small!!! Only saw it when I bent down to study the area around me.. They have prickly dorsal spines but no spines on their head. This is one way to distinguish them from the true scorpionfish!!

Many Banded Snapping shrimp? I'm not too sure about the ID of this shrimp. If you look closer at its tail, you can see blue and pink shades...

But I had fun watching it arranging the rocks around it!! It seems so busy!! probably making it new home?

Other than catching shrimp in action, I also caught a rather large octopus (~10cm) "hopping" around.

And also a pair of mating crab which was caught red-handed probably felt really embarrassed that they stop whatever they were do!! Maybe I interupted them... HAHA.

Biscuit Seastar were very common there...

I found this seastar really cute. It kept stretching its arms!! Morning exercise??

Brittle Star. Very flexible fauna. But this brittle star wasnt moving.

Knobbly Seastar (Protoreaster nodusus). These HUGE seastar are currently listed as an endangered animal too. I found 3 of them. I wonder if that's consider little...

Ball Sea cucumber.

Sea urchin.

Thorny Sea urchin (Prionocidaris sp.). Really interesting sea urchin. It doesnt have the usual spikes..

Onyx Cowries. One of the abundant cowries around.

Cuttlebone!!!

Rare-spined murex snail's shell. I really thought I found the snail but the original owner was gone and it is now a home to a hermit crab. Well, maybe next time!!

Seahorse!!!! It hook itself to a seapen. My best find of the day as I've always wanted to see them!! :)