Sentosa with the Naked Hermit Crabs

After MIA for about 2 years, I am finally back with the Naked Hermit Crabs for a guiding session, this time at Sentosa. Many do not know that just at the backyard of Underwater World, there is a nice natural intertidal habitat with corals and marine creatures.


I joined Allen who was the guide for this group today. Great to become an OJT again to listen to other people's style of guiding.

Unfortunately, we did not really see that much stuff today, due to the weird tide level which was supposed to go much lower. But I thought I will just highlight a few things in this trip.


The pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant that attracts small animals to their cup shaped lures. These animals would eventually slip and fall into the pitcher and drown in the digestive juices inside, serving as additional nutrients in this nutrient deprived soil. The pitcher above shows the Raffles Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes rafflesiana),


I still recalled my first trip here (which happened to be my second intertidal trip too) which was with the teamseagrass in 2006 when Joesph Lai commented that this was a rare tree. It was until today that I realised that it looked like Xylocarpus rumphii, one of the three species of mangrove cannon trees that can be found locally. PY who was with me today said the same thing which confirmed my suspicions.


And just before we left, a dead catfish allowed me to snap a photo of the spine on the pectoral fin. Many species of catfishes have spines on the dorsal and pectoral fins and some can even deliver an injection of venom, which is why we should not handle them with our bare hands.

At the end of the trip, me and PY headed over to the Nature Niche near Imbiah station. I was quite surprised to know that they have this new nature trail there which is quite similar to the one at Southern Ridges. Perhaps I would visit there some time.

Sentosa #3

Back again in Sentosa intertidals for the second time after finishing my project at UWW. This time, thankfully with the company of KS and Fiona.

The persistent ks successfully found a nemo under a Giant sea anemone.

Another exciting find by ks again, a cuttlefish. They have an internal cuttlebone which is used to control their buoyancy in water. These "bones" are used to feed birds as a source of calcium.

A juvenile Kite butterflyfish

I never know peacock anemones can be found here!

These sponges look like crystals don't they?

A flatworm trapped in a tiny pool of water

The lovely teddy bear crab on the left and another unknown cousin on the right.

Despite the nearby on going IR reclamation and modifications, nature still managed to find a way to carry on their lives. Lets hope they will continue to survive under these harsh conditions.

Sentosa Revisit #2

After finishing with my work at UWW, jumped into my booties and got myself ready for an intertidal walk just nearby in Sentosa beach. Firstly went to check out the coast opposite the current in construction IR. I wonder if life beside it have suffered from the increased sedimentation.

An elbow crab, so named due to its long pincers bending like an elbow. Just like the hairy crab, scattered all over the beach, it is difficult to spot them as they are well camouflaged.

Gong gongs are delicacies in the seafood menu. However, it is definitely more enjoyable seeing them alive, watching their shy alien eyes embedded on long eye stalks, peeping out at you.

Strombus sp. conches also have those cute little eyes.

Many tiny anemones were embedded on the rocks

Anemone shrimps added more brilliance to the seemingly luminous carpet anemone

Nudibranch, Dendrodoris denisoni. In Ria's CJ online guide this nudibranch "releases digestive juices that dissolve the sponge into a soup which is then sucked up."

Another delightful find is a small eel which darted fast from rubble to rubble, preventing me in getting a good shot.

Next, went over to the other side hoping to catch a glimpse of sunset...

I was pleasantly surprised to see many whitish stuff floating on the water

They are actually the male flowers of the tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides). Looks quite like styroform beads hor?

A rustle in the trees startle me, but it was just 2 peacocks scrambling through.

A pity the sunset was covered by the clouds today. Hopefully tml will fare better :)

Sentosa revisit

Back to my favorite beach again in Sentosa. The lowest tide was still rather high but I just wanted to revive the memories of the beautiful coast again before coming again at the full moon.

There is a new signboard on the path down the sea wall. But to me it was not done very well at all, as it indicated of marine life existing down there and then further adding that this part is not covered by Beach Patrol......

The one reason I love this place is due to its beautiful cliffs...

and caves

as well as being 100% natural, unlike the opposite Siloso beach

For people who know about the iconic Broken Soul Cliff... Its route is blocked by a tree which fell from the cliff above.

Deep furrows form from years of water erosion...

The broken soul cliff at side view

pebbles scattered on the ground


Barnacles

Roots of plants dropping down from the almost vertical cliffs

A lone dead tree guarding the shores


Pitcher plants


For people interested in the current state of IR Sentosa~

Day 3 with the hermit crabs @ Sentosa

Its Day 3 and the final stretch of intertidals with the Naked Hermit Crabs! Today is the day for the friends of NHC to come and explore this amazing little known cliffy shores at Sentosa.

We start off in the burning sun at the adventure trail with my two diving friends Nick and Crys (below) who came to support me. Thanx!

Here are they..

We came pass this cotton tree (kapok tree as ID by July) near underwater world. Take a look at his marvellous blog for more info :)

The beautiful thing about this place from other intertidal areas is the naturally formed reddish cliffs and small caves. The color is due to oxidation of iron present in the rocks.

And how about pitcher plants hanging down from the cliff? It is also named after our founder, Sir Stamford Raffles! More info on pitchers pls refer to my earlier post.

Cute little onchs are hard to spot about the rocks cos they camouflage so damn well! But if u just focus abit, there are actually hundreds of them crawling all over the rocks! So be careful when stepping on the rocks! Rem Ley Kun or Crystal called them as Mr Ong :p

Heres Mr Ong, flipped over, showing its muscular foot. Mr Ong is actually a kind of slug that breathe air on their backside! Gee...gross...

As I told KS before, if theres just one thing new that I see at the intertidals I will be very happy lao. But theres many first times today so... :D

#1 A branched tentacle anemone feeding on a crab. I wonder how long it will take to ingest the crab.

#2 One of the most posionous mosiac crab (Lophozozymus pictor) around this region. People have died eating them as the toxins cannot be remove through cooking. Another interesting thing is that the red intensity of their shells seems to reflect their level of toxicity.

#3 Phyllodesmium briareum nudibranch as ID by KS. Apparently this nudibranch doesnt sting, and it has symbiotic algae which it acquired from the soft corals which it feeds on.

#4 Normally I won't bat an eye to fishes, especially small ones. But this tiny creature has an amazing ability, it can change its skin tone! from a dull grey color to a fiery electric blue! Amazing right?

A fine day at Sentosa again. That comes to the end of this stretch of Naked Hermit Crabs trips, so happy to get those cute pins! Looking forward to my next collectable pin at Semakau next week. ;p

Group and Onch photos are taken from Crys album, thanx!

Naked @ Sentosa

A sleepy morning over a lonely cliff shoreline.

But there was a bunch of jovial people threading the shores!

Its the Naked hermit crabs @ Sentosa! Our first very guided walk here to show Singaporeans the rich marine diversity here. No need pay so much to the nearby aquarium (opps..) la~ Just a distance away you can see them in their natural surrounding!

I was tasked to be a hunter seeker, which turned out to be rather enjoyable :0) while KS was on his first guiding session with July.

Spanning almost a metre long this, this long ribbon worm dwarfed the one I found under a rock....

Ribbon worms (phylum Nemertea) although seemingly, fragile and defenseless, are actually predators that feed on small animals and even swallow them whole, just like snakes do. Some of them even have bacteria which can deliver deadly neurotoxins to subdue their prey as Ron shared with me. Others like the Giant ribbon worm can grow up to amazing lengths of 30metres! Note~ thats abt the length of a blue whale O_O

Some beautiful soft corals showcasing their polyps in the water

Black sea cucumbers seem to like hiding under rocks. When disturbed, it can secrete sticky threads of mucus which is difficult to rid of.

The ever docile hairy crabs, one of my favorite crabs :)

A tiny Sotong. They have many tiny pigments which can change color to camouflage themselves from predators. When threatened, squids can also eject a puff of "ink" to confuse predators. The colossal squid is the largest invertebrate and even the largest eyes of the size of a dinner plate!

Brown and red egg crabs are extremely poisonous so dun think about eating them!

Found this strange looking crab. Its practically impossible to spot it in the sand if it remains motionless. Budak suggested it to be possibly a decorator or velcro crab.

Wrasse (family Labridae). Overheard November saying that this fish can change its sex to maximise fitness when there is sex ratio imbalance. wow...

A small juvenile Copper-band butterflyfish. It has a false eye at its tail end to decieve predators and a long snout for reaching in cervices for prey.

Hey, isn't this nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae) the poster guy/girl for Hantu's blog? Nudibranchs are colorful for a reason, it means dun touch me or I will sting! This guy/girl feeds on hydroids and also acquire their stinging cells into their body for defense.

A very successful first day at Sentosa for the naked hermit crabs! Jiayou for tml too! Thanx to my friends for joining the walk too!