First intertidal walk of 2010!

I was a zombie on Pulau Hantu (pun not intended - hantu means ghost in Malay) on New Year's day, with little sleep the night before, and after a strenuous badminton game that morning. Nonetheless, it was all worthwhile for my first encounter with the seahorse (yes... after 1 yr in the intertidal area...), and a photo of the utterflyfish.

We arrived at our destination after an hour-long boat ride. The skies were getting a little dark, and we were getting a weeeee bit worried but tried to be as optimistic about the weather as we can.

After a short briefing, we headed towards the intertidal area but end up racing back to the hut some 2 minutes later because it started pouring! Thankfully the rain stopped after an hour else the trip will be in vain.

We started our recce which was conducted in preparation of the public walks in 2010. After walking past the mangroves, we reached the intertidal area and I was greeted by (my guess) the inspiration of Spongbob Square Pants - Sponges!

Sponges are actually animals and not plants, despite its appearance. They are the simplest form of animal with no respiratory or circulation system, and feeds by filter feeding ie they pump water in and out of itself and pick up edible particles.

Interestingly, this is also the sponge that we use at home, or rather, used to use at home. Nowadays, we use synthetic sponges now instead of real dried sea sponges.

Sexy lips, aren't they? =P This is the Black-Lipped Conch (Strombus urceus) and is easily recognisd by the black border around the edges of the shell's underside. This is yet another animal that is vulnerable on our shores, due to the loss of habitat because of our land reclamation & development, and also due to over collection of its shell.

I didn't see as many Sand-sifting Sea Star (Archaster typicus) as I did on Semakau, but still managed to capture a phone of one. This Sea Star burrows into and sifts the sand, thus its name. They move with their tube feet, which also helps to bring food to its mouth, both found on its underside.

One of the more exciting sighting on the trip was this Red Egg Crab (Atergatis integerrimus). I've never seen the full view of one before. It was hiding under rocks (and therefore partially hidden) the last few times I chanced upon it. Looking red and succulent, some people might mistake it as a delicious delicacy, just like the chilli crabs that some people are in love with. Rule of thumb in the animal kingdom: Bright colours, avoid. This is in fact a highly poisonous crab, in fact, the toxins can't be rid of even after cooking.

In a tidal pool, the Bohol Nudibranch (Discodoris boholiensis) was showing us its elegant slow dance moves. Named after the exposed breathing gills found at the back of its body (Nudibranch = naked gills in latin), Nudibranchs are sea slugs with shells when young. Interestingly they lose their shells as they grow older, and develop other defense mechanisms such as toxic or bad tasting glands, and warns predators with their bright colours.

As we walked on, we were greeted by iterally, a sea of Sargassum. This is probably the most common brown algae on rocky shores, and are easily recognised by the air-filled bladders that keeps the plant body afloat. Algae (also called Seaweed) have no roots, fruits nor flowers, and are usually of a consistent colour.

While we are likely to find lots of animals beneath the Sargassum since it provides good shelter, we were treading really carefully for fear of stepping on something that we really shouldn't be, or don't want to (eg like Stonefish!).
 

Indeed, a volunteer spotted an animal that was maybe seeking solace among the seaweed. My first time meeting Mrs Tigertail Seahorse (Hippocampus comes), named after the its tiger-like rings on its tail. This is probably a female as it does not have a pouch. The envy of some ladies, the male seahorse shoulders the responsibility of carrying the eggs, placed by the females in their pouch. Apparently, these sea horses are normally found in pairs so not sure whether its buddy went into hiding. Although the Seahorse does not look like it, it is actually a fish! But, without scales and it swims upright instead of horizontally!

(Again) Another endangered animal (again) due to habitat destruction. In addition, its also used for traditional Chinese medicine, resulting in over fishing.

At the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of orange, which disappeared the minute I turned in its direction. Suspecting that its the Butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus*) , I stood motionless, hoping to prove myself right, and I was! If you thought that the black dot is the eye of the fish, then you would have been fooled, just like the Butterflyfish's predators. It is said that the butterflyfish uses the false eyespots to create an impression of a head at the wrong end, thus misleading predator in attacking the less vital body areas. Sometimes, the predator may completely misses the butterflyfish with a wrong plan of attack.

Unfortunately these beautiful fishes are popular in the live aquarium trade although I'm sure they would very much prefer their freedom in the open sea.

 

I was surprised that this Swimming Crab (Thalamita danae) did not showed its usual aggressive stance when I approached it. It merely moved its pincer a little when it sensed my presence. As the name suggests, its a really good swimmer thanks to its last pair of paddle-like legs.

Although we were stranded for an hour, we were lucky to have some time to explore the area. Looking forward to sharing the wonders of the intertidal area at Pulau Hantu!