Semakau! after so long~

Finally get to go Semakau guide agan! With Eunice this time round(:

There was no rain but the weather was a little too hot q: still.. we see many creatures~

Red Swimming Crab (Thalamita spinimana ) can be quite fierce! Swimming crabs are one of the few crabs that are swift and agile swimmers because of their last pair of paddle-like feet. The reason why this carb appears to be 'sandy' is because it has rows of tiny hairs that trap sediments and sand.

//oops this is noble volute's eggs hee. thanks ron!

& we saw 2 nudibranchs!

Lined chromodoris nudibranch (Chromodoris lineolata)

Nudibranchs are known as naked slugs. They have a shell as a young but gradually lose it as it grows older. They are poisonous as advertised by their striking colours and they feed on sponges hence are carnivorous! This particular species feed on blue encrusting sponge (Lamellodysidea herbacea).

Rose nudibranch (Dendrodoris fumata)//thanks samson for ID!

It lacks jaws hence cannot chew on the sponges. Instead it secretes digestive juices into the sponge then sucks up the softened sponge with a long tube! ahah SPONGE SLURPEE?

hmm not too sure what are these transparent like jelly thing is. We saw 3 of it! It's like a jelly and sort of stick to the ground when we try flipping? Perhaps a jellyfish?

Synaptid Sea Cucumber use their feeding tentacles to filter feed for organic particles for consumption. Related to the sea star, they use water as their circulatory system. It is the longest sea cucumber around! People have often mistaken them as worms.



Horseshoe crab! They are 'living fossils" as they have been here days even before dinosaurs are around! Not related to crab, they are more related to spiders and scorpians. Their blood clots easily hence have been sedharvested for medinal use for sometime until NUS cloned a substance to replace it.

ah! thats the new (sea)star they have found recenly at semakau! (:

The sand-sifting stars are practising external fertilisation. Though they lie on top of one another, their sex organ do not actually meet. The sperms and eggs are fertilise externally so this position increase their chances of fertiliation.

A great trip with the giant clam-ers! (thanks Eunice for the group pic!) Thanks everyone for organising and info for the whole trip! Looking forward to the next Semakau trip cause we get to see many different things on each trip(: each trip is a new experience.

sources: wild fact sheets(: