Sunday, June 28, 2009

On the way to the intertidal flats, we spotted these feet markings on the sandbars. It belongs to the Monitor Lizard!(Thanks SY.) It probably come here in search for seafood eh.

That's sea turtle with Prof Tan crossing the 'death zone'!

A trail has been marked out in the seagrass lagoon for visitors to past through and this zone is known as the 'death zone' as no organisms are able to live in there. This is to prevent people from trampling all over hence minimizing the damage caused .


This spider crab was spotted by Prof Tan! They are hard to spot as they move slowly and camouflage really well with the surroundings. They are named after their long and skinny legs. Though they are small with a body width of 2cm, they belong to the same family as the Japanese Spider Crab- the biggest crab in the world! Its leg span can reach up to 4m!!


As a comparison, I have found this picture to show its size as compared to us!


Heart Cockle!
Unlike other bivalves, this shell opens at the centre vertically! People have been collecting their shells as a prove of their love to their other half. Isn't it ironic how people use such heartless methods to prove their love??


Giant clam can grow up to 227kg and 1.2m across! They are facing extinction due to overcollection of their shell and meat! They are eaten as a delicacy in certain places and their shells were used as ashtrays.



This noble volute is actually a very beautiful creature. Its body is even more attractive than its shell. This is a mother noble volute who is laying eggs. It's nice to see these animals are surviving well (: The noble volutes feed by suffocating the other bivalves till they have to open up their shells to breathe. Then it will scraps them off their shell to eat! Not so noble isn't it?




This jellyfish is usually found upside down as they habour zooxanthelle (symbiotic algae) in their tentacles. The algae photosynthesises in the prescence of sunlight hence provide food to the jellyfish. The upside down jellyfish in turn provide a home and minerals to the zooxanthelle.
We saw many other organisms but I didn't manage to get their pictures ><
  • nudibranch
  • flatworms
  • 4 Knobbly sea stars!!
  • Cushion Seastar (A big one!)
  • Spidercounch
  • Seahorse
  • Carpet Anemone
  • Synaptid Sea Cucumber
  • Sandfish Sea Cucumber
  • Ocellated Sea Cucumber
  • Squid
  • Dead Cowrie
Soon it was time to leave..




and the sky was looming with dark cumulonimbus clouds.



The kids could not bear to leave and bidded farewell as they leave their tracks in the sand.
Many thanks to the hunter seekers, we saw many great stuff yesterday! A big thank you to my participants as well for making this yet another memorable trip! (:

1 comment:

ts said...

The footprints were made by a monitor lizard. The line btw is by it's tail.