Friday, June 26, 2009

WOA what have we got here that attracted everyone's attention and snapping away with their cameras?



Sunrise!! Nice~ if only there's dolphins as well q;




Guided a bunch of enthusiastic happy people today, thanks mudskippers for making this walk such an enjoyable one!



Peek-a-boo seastar!





Soft corals- dead man's fingers!



It's best not to touch these soft corals as they have stinging cells. At low tides, it may look uninteresting as they flop over one another. But during high tides, they extend their polyps as they feed on planktons and it looks really beautiful! However its 'fingers' may look like calling out for us to join them and it is kind of eerie hence the name 'dead man's fingers' (;




There were plenty of red seaweed around! Compared to the green seaweeds, they can survive in deeper waters as being red allows them to photosynthesise in lower light levels. //edit (Thanks Ron) The 'nori' used in Japanese sushi is made of certain types of red seaweed. Some red seaweed are also used to make 'agar-agar' in jellies and stabilisers in processed food such as cholocate milk and yogurt.






Out of so many organisms in Semakau, my favourites are flatworms and nudibranchs (: They come in such vivid colous and patterns! They are poisonous since they feed on sponges and corals. That is where they acquire their toxins from as this is warned to their predators by their bright colours!




//edit. As we venture further in, we saw a school of fishes! It's best not to approach too close these fishes as we do not know if these fishes have protective mechanism like venomous spines.


Another red flower crab that was ready to fight us out. This swimming crab has a pair of paddle-like legs at the back allowing them to swim faster than other crabs. //edit. The male flower crab has brighter colouration in blue whereas the red female crabs come in duller colours. Now why the flower crabs that I usually see seem to be ready to declare war with me S:






The highlight of the day was the Aerobatic Flying Displays!



That was a bonus to all of us! We were awed by the displays and that certainly stopped most of my participants in their tracks! The airplanes had captured my participants' attention and boy was I jealous!

The trip ended off with holiday mode for the participants...



and I spotted two olive-backed sunbird within such close proximity on the way home! That certainly ended my day on a perfect note! (:

//Thanks Ron for the edit! (:

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