It is my first time visiting this part of Changi. Seems like no matter which part of this beach we are at, there are always interesting surprises in store for us. Thanks to KS for the invite.
The Thunder Crab (Myomenippe hardwickii) has such huge powerful crushing pincers that it is rumoured that only a clap of thunder can cause it to release its grip.
There were full of Hydroids (Order: Hydroida) in this place and apparently some squid had the foresight to plant her eggs on it. Hydroids sting pretty badly for your information.
There were also lots of Peacock Anemones (Order: Ceriantharia) in this place coming in many colours.
I love taking pictures of these Feather Duster Worms brushing off nutrients in the water.
Sea Pens (Order: Pennatulacea) were quite a common sight here and many feathery tentacles extended from each of them, filtering off tiny food particles in the murky water.
The highlight of the day were definitely the brillant Gorgonians (Order: Gorgonacea) that came in many beautiful colours.
We saw many little creatures like hermit crabs, spider crabs and this Elbow Crab (Parthenopidae) on the sea fans.
This pair of Flower Crabs (Portunus pelagicus) seemed getting ready to mate.
We also saw a few sea stars, like the Eight Armed Star shown here (Luidia maculata).
Another closely related star is this Luidia hardwicki.
The prettiest star to me have to be the Cake Sea Star (Anthenea aspera) with its varying but lustrous colours.
Last but not least, were the huge Biscuit Sea Stars (Goniodiscaster scaber) about 20 cm wide.
There were countless Gong Gong (Strombus turturella) in this sandy soft habitat and I never get tired of photographing them and their peculiar eye stalks.
Named because of its shell, the Tiger Moon Snails (Natica tigrina) were also out in the field looking for other molluscs to feed on.
What I thought as an anemone turned out to be a slug (Polybranchia orientalis). They possessed leaf like cerata that can be dropped off like this "botak" one here.
Feather Stars (Class: Crinoidea) just like Feather duster worms cast their feathery arms about to filter feed.
We found this huge Octopus that has a head about the size of my fist!
This place has lots of big Spider Crabs (Majidae) and we found this about 15cm wide.
I even found a group of them hiding under a huge boulder. They were making strange guggling sounds which I thought came from them trying to restore oxygen circulation to their gills through this bubbling action.
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