A sleepy morning over a lonely cliff shoreline.
But there was a bunch of jovial people threading the shores!
Its the Naked hermit crabs @ Sentosa! Our first very guided walk here to show Singaporeans the rich marine diversity here. No need pay so much to the nearby aquarium (opps..) la~ Just a distance away you can see them in their natural surrounding!
I was tasked to be a hunter seeker, which turned out to be rather enjoyable :0) while KS was on his first guiding session with July.
Spanning almost a metre long this, this long ribbon worm dwarfed the one I found under a rock....
Ribbon worms (phylum Nemertea) although seemingly, fragile and defenseless, are actually predators that feed on small animals and even swallow them whole, just like snakes do. Some of them even have bacteria which can deliver deadly neurotoxins to subdue their prey as Ron shared with me. Others like the Giant ribbon worm can grow up to amazing lengths of 30metres! Note~ thats abt the length of a blue whale O_O
Some beautiful soft corals showcasing their polyps in the water
Black sea cucumbers seem to like hiding under rocks. When disturbed, it can secrete sticky threads of mucus which is difficult to rid of.
The ever docile hairy crabs, one of my favorite crabs :)
A tiny Sotong. They have many tiny pigments which can change color to camouflage themselves from predators. When threatened, squids can also eject a puff of "ink" to confuse predators. The colossal squid is the largest invertebrate and even the largest eyes of the size of a dinner plate!
Brown and red egg crabs are extremely poisonous so dun think about eating them!
Found this strange looking crab. Its practically impossible to spot it in the sand if it remains motionless. Budak suggested it to be possibly a decorator or velcro crab.
Wrasse (family Labridae). Overheard November saying that this fish can change its sex to maximise fitness when there is sex ratio imbalance. wow...
A small juvenile Copper-band butterflyfish. It has a false eye at its tail end to decieve predators and a long snout for reaching in cervices for prey.
Hey, isn't this nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae) the poster guy/girl for Hantu's blog? Nudibranchs are colorful for a reason, it means dun touch me or I will sting! This guy/girl feeds on hydroids and also acquire their stinging cells into their body for defense.
A very successful first day at Sentosa for the naked hermit crabs! Jiayou for tml too! Thanx to my friends for joining the walk too!
3 comments:
You guys did such an amazing job at hunting-seeking; so many creatures I've seen only for the first time today.
Die lah like that tomorrow I have to work to keep up the standard. :P
haha~ thanx! I'm sure u all can fare better tml... Jiayou!!!
hmm... the bactieria in some ribbon worms supposedly produce powerful toxin, but dun think I mentioned it's neurotoxin :P Understand some ribbon worms can indeed produce powerful neurotoxins, but that may or may not have anything to do with the bacteria. Have not been able to find info on the web that suggests the relationship actually :)
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