The Eight-banded butterflyfish! My first time seeing this fish, although Chay Hoon has seen it before at Sisters Island.
The happy reefs were teeming with all kinds of other fishes too!
The
Eight-banded butterflyfish (
Chaetodon octofasciatus) was quite lively and swimming about in the pool left behind at low tide. Here's clip of it.
There was a small
Blue-spotted fantail ray (
Taeniura lymma) among the rich coral reefs. It's so pretty!
Here's a video clip of the lively little fish.
At first I thought this was a
worm eel (
Muraenichthys sp.), but a closer look and I realise it's a very tiny
Estuarine moray eel (
Gymnothorax tile)! Apparently, I've seen this before at Sisters some years back.
There were plenty of our familiar favourites: the
Three-spot damselfish (
Pomacentrus tripunctatus) and several large
Copperband butterflyfishes (
Chelmon rostratus). Also abundant were
Tropical silversides (
Atherinomorus duodecimalis),
Spotted glass perchlets and
gobies of all kinds (Family Gobiidae).
There were also scorpionfishes: the
Painted scorpionfish (
Parascorpaena picta) and many
Longspined scorpionfish (
Paracentropogon longispinis). Stephen also saw the
Three-spined toadfish (
Batrachomoeus trispinosus). Fortunately, no one encountered Mr Stonefish!
A bright blue long halfbeak (Family Hemiramphidae) with a
short 'nose'.
As well as many fishes that I could not identify. I have seen this fish on various shores. Usually it is completely black. This one was half transparent. I have no idea what it is.
Another fish that I often see but have yet to identify.
And MORE colourful fishes that I could not identify!
I saw a
Giant carpet anemone (
Stichodactyla gigantea) with a very shy
False clown anemonefish (
Amphiprion ocellaris).
Kok Sheng took better photos of the 'Nemo' that can be found on our very own shores! He also spotted
Tiger-tailed seahorses (
Hippocampus comes). A large one and a small one which James spotted.
The reefs seemed to have recovered from coral bleaching and there were lots of other animals too. More about this in a
separate post.
