Wildfacts updates: Sightings in December and some trees

Here's some sightings on recent shore trips in December. It's our first time visiting a short stretch of Ubin shore at a super low tide so we saw lots of stuff that's a first outside of Chek Jawa.
The chiton is a mollusc (Class Polyplacophora)! And not often spotted as it's so small. But Kok Sheng can be counted upon to find such treasures, as well as of course, sea stars: the Cake sea star (Anthenea aspera) and Crown or Rock sea star (Asterina coronata).

Other finds were shared by James, the Thorny sea cucumber (Colochirus quadrangularis) and a Purple sea cucumber under a stone.
Other squishy things on this marvellous shore were a Hairy sea hare (Bursatella leachi), a Haddon's carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni) with a little shrimp in it, and a Swimming anemone (Boloceroides mcmurrichi).
Yet MORE squishy things are sea pens, the Spiky sea pen (Scytalium sp.) which is half retracted into the ground, and a Flowery sea pen (Family Veritilidae) which looks like an orange sausage when it is out of water.
Although we have visited Tanah Merah many many times, we still keep seeing new things. Kok Sheng shared this marvellous snapping shrimp with many bands. Elsewhere, I often seen with a shrimp goby.
He also shared this lovely shot of a Carpet eel-blenny (Congrogadus subducens).
And his contributions to first time encounters on Tanah Merah includes a brittle star and the red skinny sea fan. We saw the Hollow-cheeked stonefish (Synanceia horrida) again!
James shared this gorgeous photo of the nudibranch Dendrodoris denisoni.
As well as of this strange looking hermit crab that I've not seen before, a little colony of Acropora hard coral (Acropora sp.) and a large colony of Anemone coral (Goniopora sp.).
Geraldine shared some of her sightings at Cyrene, which included this Long-spined black sea urchin (Diadema sp.) with lots of white spines!
And Andy shared this wonderful clip of the Upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.)

upside-down jellyfish from BeachBum on Vimeo.

as well as another video clip of the Ornate leaf slug (Elysia ornata). Wow!

While Marcus shared a video clip of a Spider conch (Lambis lambis) flipping around.
More WOW!

I've also made lots of updates to the trees on the wild fact sheets. Here's some fascinating fruit trees which I have been seeing on Pulau Ubin such as the Jambu bol tree (Syzygium malaccensis), Star-fruit tree (Averrhoea carambola).
Guava tree (Psidium guajava) and Nangka tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus).
Durian tree (Durio zibethinus), Chiku tree (Manilkara zapota), Papaya tree (Carica papaya).
And some trees that provide us these special edibles and useful stuff: Coffee tree and Chocolate tree.
and Rubber tree and Betel-nut palm.
Including some coastal plants that I came across over the past few months such as the Tit-berry (Allophylus cobbe), Poisonous sea bean (Canavalia catharica) and Sea apple (Syzygium grande).
And some marvellous rare trees that look like they've been planted by NParks. Bravo! The strange Limau hantu (Suregada multiflora) and Penaga laut-look alike: Bintangor bunut (Calophyllum soulattri).

Thanks to those who found the critters, and who took photos and video clips and shared about them! See all the photos in full glory and read about the recent adventures on these blogs:

• Nature's Wonders by Geraldine
• sgbeachbum by Andy
  
• Singapore Nature by James
• The Annotated Budak by Marcus
  
• Wonderful creations by Kok Sheng

I'd gladly include your sightings in the wild fact sheets. Just email me, Ria at hello@wildsingapore.com.