Mudskippers a-leaping at Chek Jawa!

Long skinny mudskippers were frantically leaping on the spot at Chek Jawa today. Almost vertically to the full length of the long thin body.
It's the first time I've noticed this behaviour! It seems the mudskipper literally stands on its broad tail as it flings itself skyward. Here's some shots of the same fish leaping.

Colourful Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Today, Ley Kun and I were out with a very sporting bunch of families for the free guided tour of the Chek Jawa boardwalk with the Naked Hermit Crabs.
The kids were very enthusiastic and sharp-eyed and spotted lots of interesting wildlife!

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).

10,000 people expected at Labrador on New Year's Eve

A New Year's Eve all-night event is expected to attract 10,000 people. Held "to get Singaporeans and new citizens to mingle", the event will be held "within the tranquil surroundings of Labrador Park". Hordes of litter-producing people coupled with "cultural performances" doesn't bode well for tranquility.

This was left behind at Labrador by a much smaller group of people who had obviously partied there the night before.

Papa pipefish - not so motherly after all

Like seahorses, in pipefishes it is the papa that looks after the eggs. The typical papa pipefish holds his eggs in a kind of pouch on his belly, where blood vessels nourish the eggs until they hatch into miniature pipefishies. The Alligator pipefish (Syngnathoides biaculeatus) is sometimes seen among our seagrasses. Here is a papa pipefish with eggs on his belly.

But a study of the broad-nosed pipefish (Syngnathus typhle) observed that some or all embryos tend to completely disappear while in Dad's care. The researchers expected some of the nutrients to end up in other embryos. Instead, the vanishing embryos' nutrients turned up inside the father!

Why are pufferfishes deadly and not dead?

Pufferfishes contain tetrodotoxin, among the most powerful natural toxins known. Cooking does not neutralise it and 2 milligrammes can kill a human. Tetradotoxin attacks nerves that are found in many animals including the pufferfish itself. How is it that the toxins in a pufferfish that make it deadly doesn't kill the pufferfish itself?

Pufferfishes are sometimes seen on our shores.

In particular as the toxins are not made by the fish. Evidence suggests the fish gets it from tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria that is found in its food. For instance, pufferfishes artificially raised in filtered, bacteria-free water, are nontoxic.

So, why aren’t pufferfishes dead?

Have you seen a wild boar in Singapore? Rachael would like to know

Rachael Li needs your help to find out more about our wild boar especially those on Pulau Ubin. Please do her survey, which will help her propose methods to manage the population of wild boar there.

Priscilla the wild boar at Chek Jawa used to accompany visitors to the shores.

Sonneratia and streams on a sunny Sunday

Finally I got a real close up look at the wild Berembang flowers at Woodlands Park.
But I was out today for an entirely different reason!