A small team is back on the shore on a very VERY windy day. While wind keeps the nasty sandflies away, it also ruffles the water making it almost impossible to see or shoot through the water.
Despite this frustration, all kinds of amazing creatures were sighted! Of course, I missed all the good sightings like the sea snake, 'Nemo's, transparent flatworm, special anemones which the rest of the team saw.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed taking a closer look at 'boring' areas which were protected from the incessant wind. It's much calmer, for example, in the forest of seaweeds that float in the lagoon. There is a bloom of
Sargassum seaweeds (
Sargassum sp.) on the reefs everywhere. This forest of brown blades shelter a galaxy of tiny animals.
Among the minature marvels are
tiny hairy isopods (Order Isopoda),
dove snails (Family Columbellidae) which seem to be grazing on the white stuff growing on the seaweed blades, and lots of tiny green shrimps with a bent back. Some of them were carrying eggs!
I almost missed the
White-spotted rabbitfishes (
Siganus canaliculatus) that were sheltering in this clump of seaweed. They are so well camouflaged. I first saw one fish, then two fish. When I got home I realised there were THREE fishes there. Can you see them?
Another critter discovered at home while looking more closely at the photographs. A very flat isopod-like creature that blends perfectly with the seaweed blades.
Some of the Sargassum had elongated portions on them. I'm not sure what they are, though I do know they are not fruits. Seaweeds don't produce flowers or fruits. They reproduce in a complicated manner involving weird 'spores' and stuff which makes them sound positively alien. The round bubbles seen on Sargassum are air-filled floats that help keep the seaweed close to surface of the water and sunlight.
Entwined among the Sargassum is a feathery forest of
Hairy green seaweed (
Bryopsis sp.). More tiny creatures can be seen here. I'm not sure what the hairy orange wormy creature is: scaleworm, bristleworm? There were of course many
Bryopsis slugs (
Placida dendritica), lots of tiny transparent shrimps, and countless
beachfleas (Order Amphipoda).
This is not green seaweed but a large and lovely ruffled
Ornate leaf slug (
Elysia ornata).The rest saw marvellous slugs such as the
Moon-headed slug (
Euselenops luniceps).
This
filefish (Family Monacanthidae) stayed very still. It is upside down in relation to this view so it looks quite unfish-like and is easy to miss.
How is coral bleaching at Sisters Island? Alas, it seems some of the large hard corals are still bleaching. I don't remember seeing this during our trip to Sisters Island
last month. But perhaps I didn't come by this part of the shore at that trip.
Here's a closer look at a large hard coral. The lower portion seems still alive, but the upper portion is already dead with green algae growing on the dead parts.
This large
Pore coral (
Porites sp.) seems to have patches of dead parts which are being taken over by green algae.
I'm not sure what is happening to this hard coral. There is a patch that is clearly alive but much darker than the rest.
Here's a closer look at a healthy coral with coloured polyps. It's nice to see the hard corals at night as their polyps are usually extended at this time.
A nice brown
Zebra coral (
Oulastrea crispata) next to a patch of
Feathery soft corals that seem to still be bleaching.
I only managed to see a few
Circular mushroom corals (Family Fungiidae). They seemed unbleached, although this one has a bright pink patch which usually suggests stress or disease.
I saw one unbleached
Sandpaper coral (
Psammocora sp.), and one unbleached
leathery soft coral (Family Alcyoniidae).
Favid corals (Family Faviidae) remain the most commonly seen coral on the shore. Most seemed unbleached. There were many small colonies all over the place.
I saw some patches of
corallimorphs (Order Corallimorpharia) which were not bleaching. And also some healthy
Frilly anemones (
Phymanthus sp.). Kok Sheng saw some special sea anemones including the
Pizza anemone (
Cryptodendrum adhaesivum), but also one bleaching
Bubble-tip anemone (
Entacmea quadricolor). More about coral bleaching on
Bleach Watch Singapore.
Sisters is usually a very fishy place. But it was hard to photograph them today with the ripply water. I saw one
False scorpionfish (
Centrogenys vaigiensis) and several other fishes whose identity I don't know.
It's less challenging to photograph slower moving animals like snails. I saw this snail which I don't know. It is probably some kind of
Drill (Family Muricidae).
Also, a
Wandering cowrie (Cypraea errones). I've started to take a closer look at 'common' cowries just to be sure they are not something else which might be less common. The Wandering cowerie has one or two brown spots at the front of the shell, and its 'teeth' are not coloured.
And this tiny whelk. I'm not sure if it'sthe
Prickly whelk (
Nassarius crenoliratus) or something else.
Other snaily finds include the
Dolphin shell snail (
Angaria delphinus), and lots of busy
Dwarf turban snails (
Turbo bruneus).
I almost missed this
Reef octopus in the ripply water.
I saw quite a lot of brown
Floral egg crabs (
Atergatis floridus) and many
swimming crabs (Family Portunidae) of all kinds.
I saw another
Ashy pink sea cucumber (
Holothuria fuscocinerea). It was hiding among the rocks and is quite sensitive to the flash, retracting quickly after the first photograph.
There were many
brittlestars on the shore. But all I could see of them were their long spindly arms which retracted rapidly as soon as my torchlight fell on them.
As the tide turned, I had a closer look at the sandy shores. Here, there were spotty
prawns which seem unlike the ones I usually see.
And several pretty little
gobies (Family Gobiidae). I don't know what kind they are, but they are very well camouflaged against the sand and I only spot them when they move.
Another pretty goby.
This tiny Flower crab has caught some stripped titbit. Several little gobies tried to steal it away from the crab.
On the high shore, we saw lots of
Land hermit crabs (
Coenobita sp.). In a burrow well beyond the high water mark, in the middle of grass, I saw the legs of a crab. Could this be the rarer Smooth-eyed ghost crab (
Ocypode cordimana)? There's so much more to discover about our shores!
I also
removed an abandoned driftnet from Sisters Island today.
The rest of the team saw all kinds of marvellous creatures too! It's good that we had spread out to cover more ground and make separate sightings. Also makes it more fun to read one another's blogs!
Other posts about the trip
