Second last day of the Fish Expedition and there's a flurry of activity!
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| Photo by Toh Chay Hoon |
The intertidal team are the first to sample, this time at Kusu Island at high tide. The dive team did a morning and night dive. While the angling team sampled at Changi.
The intertidal team samples Kusu Island at high tide. Here's a video clip of the net laying thanks to Liz Lim.
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| Video by Liz Lim |
They pulled the net six times but got few fishes. There was a lot of seaweed in the water.
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| Photos by Liz Lim. |
Today, the intertidal finds are not so numerous in variety or number. But they are still interesting to the experts and important additions to the fish library.
The dive team return with some impressive finds. We learn about their ID from the experts. The whole Expedition has been a great learning experience for the young people involved as volunteers and interns.
The angling team return with more fishes. With the support of volunteers from
Marine Stewards Singapore, they sampled Changi waters and got some interesting large fishes. We learn from Dr Tan Heok Hui about their ID.
As the fishes come in, the team swings into action to process the fishes for the Singapore fish library. The DNA experts take tissue samples of the fishes.
The fishes are then sent for pinning, to fan out their fins for phototaking. Many fishes are identified by the number of fin rays and other features of the fins, so for scientific photos, it is important that all these features are captured. Volunteers get tips from the experts about how to this delicate task.
Tiny fishes are particularly challenging. We learn from the Japanese experts who are superb at this, using pins that are so tiny that they are barely visible. We call them Ninja pins!
High resolution scientific photos are then taken of these fishes.
Tomorrow is the last day of sampling for the Expedition. I'm going to miss the fellowship and learning during these hectic days.
More about the
Singapore Marine Fishes Expedition 2019 with daily and other updates are
posted here.
