Getting to know our Singapore sotong

Thanks to Tay Ywee Chieh, I've learnt more about some of the cuttlefishes and squids (locally called 'sotong') commonly seen on our shores!

Knowing their identities has helped me learn more about the fascinating behaviour of these cephalopods!

Wildfacts updates: wonderful molluscs and more!

We keep seeing marine life in Singapore for the first time even though we have been surveying for many years! The last update was in February so there's been a lot of new fact sheets.

Mostly for molluscs! But also for other kinds of marine life.

Wild facts updates: Slugs, sharks, crabs and more

Singapore has a bewildering variety of marine life! Here's new fact sheets on some slugs that can be found right here on our own shores.

Also, sharks and more crabs!

Wild facts updates: snails, clams and other critters

We suddenly saw many of these strange snails at Changi recently. Thanks to Tan Siong Kiat and Neo Mei Lin, I learnt that these are Mitre snails (Family Mitridae).

From Siong Kiat, I learnt a lot more about some snails and clams. I also sorted out some other curious critters on the wildsingapore wild fact sheets.

Wildfacts updates: cool critter maps and more!

Wow, it's possible to map flickr photos so I can display the distribution of our marine life easily! Check out the display for Starry flatworms (Pseudobiceros stellae)!

This is just a screen shot, sorry. Live map here.

Also, finally, factsheets on some vertebrates, anemones, sponges and other creatures. It's amazing how I keep coming across new animals even though I've been exploring the shores for more than a decade!

Wild facts updates: Special critters, and sponges and soft corals

I didn't realise this snail is considered rare! Thanks to ID help from readers, I learnt that this is a Wentletrap, a Dutch word which means 'spiral staircase'. The elegant shell does indeed resemble one! Some species are believed to eat sea anemones, which is perhaps why I saw it on the sandy Seletar shore that had lots of anemones!

I also sorted out some sponges and soft corals, finally getting some fact sheets up for them.

Wild facts updates in Nov: corals, clams and more

Hard corals are hard -- to figure out! But thanks to Danwei's awesome coral paper, which I struggled over for a long time, I think I've sorted some of our hard corals a little better.

I saw this pretty coral many years ago at Cyrene Reef, and I think it's Lithophyllon undulatum, a mushroom coral!

Wild facts updates for Sep: crabs, anemones, seaweeds

I haven't updated the fact sheets since May! But we sure saw a lot of special marine life during the 2011 morning low tides, which have just ended. So I tried to catch up with some updates: crabs, anemones and seaweeds!

I saw this cute crab for the first time on a trip to a submerged reef off Semakau.

Wild facts updates for May 11: some awesome fishes!

I still see creatures for the first time, even though I've been visiting our shores regularly for more than 10 years! Our shores are so amazing!

The highlight for me was this Spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) that I saw on oil-slicked Tanah Merah! It is the most beautiful fish I've seen!

March wild facts updates: fishies, nem, slug and more

Mystery fishes finally figured out! At last, I diligently process fishy photos from all years past, hunkered down over fishy books, trawled through the interwebs. And finally made a stab at identifying some commonly seen but mysterious fishes.

We often see this small dark fish with rounded fins skulking near reefs. I think it's the Black cardinalfish (Apogon melas) that is identified by a pale edged dark spot at the base of the second dorsal fin. Mighty difficult to see this spot on a tiny fish!

February wild facts updates: crab, fishies and special coastal plants

It is rare, apparently, to see the awesome mangrove Mound crab (Sarmatium germaini) out of its hidey hole in mud lobster mounds.

I didn't realise this until I was kindly told by N. Sivasothi and Ng Ngan Kee! The crab is listed as 'Endangered' and it eats mangrove leaves, dragging these into its burrow to eat them in peace and quiet.

December wild facts updates: hermit crabs!

Thanks to kind comments by liwaliw on wildsingapore flickr, some of our hermit crabs have been named!

This very hairy hermit crab is probably Dardanus lagopodes.

Wildfact updates: Marvellous molluscs!

The belated updates include Tiger cowries!! Several were spotted by the team this year on our explorations of remote submerged reefs! This one was seen on Terumbu Raya and shared by Chay Hoon and Kok Sheng.
While Mei Lin shared THREE Tiger cowries seen on Pulau Biola! Tiger cowries (Cypraea tigris) are more often seen by divers, such as at Pulau Hantu, like this huge one shared here by Mei Lin.

Wildfacts updates: fishies, crusties and more!

I haven't updated the wild fact sheets since April! It has been a whirlwind of field trips as we tried to keep up with the double whammy of oil spill impact and coral bleaching, plus relentless explorations of submerged reefs and locations we haven't been to before. Finally, the morning low spring tides ended, and I could catch up with fact sheet updates!

Among the fascinating first time sightings is this Zebra sole (Zebrias zebra) that Chay Hoon spotted on Changi!

Wildfacts updates: April Stars!

The stars of the month are sea stars! The most awesome find is by Chay Hoon: the Galloping sea star (Stellaster equistris) at Sentosa. In his guidebook, Dr Lane says this star does indeed 'gallop', "moving in a series of jerks or leaps through synchronised stepping action of its tube feet".The other starry highlight is the juvenile Pentaceraster sea star (Pentaceraster mammilatus) that Sean Yap found at Cyrene Reef. This may indicate that the sea stars are breeding there!

Wildfacts updates: February and March

It's been a 'dry' period as there were not many low spring tides in February and virtually none in March. So it's a good time to catch up on fact sheets on old sightings.
The visit by Dr Fujita, the brittle star expert, was a good excuse to do up a fact sheet on this commensal brittle star (Ophiomaza cacaotica) that lives in a feather star! We saw it once at Raffles Lighthouse many years ago.

Wildfacts updates: January sightings - special snails galore!

The year began with a slew of special snail sightings!
Liana saw a live Fig snail (Family Ficidae) at the East Coast! While the team saw several Clear sundial snails (Architectonica perspectiva) at Sisters Island.

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).

Wildfacts updates: Sightings in November

This is the 'slow' season for intertidal visits as low spring tides are less frequent and not so low this time of the year. The monsoon season also tends to disrupt trips. This year, again, we had a string of non-compliant tides when tides didn't go as low as they should have.
Nevertheless, we still had spectacular sightings such as this delightful basket star (Family Euryalidae), found and so well photographed by James on a not so low tide trip to Pulau Hantu.

New record for Singapore! A sea cucumber at Changi

The strange sea cucumber with polka dots that we have been seeing at Changi turns out to be a new record for Singapore!

Thanks to Siyang and Lionel for working on this mystery! Their paper (PDF) on this discovery is now online at Nature in Singapore on the Raffles Museum Biodiversity Research website.