dog-faced watersnake & halfbeak @ SBWR - Sep2014

Lunch can sometimes be a ...mouthful, especially when one end of it is all pointy. This dog-faced watersnake had caught a halfbeak at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve mangroves along Route 1. (Routes 2 and 3 have since been closed to the public in Sep 2014 to allow the Reserve to be ... reserved from the cacophony of hordes of noisy visitors. Here is a quote from the Reserve's website :
Routes 2 and 3 are closed to the public. The area has been designated a wildlife sanctuary, one that fauna can retreat to, especially during periods of high visitorship. By December, the new extension at Kranji will be opened, allowing visitors an expanded space for nature education and enjoyment. ) 

It took about 25 minutes from the point of first observation to when the fish was swallowed. The clip runs for about 12 minutes and shows most of what happened after the snake caught the fish. The first 15 minutes was mostly of the snake holding on the the fish in its mouth with the fish occasionally twitching. 

No doubt this was a reflex reaction to gasp for air since the snake had kept it mostly out of the water against the muddy bank. The snake took quite a few attempts to choose which end of the fish to swallow and kept 'walking' its jaws excitedly up and down the torso of the fish. It seemed to remain in an excited state all throughout the attempts momentarily moving away from the fish before coming back to it and trying again. The long pointy beak proved to be a difficult hurdle for the snake. It eventually decided to swallow the business end of the fish but soon 'got the point' as the beak got stuck in its throat causing it to abandon that attempt. 

Finally, after the many false starts, it managed to manouver its mouth over the the tail of the fish before quickly moving its jaws across the rest of the fish and swallowing it.

zdogfacedwatersnake&halfbeak from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Find out more about this fascinating snake :

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/snakes/cerberus.htm 

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes/dog-faced_water-snake.htm
and about Halfbeaks:
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/fish/hemiramphidae/hemiramphidae.htm

spooked halfbeak @ terumbu raya 09Feb2009

spooked halfbeak @ terumbu raya 09Feb2009 from BeachBum on Vimeo.

There was a flurry of splashing in a pool behind me and when I turned around, there was a fish jumping across the shallow pools and on to the sand. It was obviously trying to reach a deep pool with sufficient water but it was out of luck as the whole area within a few metres was all devoid of any significant water holes.

I waited for the halfbeak to quieten down before gently grabbing in the palm of my hand and carrying it to a deep pool closer where there was a rocky overhang for it to take shelter away from the passing gaze from the fish eating birds overhead.

Find out more about halfbeaks here :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/fish/fishfi09.htm