Sunday, May 25, 2008
Ubin - more fiddler crabs!
Ubin - Fiddler crabs from BeachBum on Vimeo.
These fiddler crabs are found just beside the Ubin jetty. They are extremely sensitive and finicky and will run the moment they sense movement.
The males ones are those with the pretty useless big claw. The females are ... apparently attracted to the pretty useless big claw. Life is such. These crabs seem to be free with visiting the homes of other fiddler crabs. Some males will do so and also the females. Good neighbours? If you look closely, you can spot the even tinier sand bubbler crabs which look like sand. Great camouflage! These live amongst the fiddler crabs and do not seem at risk from the fiddler crabs even though they seem to process the same patch of sand for detritus. Each tide brings with it new organic material and so the sand is enriched constantly.
Some fiddler crabs seem to be territorial whilst looking for good feeding spots. They chase away other fiddlers and even their own females!
Link : see also http://wildfilms.blogspot.com/2008/05/fiddler-crabs.html
Ubin - fiddler crabs galore
Ubin - Fiddler crab run from BeachBum on Vimeo.
(Apologies for the rough frames at the start of the clip. I had suddenly begun to sink into the soft mud.) This one fiddler was some distance away from a suitably large hole and could not hide before I spotted him as an easy video target. Switching to macro mode, I came as close as I could to him. He froze until I waved a finger at him (finger visible at the left side) and then decided to make a run for it....and boy, could he run!
For more information on Fiddlers see :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/s321.htm
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Beautiful Cyrene 8 - brahminy kite
Beautiful Cyrene 8 - brahminy kite from BeachBum on Vimeo.
The clip shows a heron flying off as a brahminy kite flies in to land. The kite settles down and starts nibbling at something below. Presumably it has caught something and has it firmly gripped in it's claws. The backdrop is the petrochemical/tankstore plants on Jurong island and the foreground sees the seagrass meadow interspersed with shallow lagoons which are left behind at low tide on Cyrene.
Links :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahminy_Kite
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Haliastur_indus.htm
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Beautiful Cyrene 7 - hard coral condominium with a view
Beautiful Cyrene - Hard coral from BeachBum on Vimeo.
Cyrene Reef is home to a wonderful range of corals, Soft, hard, leathery. of different colours and sizes. The clip shows a massive Brown boulder hard coral with Jurong Island in the background. This coral had Mermaid's Fan seaweed growing on top in the crater as well along with the green-white finger algae (?).
More reading on corals :-
http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/c510.htm
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Beautiful Cyrene 6 - Mr Stonefish (in abandoned trap)
Beautiful Cyrene - Mr Stonefish from BeachBum on Vimeo.
Synanceja horrida
With a name like 'horrida', one can only imagine the terror this fish inflicts. This one was about 25cm long and was sitting in an abandoned fish cage. Actually, it was mostly out of water already as the tide was very low. Surprising that it did not make much effort to move into deeper water. I had actually thought it was a piece of stone but then wondered what a piece of rock was doing in a fish trap. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a stonefish. And although it was mostly out of water due to the low tide, it was very much alive. I moved the entire fishtrap towards a deeper pool which you see in the videoclip. It's underside was a reddish orange although the topside was the colour of brown mud. It did not flinch one bit whilst I was moving the cage...it just sat still and quiet...like a stone would. No wonder it is so difficult to see in the shallows or amongst rocks.
This stonefish is seen in a long abandoned fishtrap on Cyrene reef with a background of the petrochemical industries on Jurong Island. Abandoned fishtraps are a danger to marine organisms as they continue to trap and kill indiscriminately. I widenened the holes in this one to make it impossible for any fish to stay trapped when the tide was up.
Read about the dangers of a Stonefish sting :-
annals.edu.sg/pdf200408/V33N4p515.pdf
Other interesting links :-
habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/marinefish/text/256.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com.sg/wildfilms/blog/2006/03/when-you-are-down-on-your-luck-keep.html
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