squids @ terumbu semakau 23Mar2011

This pair of squids were hovering at the reef edge possibly waiting for the tide to return so that they could prowl the seagrass and sand flats. They remained absolutely still apart from the undulations of their fins.

squids @ Terumbu Semakau 23Mar2011 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.



Read more about the living reefs of Terumbu Semkau here :
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/03/living-reefs-at-terumbu-semakau.html

anemone shrimp @ cyrene 25Mar2011

Came across a small anemone with two anemone shrimp after the seagrassing session. The much smaller one took to hiding below the anemone whilst the large one busied itself on top of the anemone.

anemone shrimp @ t.Semakau 23Mar2011 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

shark egg capsules @ cyrene 25Mar2011

Whilst waiting for the transfer boat to get off Cyrene Reef, Dr Dan spotted a bunch of egg capsules on the sandy shore. This quickly got the rest of us still on the reef awaiting extraction excited. These egg capsules revealed tiny tadpole-like embryos swimming actively in them.

There were 5 pods are actually made out of a type of glue casing made by the mother shark. The ends of each capsule were sealed by another type of glue. When it is time for the grown embryos to exit the capsule pods, the glue at the end of the pod would slowly 'unglue' itself releasing the pup.

The inside of the pods had a round object, which Dr Dan described as the yolk, and the tiny baby sharks seemed connected to it via an umbilical cord. The largest baby was about 3cm long and the smallest was less than 1 cm long.

shark egg capsule @ Cyrene 25Mar2011 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.


Read more about the trip here :
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/03/baby-sharks-at-cyrene.html
http://teamseagrass.blogspot.com/2011/03/cyrene-reef-25-mar-2011.html

Poachers @SgBulohWR 20Mar2011

Was at main bridge looking inland when I saw, at about 200m away, a yellow-booted man in shorts walking on the mudflat carrying what seemed to be a cast net. At first I thought he was one of the park workers or a researcher taking a sampling of the fish in the water. However, the man seemed nervous and his demeanour did not fit that of an authorised person.

The SBWR (Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve) park wardens were on top of things immediately and suspected that there were 2 or 3 others out of sight hidden in the adjacent mangrove. The wardens hatched a quick plan, coralling support from some of the park workers.

They swiftly hopped into the buggies and rode out to the access track close to where the poachers were. The mud was thick and soft and so made walking out difficult. Nevertheless, the poachers (3 of them) were flanked by two sets of pursuers. They were taken by surprise and did not make a fuss.

Bari had to walk across part of the estuary to get to an isle of mud and mangrove trees where the poachers had kept their loot in order to make sure that they gave up all of it including their nets. [Unfortunately, the water was deeper than expected and Bari later found out that his mobile phone in his pant pocket would not accept the salt water well at all. Indeed it looked like a mini-fishtank with water sloshing in it. Collateral damage in professionally answering the call of duty! Hope his boss will agree to replacing it without too much trouble (hint! hint!)].


The poachers were escorted back to the SBWR visitor's centre with their gear and loot. After their IDs were recorded, they were given a warning not to fish in the reserve again and let off. All this was done in a relaxed atmosphere and I was pleased to see that the park wardens handled the whole episode professionally. Good job!!

The nets (a cast net and also a long gill net) and a long pole with a metal hook were seized. The pole with hook was possibly for harvesting the tree-climbing crabs which are commonly found high on the wetland reserve's mangrove trees.

The poachers had filled an entire bag with snails. Looks like these snails were saved from becoming soup that evening!

There was also another bag with green clams and a rather large catfish. According to the wardens, the catfish and green clams had been taken from another poacher slightly before the gang of three were spotted.

All the rescued animals were quickly released into the water and the catfish casually swam off as if nothing had happened.

Here is a short clip unfolding the event :

poachers from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.


Kudos to the staff and workers at SBWR!
A difficult job done well! :)

Horseshoe crabs-rescued@Kranji 12Mar2011

This hapless pair were trapped in a small section of fish net probably carelessly abandoned by a fishing enthusiast without much thought about what the abandoned net will carry on killing.

Horseshoe Crabs-rescued@Kranji 12Mar2011 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

The smaller male was easy to remove but the large female below was well and truly entangled by the net. A few strategic pulls and careful picking soon released the female. Both went on their separate ways free. Hopefully they do not get entangled by other nets or entangling material.

Local fishermen must pay more attention to where they dispose of their nets.

For more on the scourge of abandoned fish nets, have a look at these links :-
http://projectdriftnet.blogspot.com/
http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2011/01/project-driftnet-tested-at-tanah-merah.html
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/index.php?entry=/marine/20080724-horseshoecrab_rescue_at_Mandai.txt
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg//index.php?entry=/marine/20050313-mandaihorseshoecrabrelease.txt

Spiked Horseshoe Crab @ Kranji 12Mar2011

Came across this spiked Horseshoe crab at the shore near Carpark A. It was lying upside down and did not seem very bothered or in a hurry to right itself up. There were some other horseshoe crabs in an inverted position as well and perhaps this was a bevahioural trait for these crabs to be in an upturned position. (??)

Spiked Horseshoe crab @ Kranji 24Mar2011 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

This particular crab had a forked tail with the extra spike on the anterior part of the main tail pointing upwards about a third of the way from the base of the tail. The cross-section of the main tail was also not symmetrical perhaps to accommodate the extra spike and the combined length of both the shorter main tail as well as the spike seemed to correspond proportionally to the single tails of the other Horseshoe crabs.

Siva suggested that the spike mutation could be due to pollution in the Johore Straits. We did not see any other unusual tails whilst on the shore.