Changi got things to see meh? GOT!

Usually when I tell my friends that I'm going to Changi to explore the shores, the immediate reaction I get is:

"Changi got things to see meh?"

I guess most Singaporeans are used to visiting our shores during high tide, or perhaps because our waters are usually full of sediments, they did not bother to explore much even when the tide is low.

So, they always find it hard to believe that Changi has lots of interesting wildlife to offer! It's all about going there at the right time...

When we reached Changi beach early in the morning, Ria and Chay Hoon were already there. Ria immediately shouted to us to get to where she was. And this is what we saw.



How many animals can you find in the photo above? There are at least 4 of them. Look at the pair of eyes in the middle. They belong to a sole, which is also called a flatfish, as it is very flat. A sole can bury itself under the sand, and this one was happily having a worm for breakfast when we saw it. And just nearby was a whelk, probably attracted by the blood oozing out of the worm. And right on the shell of the whelk was a little anemone.



And not far from the huge sole was yet another flatfish. It didn't hide the sand when I approach it though, so I was able to get quite a few good shots of it :)



The flatfishes were not the only animals that went under the sand though. This was one of the several moon snails I encountered. They normally hunt under the sand for little snails or clams.



The white salmacis sea urchins were certainly in season today. There lots of them every where, and so we had to tread really carefully so as not to step on any of them.



I also saw a dragonet on some fern seagrass. When they are on the sand, it's almost impossible to spot them as they blend in very nicely with the surrounding.



Chay Hoon found this transparent anemone next to a sea pencil, but what got us really baffled were the lumps of things growing on the sea pencil. They look like some egg capsules, but we have never seen them attached to sea pencils before. Hmm...



Here's how a sea pencil looks like without the lumps.



Ria also spotted this beautiful spotted sea cucumber, which was yet another new find!



Here's another sea cucumber I found. Can't remember the name though. Will need to check it up later on my echinoderms guide when I reach home :P



There were lots of geographical seahare too! While I've visited the northern shores many times, this was the first time I saw a geographical seahare. Somehow, I always encounter what I call the pseudo geographical seahare, but never the real one.



Apparently, the geographical seahares had a sexy night, and we saw several of the beehoon-like pink egg capsules.



It was also a "starry" night, and we encountered several sand stars! These seastars have long spines on the sides of their arms which probably helps them to burrow quickly into the sand.



I also saw a few clams here and there. On the top right corner, can you see something buried under the sand? It's a swimming crab.



We also saw several carpet anemones. Hopefully this is a sign that the poachers have decided to stop collecting them at Changi. We have seen poachers coming to Changi with huge plastic bags to collect them, and this is quite worrying as collection may eventually lead to extinction, and our future generations will not get to enjoy seeing these beautiful animals on our shores.



We also saw a cute little kite butterflyfish in a tidal pool.



And in the same tidal pool was a green pipefish.



But what got me really excited was the pipefish's relative - this yellow seahorse! Ria had asked me if I was kidding when I told her that I've never seen a yellow seahorse before. It was supposed to be quite common, but somehow, I always see the black or brown seahorses, but never the yellow ones! So finally, today, I got to see it!



On a patch of seaweeds, I saw lots of little crabs. Why were they having a mass gathering here?



But taking a closer look at some of them gave me the answer. Love was in the air, or rather, sex was in the air. If only the sand star had a brain, I wonder what it could be thinking with the pair of crabs going hardcore between its arms.



Marcus was telling me that he wanted to see moon crabs, and just before we were about to leave, I found one stranded on some seaweeds. After snapping a few shots, we put it onto the sandy area, and after resting for a while, it burrowed into the sand with its paddle-shaped legs.

Well, seems like after so many trips, Changi still have lots of surprises to offer :)

A Trip to Ghost Island

"你们要去鬼岛啊?"

Translate: Are you people going to Ghost Island?

Sounds like a rather eerie start for a morning trip when the customs officer at West Coast Pier asked me this question.

Yes, indeed, we were going to the Ghost Island, or rather, the name of the island is Pulau Hantu, which means Ghost Island in Malay. You can find out more about this island on Wikipedia :)

Anyway, it was a very pleasant night, with a lovely full moon.

As we stepped into the lagoon, we immediately noticed there were lots of prawns swimming around.



Doesn't it have a really pretty tail?

Pulau Hantu is one of the few places in Singapore which you can find nemos. And our luck proved to be really good today!



That's a false clownfish on a merten's carpet anemone. We were really glad to see the nemos, as we heard from some of the other Wildfilms crew that they couldn't find any nemos on their last trip. We were really worried that the poachers might have collected them. Hopefully things will stay the way it is, so that other Singaporeans who visit Pulau Hantu can get to experience seeing nemos in the wild!



We found several pairs of anemone shrimps on some of the other merten's carpet anemones too. There are actually 2 shrimps in the photo above. Can you see both of them? :)



And apart from the merten's carpet anemone, we found a few magnificent anemones too, and one of them even had nemos!



Sorry for the blurry photo above, but this is the first time that I see a tomato anemonefish in the bulb tentacle anemone! We had a hard time trying to get a good shot, as the water was a little deep, and the anemonefish was quite small and fast. Unlike the false clownfish we saw earlier, this anemonefish only has one white stripe around its head,



And other than anemones, we saw other animals that looked like anemones too, including the sunflower mushroom coral above. This is a free-living hard coral, which contains just one coral animal (or polyp).



And that's another hard coral which looks like an anemone, which is also why it is called the anemone coral. Unlike the sunflower mushroom coral, these are colonial animals, and each of the flowery tentacle you see above is an animal!



Of course, we have hard corals which don't look like anemones too. The one above is probably a bracket coral (Podabacia sp.).



And this is a branching coral which I've seen several times, but never get to find out the ID. Perhaps someone can enlighten me on it?



Corals don't always come in the hard and stony forms above. We have some softies too! The above was what we call "Dead Man's Fingers", or finger soft coral.



And this a flowery soft coral. Doesn't it look like a plant with flowers on its branches, except that in actual fact, they are animals.



This is something that was sometimes mistaken as a soft coral, because it was kind of soft and the colour is similar to some of the soft corals we have. But actually, these are colonial animals called zoanthids. They are related to corals though.

Enough about corals and their relatives, but do we have other animals at Hantu?



We have alright! That's a black sea urchin!



And here's a stonefish sea cucumber! This is actually edible, though commercially less valuable than the sandfish sea cucumber which can also be found on our shores.



Both sea urchins and sea cucumbers are relatives of seastars, and today we were lucky enough to meet another of their relatives - the featherstar! This is the first time I've seen a featherstar at Hantu, though I understand divers often seen it when they dive around Hantu.



We also saw two really cute marginated glossodoris nudibranchs as well. The name "nudibranch" means "naked gills". Can you see the flowery thing on the back of the nudibranchs? That's what gave it its name!



We also saw several octopuses. Believe it or not, they are relatives of the nudibranchs above, being classified under the same phylum Mollusca!



We also found a bristleworm. These worms can actually release their "bristles" into the surrounding water when they are disturb, giving others in the water nearby nasty stings. So don't handle this with your hands, and avoid disturb it when it's in the water, especially when you are also in the water nearby!

It was already quite bright by now, and tide is also rising - meaning it's time to head back to the jetty.

It was also then we noticed the various star markings on the sand.



Look carefully, and you will find many hidden stars in the photo above!



Called the common seastars, these seastars used to be really common, even on mainland Singapore. However, they were over-collected and many of their habitats were destroyed, and so they are really rare now on mainland. Pulau Hantu is one of those few places that you can still see them. Hopefully, the seastars here won't suffer the same fate as those on mainland Singapore!