Echinoderms of Pulau Sekudu

The last time I went to Pulau Sekudu was like almost a year ago, and thus I had really been looking forward to this trip :)

Being an echinoderm lover, I shall highlight the echinoderms we saw in this entry first, and talk about the other organisms in a later entry.


The first species of sea star that we spotted was a Biscuit Sea Star (Gonodiscaster scaber. Now, does this look like a star-shaped biscuit to you?


As we moved on, we saw many more of them, so many that I stopped taking photos of them after a while. they come in various tones of brown.


This Biscuit Sea Star was a little special though - it only had 4 arms, and it looked so symmetrical!


I soon found an Orange-tipped Sea Star (Gymnanthenea laevis), which we often see on our northern shores too.


One of my favourite sea stars must be the Cake Sea Star (Anthenea aspera), as they come in various colours. This one has pretty pinkish tips.


This one has dark red patches on it.


We found 2 orange Cake Sea Stars, and they looked really pretty! Here's one of them.


A few Sand Stars (Astropecten sp.) were also spotted. This little sea star feeds on small shells.


One of the highlights of the day must be this huge Knobbly Sea Star (Protoreaster nodosus). I found it right at the edge of the exposed coral rubble area facing Chek Jawa. This is definitely the biggest knobbly I have seen so far. It is about 36 cm wide!


Not far away, I spotted 3 more.


And yet another one slightly further away. I am sure that in the murky deeper water, there must be more of them.


We found several juvenile sea stars too, and they looked really cute! The two similar-looking ones are Biscuit Sea Stars.


This orange Crown Sea Star (Asterina coronata) is probably only about 1cm wide.


This Eight-armed Luidia Sea Star (Luidia maculata) was about twice as wide as the Crown Sea Star.


Here's an underwater shot of it sliding over the sand.


We also found this juvenile Sand-sifting Sea Star (Archaster typicus) - my first time seeing it here!


Closely related to the sea stars are the Brittle Stars. The one above is probably an Ophiothrix sp.


While searching for more sea stars, I came across this Feather Star. Have seen this a few times at Chek Jawa too.


One of the most abundant echinoderm on Sekudu should be the Ball Sea Cucumber (Phyllophorus sp.). Many of them were stranded on the the seaweeds, and even more were partially buried in the sand.


Another sea cucumber we saw was the Sandfish Sea Cucumber (Holothuria scabra). Saw quite a number of them actually. These are the ones that you can usually find in Chinese restaurants. They must be properly processed to remove their toxins before they can be consumed though.


Saw several species of Cucumarid Sea Cucumbers (Cucumarid spp.), including the brown one above.


The Black Sea Cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota) is very common on some of our southern shores, but it's somehow less often encountered in the north.


We found a lonely little sea urchin (Temnopleurus sp.) among the seaweed.


The Salmacis Sea Urchin (Salmacis sp.) was rather abundant though.


The spines can come in purple or pink sometimes.


We saw the tests of 2 dead heart urchins.


And saving the best for the last - the top find of the day must be this Pink Sand Dollar (Peronella lesueuri)! I found one in the middle of the stingray lagoon, and subsequently, another one at the edge of the lagoon.


This is the second one I found, sliding over some seagrass.


Then Hen and KS soon found two more. Here's 3 of them together.

This is definitely one of my best Sekudu trip so far :)