Shore Life of Bali

After my previous entry on the echinoderms I saw at Bali, I will continue to talk about the other shore life of Bali which I saw during my trip in this entry.


My favourite shore is definitely Sanur, which has a huge seagrass meadow and an extensive coral rubble area.


Among the seagrass, I found an Alligator Pipefish (Syngnathoides biaculeatus).


We initially thought that this was a flatworm as it was so flat, and only about 7 or 8 cm long. But on looking at it more closely, we realised that it's actually a Banded Sole (Soleichthys heterorhinus).


Saw several of these little fishes, which I think were dragonets (Family Callionymidae). Note sure of the species though.


We even saw a Ragged-finned Lionfish (Pterois antennata)!


There is also a Cockatoo Waspfish (Ablabys taenianotus).


We saw 2 little Moray Eels (Family Muraenidae) in the tidal pools among the seagrass.


A cute little Bristly Puffer (Arothron hispidus).


Somehow there are not many slugs, and we only saw two species. The above is a Melibe viridis, a nudibranch which feeds on little crustaceans.


The other slug we saw was a little little Sea Hare (Dolabella auricularia).


We were all really excited to see 2 Bullmouth Helmet Shells (Cypraecassis rufa).


We found several Cone Snails (Family Conidae) which we couldn't identify.


The most common cowrie here is probably the Money Cowrie (Cypraea moneta).


Next in line will be the Gold-ring Cowrie (Cypraea annulis).


One of the most poisonous crabs in the world - Zosimus aeneus.


A Ghost Shrimp (Infraorder Thalassinidea) decided to pay us a visit.


A Hairy Hermit Crab (Dardanus lagopodes).


Found many of these hermit crabs with sea anemones which I couldn't identify.


Several species of Ribbon Worms (Phylum Nemertea) were spotted, and this is one of them.


Have no idea what is this. Seems like the tentacles of some kind of worm living in a burrow. Update: These are the tentacles of a Spaghetti Worm (Family Terebellidae). Thanks ST for the ID :)


And talking about worms, we saw several Flatworms (Order Polycladida) too.


Another shore area which we visited was in Kuta. Once again, it was a huge area. It was mostly a sandy shore, and probably due to the high human traffic, there are not that many types of animals here.


There were many Ghost Crabs (Ocypode spp.) at night though, but a different species from the ones we get in Singapore.


We found several Pebble Crabs (Family Leucosiidae) too.


This Spotted Moon Crab (Ashtoret lunaris) quickly burrowed into the sand when we approached.


Another burrower was this Olive Snail (Family Olividae).


At the breakwater, I also found this Arabian Cowrie (Cypraea arabica).


There were a few locals collecting for food, and taking a peep inside the plastic bag they have, I saw several Swimming Crabs (Family Portunidae) and a few Arabian Cowrie.


We also went to the Bali Barat National Park, and went for a walk in the mangroves with a guide. The habitat there was very different from the mangroves in Singapore. Instead of being soft and muddy, the ground was actually rather firm and sandy.


One of the more interesting plant we saw was the Pemphis (Pemphis acidula). Back in Singapore, this is a very rare plant and there are like only a handful left on some of our offshore islands.


There was a whole forest of Teruntum Bunga Puteh (Lumnitzera racemosa).


Many of the trees here are really huge and ancient. I have never seen a Dungun (Heritiera littoralis) as huge as the one above, and there are quite a few of such trees in the reserve that we visited!

It sure was a great trip at Bali. I'll definitely come back here again to further explore the intertidal areas!