Saturday, May 01, 2010

Pulau Hantu Walk on May Day

It's May Day, and we were back on Pulau Hantu for an intertidal walk. Once again, I was one of the hunter-seekers, and once again, was so busy searching for things that I only took a few photos.

Here're some of the highlights that I managed to photograph.

Sand-sifting sea star (Archaster typicus)

There were lots of sand-sifting sea stars (Archaster typicus) in the sandy lagoon, and this rather special one had 6 instead of the usual 5 arms!

Fan worm (Sabellastarte indica)
There were lots of fan worms (Sabellastarte indica in the sandy lagoon too. The feather-like tentacles were used to collect plankton and other tiny organic particles in the water.

Chromodoris lineolata nudibranch
I also found a pair of Chromodoris lineolata nudibranchs. "Nudibranch" means naked gills, refering to the flower-like gills on the back of most species.

Stinging nettle (Chrysaora sp.)
Stinging nettles (Chrysaora sp.) were in season, and we saw them every where!

Red feather stars (Order Comatulida)
The highlight of the most Pulau Hantu trips are the red feather stars (Order Comatulida). They look like balls of feathers in water!

Pygmy squid (Idiosepius sp.)
CH found this cute little pygmy squid (Idiosepius sp.) towards the end of the walk.

Flatworm (Acanthozoon sp.)
I was rather happy to find this acanthozoon flatworm (Acanthozoon sp.), as somehow we hardly see them for the past few trips.

Stonefish (Synanceia horrida)
Yet another highlight of the trip was this very venomous stonefish (Synanceia horrida), found by LK who just stepped on one half a year ago and had to spend about a week in the hospital.

On the whole, it was again a very fulfilling trip with lots of things to see! :)

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