When we reached the island, we were glad to see that the oil spill did not appear to have affected it. We did not see any huge patches of crude oil. It started raining soon after we reached the island though, and hence we can't exactly tell if there were any oil stains on the wet rocks.
We did not managed to explore the island properly due to the rain, and in fact, many animals were probably hiding from the down pour. But still, we managed to see a number of marine organisms before the rain eventually got too heavy and lightning started flashing.
We found several orange-coloured Cake Sea Stars (Anthenea aspera). Most of them were less than 10cm wide though. Not sure where did the bigger ones go.
There were many Biscuit Sea Stars (Goniodiscaster scaber) of various sizes. However, they appeared to be less abundant compared to last year.
Forgot to wipe away the water droplets on my lens, and hence this Eight-armed Luidia Sea Stars (Luidia maculata) appeared slightly distorted. This sea star feed on other smaller sea stars!
We found 2 rather huge Knobbly Sea Stars (Protoreaster nodosus)! It got its name from the nodules on its top side.
We found 2 Feather Stars (Class Crinoidea) too! These animals gather small food particles in the water using their feather-like arms.
There was a Pencil Sea Urchin (Prionocidaris sp.) at the coral rubble area. The water got too murky further out, and hence we did not venture further to try to find more of them.
The Salmacis Sea Urchin (Salmacis sp.) appeared to be in season, and we saw many of them. Most of them had bits and pieces of shells, twigs or seaweed stuck to them for camouflaging.
There were several Ball Sea Cucumbers (Phyllophorus sp.), though certainly not as abundant as last time.
A few translucent sea cucumbers were found, probably Paracaudina australis.
Among the seagrass, I found quite a number of Sea Pens (Order Pennatulacea).
There were clusters of Stinging Hydroids (Class Hydrozoa) too! These plant-like colonial animals can give nasty stings when touched.
There were many huge Haddon's Carpet Anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) among the seagrass, and quite a number of them were at least 40cm wide. These anemones have sticky tentacles to sting and stick small prey like fishes or crustaceans.
Swimming Anemones (Boloceroides mcmurrichii) appeared to be in season too. These sea anemones do not attached themselves to the substrate, but are free-living! They can swim by pulsation.
It was nice seeing so many brightly-coloured soft corals.
I found a transparent shrimp living on one of them. Looks very much like some kind of snapping shrimp, but can't say for sure.
There was a ghost shrimp out of its burrow. Not sure about the species though.
Some of the volunteers found 2 Blue Dragons (Pteraeolidia ianthina) together. Wonder what they were doing?
Here's the bigger one when they moved apart. This nudibranch feeds on hydroids, and is able to store the latter's symbiotic algae in its body for photosynthesis. The algae will provide nutrients for the nudibranch. At the same time, it can store the stinging cells of the hydroid and use them for protection against predators as well.
Another nudibranch we saw was this Denison's Nudibranch (Dendrodoris denisoni). Unlike the Blue Dragon, this nudibranch feeds on sponges by secreting enzymes to digest them externally before sucking them up.
We saw a few moon snails, including this Natica zonalis.
We also saw a few octopuses. They are among the smartest invertebrates around, and are known to be able to learn by trial and error.
We also saw a few razor clams. This one was next to an anemone.
After exploring for about an hour plus, the rain got even heavier, and soon, we could see lightning too. For safety reasons, we decided to take shelter near the big rocks at the centre of the island.
Due to the storm, we did not managed to explore most part of the island, and many of the organisms were probably hiding. However, we were still very glad that we had made this trip, as we could now be sure that Sekudu was indeed spared from the oil spill.
Good to hear that Sekudu is not affected by the oil spill :)
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