From Peirce to Bishan

Tide wasn't fantastic these few days, and thus a few of us semakau guides decided to go terrestrial for a leisure walk instead.

We started around 6.30am in the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of some nocturnal creatures along the Lower Peirce Boardwalk. Armed with torches and laser pointer (hoping to point at any interesting stuff too far away), we walked into the dark forest. Unfortunately, luck wasn't with us and except for a few moths and mosquitoes, we hardly see any animals along the trail :(

Soon, we could see some morning light and which spelled the end of our short and uneventful night adventure. We soon came out of the boardwalk trail, sighting a few monkeys and squirrels along the way, and decided to head towards Venus Drive instead.

Bumped into fellow Chek Jawa guide R and a TP colleague, PB, who also performed with me in the TP musical, Moon People. Apparently she couldn't recognise me in my casual outfit. Haha. Thought it was funny when one of her friends asked if I was her students. Will take it as a compliment that I look younger than my age :P

As we walked into the trail, I spotted some movement on a nearby tree and saw a green crested lizard (Bronchocela cristatella), which was a native species. Unfortunately my camera's zoom wasn't good enough to capture it. Hopefully ST got some good shots. But spotting this uncommon lizard seemed like a good sign that we should have more interesting things waiting for us ahead!



Not too far ahead from the lizard, LK found a cute little slug. Well, sea slugs are among my favourite marine animals, and thus it sure was nice seeing their terrestrial counterpart. Slugs are basically snails without shells.



Walking along the muddy track, I saw notice something slithering over the wet ground. It's a terrestrial flatworm (Bipalium sp.)! Haven't seen a terrestrial flatworm for the longest time! Flatworms have very simple brains, and recently many studies were conducted on them so as to understand better how our more complex brains work.



This was also the first time that I saw a red assassin bug (Cosmolestes sp.?)! Usually I saw the yellow ones. In the photo above, you will be able to see a hook-like beak under its head. The bug will use this beak to stab its prey, and inject toxin into it. This paralyses the prey and breaks down its internal tissues into a partially digested soup, which the bug will then suck up.



Along the trail, there were also lots of snails. While most of them were quite small with a shell diameter less than 2cm, the one above was rather big with a shell diameter of about 5cm.



In some cases, you can find several snails on a single plant. Reminds me of Jay Chou's song, "Snail".

我要一步一步往上爬
等待阳光静静看着它的脸
小小的天有大大的梦想
重重的壳过着轻轻的愿望
我要一步一步往上爬
在最高点乘着叶片往前飞
让风吹干流过的泪痕
总有一天我有属于我的天

Very encouraging lyrics :P

As we did not intend to head further into the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, we decided to turn back after we hit one of the roads and went to Tomson Plaza for lunch. And after lunch, we had another destination - Bishan Park.



We found several penaga laut tree (Calophyllum inophyllum) in the park. This tree is a native coastal tree, and its wood was used to make boats because of its resistance to water. As it produces fragrant flowers and pretty leaves, this tree is often planted as an ornamental plant. Its pretty leaves with nicely arranged veins also earn it its common name - beauty leaf.

As we walked on, we reached a pond with a little "island" in the middle, and this place turned out to be the highlight of the day, because we spotted lots of interesting birds here.



I first spotted a white-breasted waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) on a rock next to the little island. And as we were trying to grab some photos of it, its chick appeared as well. Once in while, it would wade into the shallow water, poking its beak into the water once in a while, looking as if it was trying to hunt for the little fishes.



We aslo saw a common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) in the above photo and a white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis), and you just need to watch them for a while to understand why they are called kingfishers! Every now and then, one of them would dart into the water, and everytime, they returned with a fish in they beaks!



And on the other side of the little island, I suddenly saw something brown in colour perching on a fern. It's a yellow bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis)! Unlike the kingfisher which flew and darted into the water to catch fish, the bittern just stood near the water, and when it spotted its target, it stretched out its neck and grabbed the prey in a split second!



There was also a little heron (Butorides striatus) fishing at the water's edge. Like the bittern, we saw it hunting by stretching out and grabbing little fishes from the pond.



The were no lack of butterflies in the park too. The above looks like a Peablue (Lampides boeticus) to me, though can't say for sure since I'm not exactly that familiar with butterflies.



There were many dragonflies too. The above is probably a Sabine’s Skimmer (Orthetrum sabina).



And also... the flying dragons! I spotted four of them today! Also called the gilding lizard, it has folds of skin attached its ribs that it can spread out like "wings" and glide from one tree to another. The above is probably a common gliding lizard (Draco sumatranus). Can see that it was very well-camouflaged on the tree trunk.



Many of the trees in the park looked rather old, and most of them have several types of ferns growing on them. This one has a few staghorn ferns, birdnest ferns, lots of rabbit's foot
fern, and several shoe string ferns.



Today was really a lucky day for ST and I, as we finally managed to photograph some cicadas (Purana sp.)! There were two of them in the photo above. Can you spot them? Anyway, the whole Bishan Park was filled with the shrilling whine of cicadas today. Cicadas make this sound by vibrating two drum-like membranes at the base of its abdomen.

Our final destination is the herbal garden in the park, which we only managed to reach after 2pm as we were distracted by all the interesting things above. However, rather than the herbs, my focus was still on the animals :P



There were lots of day-flying moths (Syntomis huebneri) feeding on the nectar of the flowers of the herbs.



Lots of little butterflies were also spotted. Looks like the Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa) to me.



But more interestingly, we found a pair of mating Grass Yellow butterflies (Eurema sp.)! Chased after them for quite a while before we finally managed to get some nice shots.



Another of my favourite shots at the herbal garden must be this - a little lynx spider (Oxyopes sp.) on a little bunch of flowers!

Really, had not expected to see so many interesting stuff today. Will certainly find time to explore other parks of Singapore in future :)

Also check out the Manta Blog and blooooooooooo Blog for more stories on this trip!

Semakau Coral ID Assignment

This is a long over-due entry. Had thought of just posting the photos in some online album, but realised that it's probably easier for Jani to glance through on a blog entry. This is actually an assignment for our coral class, conducted by Jani, our local coral expert.

So here goes:

Family Acroporidae

Genus Acropora



Commonly called staghorn coral, this coral needs clear water to do well, and thus is not as common in Singapore compared to places like Tioman or Redang. Due to their fast growth rate (up to an inch per month), they often dominate a reef by out-growing and overshadowing other corals as they reach out for more sunlight in a table or branching growth form.

Genus Montipora



This coral is very common in Singapore, and is yet another fast grower. When the polyps are out, this coral can look rather similar to another coral, Porites. One way to tell the difference is to look at the corallite, which lacks a columella in Montipora.

Family Agariciidae

Genus Pavona



The above is a wide shot of the leaf coral to show its growth form. The common name came from the leafy-like growth form. Personally I thought it can look rather similar to another coral, Psammocora, especially from afar.



Looking close, however, the intricate patterns show.

Family Euphyllidae (or Caryophylliidae)

Genus Euphyllia



Didn't managed to get a shot of the anchor coral which has anchor-shaped tip as the water turned too murky, but managed to get one of its close relative, another Euphyllia sp. This one has white-tipped tentacles, which reminds me of the sunflower mushroom coral (Heliofungia actiniformis).

Family Dendrophylliidae

Genus Turbinaria



Have seen huge colonies of Turbinaria at Sentosa, but the ones in Semakau are all rather small. Somehow this is one coral that appears to be able to do well in murky waters like those at Sentosa. It is also called the plate coral sometimes, and the reason is pretty obvious from the photo above.



Here's another species.



Updated: Had thought that the one above resembles Astreopora the most, but I thought I can see the columella that Astreopora supposedly lacks. Was thinking the next closest will be Turbinaria. Indeed, as per commented by Jani, this is Turbinaria.

Family Faviidae

Genus Oulastrea



Have been finding small colonies of this coral at many places, including Changi! This is perhaps one of the easiest favids to identify, due to its zebra-coloured corallite walls which give it its common name, zebra coral.

Genus Platygyra or Goniastrea



The above is probably a Platygyra sp., which its corallite walls develops looking like a maze looking from the top, thus earning it the common maze coral. It can be differentiated from another similar looking coral, Oulophyllia , with its more ragged wall with exerting septa, while Oulophyllia corallites have v-shaped valleys and thinner septa. Updated: Jani commented that from the photo can't really confirm that it is Platygyra, but very likely could be Goniastrea.

Have no idea the genus of the following corals from Faviidae though.









Family Fungiidae

Genus Fungia



Mushroom corals are quite common on Semakau, and sometimes you can find many of them in all sizes around the same spot. Sometimes, you can even find little ones looking like mushroom growing on a stalk! And that's also why it's called mushroom coral, and don't you think the septa stretching away from the mouth look like gills of a real mushroom? By the way, this whole coral is one single animal, unlike most other corals which live in a colony.

Genus Ctenactis or Fungia



Here's another mushroom coral, which has a slightly more elongated shape. It is also a single living animal.

Genus Heliofungia (Heliofungia actiniformis)



The sunflower mushroom coral (Heliofungia actiniformis) is yet another common coral on Semakau. The genus is also monospecific, i.e. only one species. Unlike most other mushroom corals, this one has long tentacles with a white tip. It is also a single living animal.

Genus Herpolitha (Herpolitha limax)



Yet another mushroom coral, sometimes called the boomerang mushroom coral (Herpolitha limax), due to the boomberang shape it may attain when it grows bigger. This genus is monospecific, and the coral is a actually a colony of animals. Each colony has several polyps in an axial groove, and usually by the sides there are smaller polyps with their mouths interrupting the septa.

Genus Polyphyllia (Polyphyllia talpina)



So far only one species from this genus has been found in Singapore, Polyphyllia talpina. Commonly called the slipper mushroom coral as it is usually long and narrow, this is a colony of animals too. The little tentacles have white tips.

Family Merulinidae

Genus Merulina



Not clearly shown in the above photo due to the murky water, this coral has railway-track-like septa growth, thus giving it its common name, railway track coral.

Family Mussidae

Genus Symphyllia



Also called the brain coral due to its appearance, one way of differentiating this genus from others in the family is that a prominent groove runs along the length of the corallite wall for some species, as seen in the above photo. Also, adjacent polyp walls are completely fused.

Genus Lobophyllia



This is probably a Lobophyllia sp. since it doesn't have the characteristics mentioned above under Symphyllia. Also called the lobed brain coral.

Family Oculinidae

Genus Galaxea



This coral is given the common name of galaxy coral as the polyps look like stars with their little white-tipped tentacles.

Family Pectiniidae

Genus Pectinia



Sometimes also called the carnation coral, this coral gets its common name from the petal-like growth form.



Some species are also called spiny cup corals, and it's easy to tell why by looking at the above photo.

Family Pocilloporidae

Genus Pocillopora



This coral is also commonly called the cauliflower coral or bush coral due to its branching growth form, especially when it's under water and you can see the tentacles giving it an outer coating.

Family Poritidae

Genus Porites



We can usually find massive colonies of Porites at many of our southern islands. This coral has really tiny polyps, and can sometimes be confused with Montipora, as highlighted above.



For example, take a look at the branching Porites above, and it looks like a Montipora from afar, especially when the corallites look like black holes. However, if you look at it really close up and perhaps you'll need to take a macro shot to be sure, you'll noticed that it has a tiny speck in the middle - the columella. Pardon that the reflection from the water making it less obvious though, but when we look really close up on the spot it was more obvious.

Genus Goniopora



This is a very pretty coral that we sometimes call it anemone coral, because it has such long and pretty tentacles, and resembles a sea anemone.



Here's another one with a different colour. And by the way, count the tentacles on each polyp, and you'll noticed that there are 24 of them!

Family Siderastreidae

Genus Psammocora



As per mentioned above under Pavona, I sometimes find these two corals sometimes like rather similar, especially in murky water and from afar.



However, if you take a closer look, you will realised that the corallites of a Psammocora form lovely petaloid patterns.

A coral that is hard but is not a hard coral...

Last but not least, I thought I'll just add this - a coral that is hard but is not a hard coral!

Sounds confusing? Well, this is actually a blue coral (Heliopora sp.), which is more closely related to the soft corals!



Unlike hard corals which have tentacles in multiples of 6, and are thus in the subclass Hexacorallia, this coral has 8 tentacles, and is in the subclass Octocorallia, like the soft corals! It is called blue coral because it has blue skeleton.