Sunday, November 11, 2007

Reefwalk @ Changi Beach

Yesterday, under Juan's recommendation, me and H tagged along with Samson (semakau guide) and friends to Changi beach. been to a few reefwalks at southern islands and chek jawa and this was my first walk (other than Labrador- which is a rocky shore, very diff) to a beach on mainland. Pleasantly surprised to see all these lovely critters. see also Samson's blog.

sea star

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some weird frigging HUGE nudibranch! bigger than the size of my palm! *added w credits to sonneblume* kalinga ornata.
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peacock anemone.

we later found one that was dug out of the substratum. so sad. looked like a sea cucumber. we buried it back but i doubt it'll survive. curiosity (of prolly some evil kid) killed the anemone!

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moon crab. (Ashtoret lunaris)

tonnes of them all ard. pretty pretty pretty.

more on moon crabs by a fellow changi RWer here

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brittle star

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button shells.

i love these. used to think they can only be found on chek jawa. then samson told me changi is the only other beach where they can be found. sad thing was that most of these shells were inhabited by hermit crabs. din see many live snails.
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leaf porter crab (Neodorippe callida)

maybe i suaku but i don't usually see this on RWs so was quite excited to see it. and evil H put sand on the top of the leaf (the crab is on the underside) to see how the crab would handle the weight of the sand: the crab skillfully tipped the leaf to clear the sand. smartie pants!
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on the whole a pleasant walk. nice to have just a few reefwalkers for a change. only thing was the collectors of fan shells kinda spoiled the mood. oh well. note to future RWers: only go to changi when low tide <0.3m.>




































3 comments:

CH / SONNENBLUME said...

Hihi,

the nudi could be Kalinga ornata. See Link.

~mantamola~ said...

Next weekend is another good times to visit intertidal area...

peizee said...

yeah i know.. but i won't be in sg. if not i'd prolly go chek jawa. :)