blooooooooooo

Solar-powered slug from Semakau

2011-01-23T06:43:00.000-08:00

Semakau never fails to surprise. This time round, I got to help YK map out the different habitats of the landfill island for Project Semakau, and got to explore the other side of the North-west intertidal for the first time. Highlight of the trip: this amazing Plakobranchus ocellatus. (Thanks to Ron for the ID).

It looked like a drab piece of slime on the sandy-muddy area transiting between coral rubble and coral reef. But upon closer examination, it really is a slug, with some really gorgeous blue dots.

Look at that blue... This species has been spotted on the island before, and is listed on Semakau's mollusc list recently published in NIS. The Sea Slug Forum shows a whole array of colour variations of this species (which may very well be more than one species). The site also reports that this saccoglossan "stores huge numbers of bright green chloroplasts in ridges hidden from view beneath the parapodial flaps". It is hypothesized that the chloroplasts are deliberately shaded from the bright tropical sun as most chloroplasts have an optimal light intensity at which they photosynthesise and "can be burnt out if exposed to too much light".

Cool stuff. Should have opened the flaps. :)

Diving and seafood consumption

2010-10-30T06:13:00.001-07:00

Or none of the above?

In my backyard

2010-09-17T20:25:00.001-07:00

Second foray into the grassland behind my house - which used to have so many nice mature trees till the developers cut it all down to grow cowgrass for sale. sigh. Only just started exploring it after so many years of living here...

super blur but quite artistic pose (to me) of a long-tailed shrike (Lanius schach)

Leafhopper (Bythoscopus ferrugineus)

accidentally underexposed the second shot but came out so nice! :)

Tawny coster (Acraea violae)

Apparently first observed in Singapore in 2006. Read about its journey from India to SG here.

Female blue pansy (Junonia orithya)

Male striped albatross (Appias libythea olferna)

Sengkang Forest

2010-09-05T05:53:00.001-07:00

Reviving this blog, just to keep track of the stuff i've been seeing/learning. Critters seen in Sengkang forest the saturday that just passed. yet another unexplored area shared by sy.

Common Palm Dart (Telicota colon stinga)

A skipper recently re-instated to the Singapore butterfly list. As can be seen in this photo, skippers adopt unique basking postures: with the forewings open halfway and hindwings open fully.

Unknown moth

Kept thinking my photo was blur but it's just an effect of the moth scales.

Ricaniid planthopper (Ricanula stigmatica)

Cricket (Nisitrus vittatus)

Mini-watermelon! According to sy, Gymnopetalum sp.

more! :)

same plant with apparently ripened 'watermelons' - looking totally different

See Sy's blog for more of the plants seen.

Bye bye bluefin...

2010-03-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

Saw this comic on ConservationBytes blog and felt it apt to post given the recent news on the failed bid on the international trade ban of bluefin. a pretty optimistic view of the issue has been posted on Grist. I quote:

"Thursday's vote puts the fate of Atlantic bluefin tuna back in the hands of International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas , the very body that drove the species to the disastrous state it is now in, but also the body that rebuilt North Atlantic swordfish to a sustainable level in less than 10 years, ahead of the rebuilding deadline. Also, remember: it is the consumer in the global market economy who has turned the bluefin into a prestige product -- and thus given fisherman an overwhelming incentive to overfish it."

Although, the skeptic in me wonders if it's possible for Japanese (or Asians for that matter) to ever decrease their consumption of the fish. will be more hopeful if there's a proper response to the dolphin slaughtering highlighted by the cove. let's wait and see..

Food Inc

2009-07-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

"... the cows, who were taken from their mothers just days after their birth... are fed Bovine Growth Hormones so that milk production is dramatically increased... They develop huge udders that bluge, bloated and uncomfortable... Often udders and teats become infected, but there is often no time on these factory farms to deal with such minor (though very painful) ailments. The.. antibiotics in the animal feed is supposed to deal with things like that. These infections transmit pus, or dead bacteria, and white blood cells into milk, causing a disagreeable taste and unpleasant colour. Factory dairies sometimes mix the milk from infected udders with normal milk, so the infected milk with its offensive flavour and colour is diluted."

- Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating by Dr Jane Goodall

Thanks to Pink who lent me Harvest for Hope, I drank my milk this morning thinking ~~whether it has~~ how much pus it contained. then J informed me that Food Inc (movie poster above) was coming to Singapore soon. *sweet*.. Any free movie screenings coming up? seems to be the only way to get non-believers to watch this show - same thing happened for Sharkwater, though buying the DVD as a present works well too. heh. Watch the movie trailer for Food Inc here.

Cosmetics List

2009-06-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

Started gg around hunting for organic, SLS/paraben/petrochemical free stuff after Green Drinks opened my eyes to the 101 things in our daily bodywashes/shampoos/toothpastes/deodorants tt could be harmful to our body - might as well just use water. Anyway, am quite impressed by myself. Didn't think I'd bother.. :) here's my list of brands so far:

Yes to Carrots
Sukin Organics
Renew
Nature's Gate

The first three I saw at the Watson's near Bedok bus interchange. The last one more common, can be found at NTUC and some kuchingkurau Ang Mo Kio shop (cheap too! $12 for a big bottle). After googling for these brands, found out that there are another two brands apparently sold in Singapore: Trilogy and Lavera. But haven't seen them for myself.

Still looking out for my aluminium-free deodorant...

Mermaid's Tears

2009-05-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

I've been dumping little plastic bits also known as nurdles or "mermaid's tears" into the sea for the past probably 10 years or more. How? Through the daily use of exfoliating facial scrub. First read about it in "Bottomfeeder" and have to admit the fact didn't stick somehow but now that I came across the issue again in "The World Without Us", I'm determined to find a substitute for my Biore.

"Browne pulls open the top drawer of a laboratory cabinet. Inside is a cornucopia of feminine beauty aids: shower massage creams, body scrubs, and hand cleaners. Several are by boutique labels: Neova Body Smoother, SkinCeuticals Body Polish, and DDF Strawberry Almond Body Polish. Others are international name brands: Neutrogena, Clearasil, Pond’s Fresh Start, even a tube of Colgate Icy Blast toothpaste.... all have one thing in common.

“Exfoliants: little granules that massage you as you bathe.” He selects a peach-colored tube of St. Ives Apricot Scrub; its label reads: 100% natural exfoliants. “This stuff is okay. The granules are actually chunks of ground-up jojoba seeds and walnut shells.” Other natural brands use grape seeds, apricot hulls, coarse sugar, or sea salt. “The rest of them,” he says, with a sweep of his hand, “have all gone to plastic.”

- "Polymers are forever" in The World Without Us

These micro-scrubbers are tiny spheres of polyethylene which are sold to be washed directly down the drain, into the sea. From there, they go up the food chain and will most probably land on our plates. Karma. In the North Pacific Subtropical gyre (a 10-million-square mile ocean dump), plastic particles outnumber plankton by a factor of more than six times! Oh but some good news.. the great pacific garbage patch is finally due for cleanup sometime in June 2009. Great stuff. Read more about Project Kaisei here.

The things we don't know as consumers.. appalling. Just like how I just came to know about the harmful effects of aluminium in deodorant. And I've been using that for years too. Anyone who knows of a good brand of facial exfoliant and deodorant to use, do share.

Malthusian Catastrophe

2009-04-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hilarious poster. and No, I do not agree with this mode of environmentalism.

After reading that Sir David Attenborough has (in Otterman's words) "come out and said it: too many people on earth", decided to do a quick search on the topic and came up with a bunch of interesting results:

Malthus was a political economist who blamed the decline of living conditions in 19th century England on three elements: The overproduction of young; the inability of resources to keep up with the rising human population; and the irresponsibility of the lower classes. To combat this, Malthus suggested the family size of the lower class ought to be regulated such that poor families do not produce more children than they can support. -UCMP
Both Darwin and Wallace independently arrived at similar theories of Natural Selection after reading Malthus. - UCMP
World population is projected to rise from today's 6.8 billion to 9.1 billion in 2050. - optimumpopulation.org
Assuming the global biocapacity and average footprint remain stable at the 2003 level, then, to become sustainable, the world population needs to contract to a maximum of 5.1 billion. - optimumpopulation.org
The world's 200 wealthiest people have as much money as about 40 percent of the global population, and yet 850 million people have to go to bed hungry every night. - Spiegel Online

Pretty scary facts huh. and I do know two Singaporeans who've told me they'd rather adopt than have kids for similar reasons: don't wanna contribute to depleting the planet; 2) don't wanna let another human grow up in this 'sad world'.

it's not all that bad right.. just enjoy life when you've been given it.

Things We Forget

2009-04-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

"Post-it notes left to their fate in public places."

-Thingsweforget.blogspot.com

Cradle to Cradle

2009-04-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

"Cradle to Cradle Design takes its inspiration from nature, in which there is no place for the concept of waste, but in which waste = food.

'Cradle to Cradle' is the antidote to the 'Cradle to Grave' paradigm, where product cycles are not really cycles but mostly half cycles in which products, after their useful life, are put out of sight in landfills. The purpose of the Cradle to Cradle Design is to restore continuous cycles of biological as well as technical nutrients with long terms positive effects on profitability, the environment and human health. Cradle to Cradle Design is highly operational: It aims for perfection, it can prove when it has achieved it or how far it has succeeded in its task."

- EPEA.com

Watch the video here.

Manado VS Singapore

2009-03-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Manado trip was great, with tonnes of exotic critters.. including mimic octopus! *BIG FAT GRIN*. THEN when I showed my pix to colleague M, she commented that many of these critters can be seen in Singapore. !!! I knew we had an amazing variety of nudibranchs but, Singaporean dragonets and Singaporean bobtail squid? COOLIO! and I thought the only similarity between Lembeh and Singapore was the muck.

Gorgeous dragonet from Koksheng's blog.

Cyrene 2008

and other dragonets found in Changi, Cyrene and Semakau here.

Boxcrab (from Lembeh). Was so excited to see it.

and we have it on mainland Singapore!

Longspine scorpionfish (from Lembeh)

for the Singaporean longspine.. click here

Seamoth!!! (from Lembeh)

seasonally abundant on Chek Jawa!

Bobtail squid at Pulau Hantu!!!

from Hantu blog 2004

Pipefish from the Tide Chaser Blog

Semakau 2008

Was looking for the new species found by Blue Tempeh in 2006,

but sadly, the photo is no longer online.

Other of my Manado sightings found locally include Solefish, Frogfish, Crocodile fish /flathead. Of course, there's also the commonly sighted pufferfish, filefish, butterflyfish, octopii, and the list goes on...

Who gets the trash?

2008-12-31T05:03:00.000-08:00

Look at where Singapore is on the map and where our arrows are pointing.

Oh look.. a star all to ourselves. the gahmen will be so proud.

"E-waste is routinely exported by developed countries to developing ones, often in violation of the international law. Inspections of 18 European seaports in 2005 found as much as 47 percent of waste destined for export, including e-waste, was illegal. In the UK alone, at least 23,000 metric tonnes of undeclared or 'grey' market electronic waste was illegally shipped in 2003 to the Far East, India, Africa and China. In the US, it is estimated that 50-80 percent of the waste collected for recycling is being exported in this way. This practice is legal because the US has not ratified the Basel Convention. - Greenpeace International"

Read more about what you can do with your old electronic ware from the new ZerowasteSG website. Come to think of it... that old printer has been sitting in my living room collecting dust for quite a few years...

Corallimorphs and shipwrecks

2008-12-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

Invasion of the corallimorphs! Wonder if this is happening in our local reefs.

Work TM, Aeby GS, Maragos JE 2008 "Phase Shift from a Coral to a Corallimorph-Dominated Reef Associated with a Shipwreck on Palmyra Atoll" PLoS ONE 3(8): e2989 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002989

Ok.. this isn't the particular species of corallimorph in the paper but i love this.. so bubbly..

Giant cup mushroom coral (Amplexidiscus fenestrafer)

"Corallimorpharians have several life history traits which allow them to rapidly monopolize patches of shallow substrate in tropical habitats. They are competitively superior to some coral species and possess anatomic structures such as elongated marginal tentacles that allow them to kill competing scleractinian corals... Additionally, corallimorpharians have three different modes of clonal replication (fission, pedal laceration and budding) that allow comparatively rapid monopolization of space on the reef...
The subsequent extent of the area dominated by corallimorphs in this study was much greater than other studies where corallimorphs rapidly invaded damaged areas but to a much more localized extent. This may be due to some substance leaching from the ship such as dissolved iron. Iron makes up the major component of steel and other ferrous metals in mooring buoys and ships, and is known to be a limiting resource for many marine organisms. Iron is an essential trace element for algal growth and nitrogen fixation, and equatorial and south Pacific oceanic waters are extremely low in available iron...
The extensive R. howesii invasion and subsequent loss of coral reef habitat at Palmyra Atoll and the potential association of corallimorph invasions with metal objects should serve as a clarion call to managers dealing with large metal objects such as wrecks on reefs. This will be especially relevant at remote low reef islands and atolls such as Palmyra where dissolved iron concentrations may be extremely limiting. The major sources of iron for the oceans are from wind-blown terrestrially derived dust or in coastal regions, from rivers and terrestrial run-off. Islands closer to continental landmasses or reefs at high islands where iron may be available from chemical erosion of volcanic soils may be less vulnerable to impacts of iron enrichment associated with metal objects. If removal of the shipwreck is not possible, regular systematic monitoring of the benthos for invasive organisms, including cnidarians, should be done to verify the rate of spread to support management actions such as removal of the shipwreck."

Dying Moray Eels

2008-12-14T07:01:00.000-08:00

Always felt Morays were quite amazing predators.. both shy and vicious. Seeing one writhing like that is rather scary. I hope I never ever get to see this in South-East Asia. Or anywhere for that matter.

"It doesn't sound like there has been any sort of major, published, peer-reviewed, quantitative documentation of this yet. But that said, something is not right when so many sport divers not only count dozens of dead or dying eels.. "
- Shifting Baselines blog

btw... was surfing on moray eels and discovered that groupers and moray eels actually engage in cooperative hunting! its old news but first time i've heard it! Check out the cool videos on the open-access PLoS Biology site.

"They found groupers often visited giant morays resting in their crevices and rapidly shook their heads an inch or so from the eels to recruit them in a joint hunt. At times this call took place after a grouper failed in its hunt because prey escaped into a crevice the grouper could not get into but a giant moray might. If the moray emerged, the grouper guided the eel to a crevice where prey was hiding. Groupers sometimes even performed a headstand and shook its head over a prey hiding place to attract moray eels to the site. At times the moray ate the fish it rooted out, while at other times the grouper did." - MSNBC

Man vs Wild

2008-11-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

Was sharing with some friends about 'Into the Wild' and YK then told me about discovery travel series 'Man vs Wild'.

"In the show, Grylls both demonstrates and narrates techniques for wilderness survival in regions around the globe, from ice fields, mountain ranges, swamps and deserts. The general format of each episode is that Grylls is dropped into the region simulating a stranded explorer/tourist. The episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring an overnight shelter of some kind.... The program has shown him eating raw meat and live fish, staving off hypothermia, and drinking the fluids of elephant feces and his own urine for hydration."

Caution: video may be disturbing, especially to the frog pple
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Green Porno

2008-10-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

I meant to surf on more 'Emptied Oceans' videos after reading Papa Jeff's recent blog entry. But ended up watching porn instead.. ehem.. Sundance porn no less. Enjoy. (Reminder: this is a *ehem* family friendly blog, for more exciting videos in the Green Porno series, click here.)

"Green Porno is a series of very short films conceived, written, co-directed by and featuring Isabella Rossellini. Inspired by the amazing and often bizarre sexual practices of insects and other creatures, these 8 films are both comical and insightful studies of the curious ways a variety of earth's tiny critters 'make love'. Simple, playful and childlike by design, Green Porno provides a unique and provocative glimpse into an 'underground' world of sexual encounters." - Sundance, Green Porno

"It will never affect us."

2008-09-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Don't you think Singaporeans tend to have this apathetic attitude? Pretty sure majority of Singaporeans believe what the local newspapers say, including the recent report that Singapore is safe from rising sea levels. Well.. check this out then:

This is what a group of NUS students found. Singapore will look like this if the Greenland icesheets melt (and sea-level around Singapore rises by 7m). *editted* This sounds like an extreme case scenario, but look at this piece of news: I quote-

The melting increased by about 30 percent for the western part of Greenland from 1979 to 2006, with record melt years in 1987, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2007...Inclusion of the dynamic processes of these glaciers in models will likely demonstrate that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment underestimated sea-level projections for the end of the 21st century"

Saw this image on a presentation by Prof Wong Poh Poh during a recent talk on climate change and sea-level rise and its implications on coastal management in the Asia Pacific region at the University of Adelaide, Singapore (thanks to BWV mailing list). The vision's pretty haunting don't you think. First thing you think of is.. hmm.. where's my house? ok. never buy a house in the east, next thing i'm thinking.. let's all live on Bukit Timah.. i'm sure it can handle 5million pple. right.

A thought-provoking point by Prof Wong that stayed with me was that maybe we shouldn't take sea-level rise as such a negative thing. Humans are used to living on land. But with more water surrounding us, maybe we should think of ways to live on the sea instead. M felt it pretty ridiculous but I think it's actually a good idea. What say u?

Read more about the issue on WildSingapore.

WWF: sustainable seafood guide

2008-09-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

Singapore version.. akan datang.

In the mean time, take a look at the HongKong version. looks like we need to stay away from shrimp... Read more here.

But the main problem is.. we never get proper information on where our fish comes from. Till then this guide will not be of much use.

Bottomfeeder (I)

2008-08-26T02:08:00.000-07:00

"The Sea, Changed.
A permanent feature of the world's largest ocean is now a swirling sargasso of floating debris. This gyre of detritus includes Nike basketball shoes spilled from a conatiner ship, Logo blocks, highlighter pens, yellow rubber ducks, six-pack rings, hockey gloves... The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it is known, is now almost the size of Africa." - Bottomfeeder by Taras Grescoe

Which reminds me.. I had wanted to post this photo quite some time ago. All this trash would prolly be out floating at sea somewhere if not for our humble Singapore mangroves...

Bottomfeeder

2008-08-24T02:59:00.000-07:00

REVIEW- "When Taras Grescoe declares he will try anything on his voyage around the world in search of ethical seafood, he means it. He eats poisonous pufferfish, morally questionable shark fin soup, and potentially dangerous oysters during months without r's. He even samples fishmeal (yuck). After 18 months of eating his way up and down the marine food chain, Grescoe exits a bottom-feeder -- committed to consuming fish lower on the marine food web, with the exception of farmed shrimp (too toxic) and wild abalone (too rare)..." Read more here.

See also the Bottomfeeder website.

I need to read more.

Food for thought

2008-08-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

IYOR 2008 - Prof Chou Loke Ming - Keynote Address from BeachBum on Vimeo.

Coral paradise in Singapore by 2018?
What will it be like if our very own Southern Islands were a diver's haven.. *dream*
And on the other hand,
What will it be like if development takes everything away from us.
Singapore - the island with no reefs.

Which brings me to think of Wall-E (don't ask how I watched it before opening :P)
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Imagine if Earth degraded to the state in the movie... trash-filled with no signs of life, with humans wandering about in space waiting for Earth to be able to sustain life again. AND i love the humans potrayed in the movie - sitting around floating mobile chairs conversing with each other through virtual screens, even though they are like floating right next to each other. All humans in the show are like fat with stubby legs and stubby hands, and they can't even walk when they fall off their chair! - I definitely had a conversation with my brother about him ending up like that if he continues to do nothing but play computer games. See.. you never know..

"As humanity became more technologically sophisticated, the film argues, they became ever more divorced from nature, and their own nature. They developed a culture and society that was mechanistic and artificial, as opposed to organic and natural." - Full review here

So stop playing your Wii and get out and literally smell the roses! (or bougainvilleas for tt matter)

Random Wish list

2008-08-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

If only fishermen had the means to fish for only half the fishing season...

and let stocks replenish the other half the season

If only Dove had refill packs available in supermarkets or even better, set up refill stations.- saw refills only once at some dodgy neighbourhood store. (And notice how I couldn't even find a dove refill image to post.)

If only styrofoams were banned in Singapore. It has already happened in 100 cities in USA.

If only Green roofs were made compulsory in cities all over the world
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If only MOE made green education and field trips (like that organised by ecofieldtrips or nature groups) part of school curriculum. Always wondered why I never had the chance to go to Southern Islands when I was young. Didn't even know about it then. Read about Earth schools in Canada here.
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If only green media became the norm.
I would love to see a 'love nature' section in the Straits Times some day.
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If only humans could live with 'just enough'.
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"People can cry much easier than they can change"
-James Baldwin via Change Everything

Bottom-up Demolition

2008-07-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

Amazing stuff. It's like watching the tower melt into the ground. Said to reduce environmental impact. Probably saves a lot of demolition space too.

According to the company, this method greatly reduces the environmental impact of the demolition, as well as the time. Kajima says that it speeds up the task by 20%, while making it easier to separate materials for recycling, as well as reducing the amount of products released into the air.
The process is called daruma-otoshi after a Japanese game that makes players take the bottom parts of a column—using a hammer—without disturbing the rest of the parts above.

For those of you who don't understand how this is faster, you need to remember that in normal demolition, a company needs to place the explosives in the positions where it will do damage, but not damage the surrounding areas. They don't just put a load of TNT inside and hope for the best. Usually it begins with talking to the building planners while trying to get the blueprints for the building. Afterwards, they need to go level by level drilling into walls to get to the support structures that they need to break down. This takes a long time, especially on a buildings that has more than five floors to it.

It's really saving time to remove one floor slowly, depress it, and remove the next. It may sound longer, but most videos of demolitions ignore the planning phase that wastes time.

Thanks to Gemssty for the link.

International Year of the Reef - Singapore Celebrations

2008-07-30T01:23:00.000-07:00

Date: 9 Aug (Sat)
Time: 2pm
Venue: Function Hall, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens (above Taman Serasi foodcourt), more about getting there.
Contact: iyor08singapore@gmail.com

Schedule of talks and activities

10.30am: "Life and Death at Chek Jawa" sharing experiences of a study of mass deaths on Chek Jawa following flooding in 2007, a talk by Loh Kok Sheng (more about the talk)

11.30am: “Wishing upon a Star” about our Knobbly sea stars, a recent emergence of baby Knobblies and discovery of a large population at Cyrene Reef, a talk by Tan Sijie, Star Trackers (more about the talk)

12.30-1pm: MAD for turtles (make a difference for turtles) : Games for kids about threats to turtles and how kids can help, by Cicada Tree Eco-Place and the Raffles Institution with four stations. Suitable for kids aged 4-8 years. (more about the event).

Fishing for help: a 'fishing' game .
Turtles and jellyfish: a story and animation with a simple computer-based game.
Turtles and reefs game: a more vigorous activity.
Pledge card signing.

2pm: “Are there reefs left in Singapore?” lifting the veil to reveal the hidden biodiversity of this almost forgotten realm, a talk by Jeffrey Low, NParks Biodiversity Reference Centre (more about the talk).

3pm: “Southern Haunt” about diving at Pulau Hantu, bringing clarity to the usually murky waters with underwater photos and videos, a talk by Debby Ng, Hantu Bloggers (more about the talk)

4pm: "Green, Mean, Photosynthesizing Machines!" a talk by Yang Shufen, TeamSeagrass and NParks Biodiversity Reference Centre (more about the talk)

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Looking forward to the talks.
Click HERE for more details.

Environmental Courses

2008-07-07T00:56:00.000-07:00

DHI-NTU Education Hub Courses

The Green Room Cafe

2008-06-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

Decided to blog more about my road to vegetarianism. Have been being good, staying clear of fish and only eating meat maybe 3 meals a week. Confession - been indulging when doing outfield work. Excuse being it's easy to get hungry not eating meat when u do active stuff, plus it's damn paiseh to be the deciding factor of where to makan when the survey team is all so hungry by the middle of the day. But I have to find a way to get around this.

Other musings of a vegetarian noob: it's bloody inconvenient to be vegetarian when u're eating out. The few credible makan places I've gone to only have a small (usually pathetic) number of vegetarian options on their menu. So when H saw on today's Straits Times Life! that The Green Room Cafe was a 100% vegetarian restaurant and chill place to boot, we headed down immediately. It was right next to a really nice bar and I swear the area is a neighbourhood version of Dempsey. Not in the habit of bringing a camera everywhere i go so no personally taken photos, but here's some shots from the Cafe's website:

vegetarian 'mutton' curry

$12.80

"thick and tangy curry flavoured with turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, curry leaf and chilli powder
served with organic brown rice"

portobello field mushroom

$12.80

"marinated in rich aged balsamic vinegar, topped with our homemade tomato relish served between a fresh baked bun with a fresh summer leaf salad"

H had the vegetarian 'mutton' curry and loved it, even being a non-vegetarian and a fussy eater. Me had the gnocchi ($13.00): "potato dumplings in a roma tomato and italian basil sauce finished with shaved parmigiano". No photo of my dish on the website but it was really good. The portobello mushroom is something i'll definitely try the next time I head down.

Food: Great
Food presentation: Great
Service: Excellent
Ambience: Amazing

Other vegetarian recommendations include the Cedele restaurant at Raffles City and vietnamese restaurant Va Va Voom at Seah Street opposite Raffles Hotel (though the later has only a few veg options).

Happy makaning!

IYOR'08 Web Seminar Series

2008-05-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

An entire series of lectures by International Year of the Reef 2008 at your fingertips.
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Learn more about topics like:

Pity most of these lectures are based on the Great Barrier Reef. What happened to the Coral triangle?

The only lectures that were more regional (on South-east Asia) are these two:

and this one I think is particularly interesting:

Rising Plague: Diseases in marine organisms and climate change

Check it out.

Spineless but vicious

2008-05-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

Stumbled upon a Biology grad's blog: The Other 95% (love the blog name) and came across this video. octopus makaning a shark. kick ass man.

Sex in the Tropics: Coral Spawning '08

2008-04-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

Friday, 25th April.

3rd day of 2008 coral spawning event.
Pulau Satumu, aka Raffles Lighthouse 8.30pm.
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Had the privilege of assisting MBL labbies in their coral spawning projects. Even though there were quite a few hints of murphy's law working that night, any spawning dive is still a good dive. :)

A few facts on coral spawning before the pix:

Coral mass spawning has been hypothesized to "increase the chances of gametes meeting, enhance the possibility of outbreeding and toswamp opportunistic predators".
Coral spawning in Singapore was first recorded by Dr James Guest of Tropical Marine Science Institute, NUS in 2002.
It was the first record of coral spawning in the tropics ("In equatorial regions where sea temperature range and tidal amplitude are often small, it was predicted that reproductive seasonality and synchrony between species would be reduced")
Synchronous spawning occurs on the 3rd to 5th nights after the full moon between 8 and 10 p.m.
At least 18 different coral species from ten genera and five families (Acroporidae, Faviidae, Merulinidae, Oculinidae and Pectiniidae) have been observed to spawn in our waters!

Other accounts of mass spawning events: in the Phillippines 2008, Singapore 2006

also check out the nurse shark they spotted on day 2 of spawning! damn jealous la. anyhow.. YJ and I saw a gigantuous pufferfish (1m long?) and a super cute decorator-sponge crab. too bad din bring camera down.. oh well... More on E1's underwaterlover blog and SY's urbanforest blog

Photos below are from SY & YJ from the first two nights of spawning...

Acropora ready to burst/ bursting with eggs

close up of the polyps
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Pink among the green.
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blob blob
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ooooooh.. haha
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Noob's post dive thoughts of coral spawning:

Have a theory that the more sotongs our boatmen catch, the more spawning there is
The fishes seem to know when the corals are gg to spawn, with more schools this month than in May when YJ did her check-out dive.
Wonder how climate change are/will be affecting this synchronous spawning event. Felt like the spawning seemed less than last year's. Couldn't see the pink blobs floating on the water surface. But then again maybe coz it was already the last (3rd) day of spawning.

Till next year...

P.S.: Marine bio lab is always looking for competent *and* committed divers to assist in their work dives. Interested divers need to be medically certified and have experience in diving in local waters. Feel free to contact Angie at angieseow@nus.edu.sg

BBC: Penguins spotted flying to tropical rainforests

2008-04-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

from Environmental Graffiti.
well with hail storms in Singapore, everything seems possible nowadays right?
*grinz*

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Happy April Fools. :)

Thanks guys

2008-03-31T08:12:00.001-07:00

tis easy to make a nerd happy.

per juice's request, i have to tell the world what great friends i have to make them spend $60 on a coffee table book and another $110 on a slug pictorial for my birthday. but hey they're both freaking worth it k. just thought even though it'd be nice to have a book on singapore shores to show my kids: "see.. we used to have sooo many islands.. instead of the one big clump of thing now". and the nudibranch book.. every diver and reefwalker has to have it. the day i got it i spent the whole night browsing through... "look! Ria's photo!"... "oooh! i just saw this last friday on semakau!"...

yup. am happy.

thanks to lilyfield kakis and St Nix sisters. :)

Where have all the fishies gone?

2008-03-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

on our plates - tt's where.
*disclaimer: found this on flickr. i DID NOT eat flying fish*

Went to Kukup over the weekend (place to eat and get fat, highly not recommended) and we had a nice chat with the Uncle who rented us the house. He used to be a fisherman and we asked him if he made more money from fishing or by renting his house to holiday-ers. Apparently it's easier sucking money from bummer singaporeans like us than fishing. coz now he has to go over to Indonesia waters to fish and that costs him extra under-table money. and y does he have to go to Indonesia to fish? well.. in his own words.. there are abt 80% less fish in Malaysia waters than before.

Ouch.

I've always known that the world is running out of fish. But to hear it from a fisherman is a totally different feeling altogether. You realize how real the situation is. And how its affecting lives. Still remember back in primary school when fish were under the category of "renewable resource" - not anymore sista. and if MOE still teaches our young such things.. well doom on us.

And how long can Indonesia fish stocks last anyway with the region's fishermen gg over and netting stuff. See, sometimes i tink its good that economic development is slow in some countries, then the reefs and mangroves are relatively untouched. btw, in case u tink why i mention mangroves all of a sudden.. i quote: "there are as many as 25 times more fish of some species on reefs close to mangrove areas than in areas where mangroves have been cut down". where u tink the baby fish live? mangroves are super duper undervalued man.

let the youtubes do the talking...
Found a series without tear-inducting background music.. and still gets the msg across.

Can the Oceans Keep up with the Hunt? (Part I)

Can the Oceans Keep up with the Hunt? (Part II)

Can the Oceans Keep up with the Hunt? (Part III)

our newspapers have been telling us about this issue for ages. bet you brushed it away pretty easy huh...

Earth Hour

2008-03-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

Big hooha on Earth Hour but I still think it's only a gimmicky feel good campaign unless you make an effort to be environmentally aware the rest of the 364 days of the year. Still, at least the movement creates awareness.. which is always good.

So.. will YOU be turning your lights off for Earth Hour? :)

Semakau w Dr Dan

2008-03-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

Good Friday reefwalk was very very fruitful, with many first sightings......

My first EVER seahorse and frogfish sightings. exciting stuff i tell u. Never seen them whilst diving too.. same for my first octopus sighting a long time ago. all spotted whilst on intertidal walks on our shores...

tiger-tail seahorse (hippocampus comes)
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Frogfish
(Antennarius sp.)

bet u can't even spot it at first glance can u? super dooper well camouflaged.. it just gulped down a fish with its lure.. hence the big tummy. at one point it even seemed to kinda barf.. but i tink it was just the imagination of the guides. heh.
check out the frogfish they saw at pulau hantu the next day too on Hantu Blogger's *super good vis* 4th anniversary dive.

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And then there was a few unusually big critters...

like this freaking thing-that-looks-like-a-rock
biggest oyster i've seen on our shores
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and this... biggest fan shell i've ever seen

last time i went changi beach with Samson there were pple with buckets collecting these there. yes apparently they are yummy.

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and then there were the unusually small critters...

unidentified sea cucumber. so tiny sia.. must be some juvenile
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and of course.. our other usual (but just as amazing) sightings..

mosaic crab

(lophozozymus pictor)
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swimming crab
(Thalamita sp.)
looks cooked right.. haha. i know! i tot it was dead (coz my dead Perisesarma turns red) but no.. its aliveee!
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unidentified anemone
thought to be a star anemone but later (according to CH) said not to be by anemone expert

sea spider makaning a bristle worm
exciting stuff. this spider was damn fierce.
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flatworm

(pseudobiceros fulgor)

btw, can someone confirm.. what is the scientific name for spanish dancers.. issit a specific genus/species of flatworms or just all nice dancy wormy things?

Halymenia

I find beauty in the simplest things.. *hurh hurh*
ain't this red seaweed just gorgeous?
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Mr octopus: I am (trying to be) big and scary!
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Nudibranch

(glossodoris atromarginata)
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Nudibranch

(chromodoris lineolata)
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pretty!!! branching anemone

(yet to be ID-ed)
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green blobs of ascidians on enhalus (tape seagrass)
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Dr Dan's students walking past the seagrass patch..
hmm.. who's this guy with a PAIL walking by.. hmmm...
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now we know...
drift net laid by the fisherman (aka guy-with-pail)
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CH trying to free a swimming crab
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dead tuskfish
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tis what was in the fisherman's bucket.

i guess fishing's ok if u consume what u catch, but for drift nets, its indiscriminate. well at least these fish get collected.. wonder how many swimming crabs died as bycatch.

*back-blogged* read about a person found drowned in driftnet on leafmonkey's blog.

Other links to blog entries on this trip on the wildfilms blog here.
Also check out Dr Rule's site where he blogs about the places the Duke University students (Dr Dan's students) have been to during their course in Singapore. I can safely say they've been to more nature spots on our island than most Singaporeans have been.

Motion to Energy (M2E)

2008-01-27T05:07:00.000-08:00

There was some talk quite some time ago on Sustainable dance clubs...

and People powered gyms...

but this... is what I really hope will become a reality...

"New startup M2E (Motion 2 Energy) has developed a technology which converts the kinetic energy from minor movement into an electrical charge to power mobile communication devices: meaning in just a few years, we could all toss out our cellphone chargers and charge up our phones simply by walking around with them during the day!" - Inhabitat

Life without 'oh shit.. low batt' and 'damn.. i forgot to bring my charger'.... Sweeeeeet.

You're better off by bike

2008-01-27T01:08:00.000-08:00

chanced upon this video on Gemssty (a friend's design blog and one of the funkiest blogs ever):
an advertisement encouraging pple to bike abt in London.

which brings me to think.. wish singapore was a little more bike friendly. and i'm not even talking abt more bike lanes, just simple additions like places to lock your bike at bus stops, neighbouring malls, etc. not very sure how many Sgreans bike ard but one thing i'm sure is that if u're 10 minutes walk from the nearest bus stop (like me), it sure is much more convenient having a bike.

Sharkwater - the movie

2008-01-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

So i caught Sharkwater with H last night. It was an amazing showcase of how majestic these gentle creatures are and of coz all the gross misconceptions people have about them. Winner of 22 international film awards.. you've got to catch this documentary.

a few takeaways i gotta mention:

elephants kill more people than sharks
shark populations have declined 90% in the last 30 years
shark fins being just cartilage (aka the same stuff your ear is made of), has no medicinal value or taste whatsoever
they really STILL do cut off the fins and throw the poor finless shark (still alive) back into the sea
Galapagos (and other nature/marine reserves) are not as protected as we think/tourism boards make us think they are.

Other after-movie thoughts...

Rob Stewart is inspirational.. and cute to boot
'Jaws' the movie, is evil
The conservation movement seriously needs more money
The MD of Rabbit Brand Sharkfin is a joke

With this MD's heavy Singaporean accent, it's so obvious he's from Singapore. And his ignorance about sharks - talking about sharkfins' magic medicinal prowess (well can't blame him given he has to SELL it), everytime he came on screen - laughter all abound. But being Singaporean too, couldn't help but feel like burying my head under the ground. Oh well, just hope the Asian mindset will change.

Marathon Walk in Central SG

2008-01-12T04:49:00.000-08:00

I've never walked for so looong in.. forever I think. haha. but it was really fruitful. Our day started from 6.30am at Lower Pierce, then we went on towards Venus Link near Macritchie and after a lunch break, chugged on to Bishan Park's Herbal Garden. About 9 hours of walking in all.. !!! My virgin terrestrial exploration so forgive me for the 101 things I can't/ mis-ID. Help in ID would be greatly appreciated! :)

= Lower Pierce =

Short-horned grasshopper (ID?)

The difference between grasshoppers and crickets:

grasshoppers are diurnal (active in the day) and crickets are mostly nocturnal (active at night)
grasshoppers blend into the grass and crickets tend to be dark to blend into the shadows or are pale green or brown to blend into the vegetation.
grasshoppers fly and crickets have wings that are either absent or atrophied and they don't fly
grasshoppers have shorter antennae than crickets
grasshopper's 'ears' are at its abdomen and cricket's are located in its legs

native land snail.
LK told us the genus but.. *sheepish grin* i forgot.
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cricket nymph
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Mr Cool - assassin bug

"Assassin bugs probably has the most painful bites caused by insects." ouch.
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damselfly (ID?)

*back blogged* thanks SJ for correcting me.
The difference between damselflies and dragonflies:

When at rest, dragonflies almost always have their wings spread fully open, while damselflies habitually close their wings and hold them over their 'backs'
Dragonflies have broad wings, broadest where they meet the 'body' (thorax) while damselflies have narrow wings, narrowest where they meet the thorax.
Dragonflies are generally bigger with a thicker abdomen.
Dragonflies have huge eyes which take up much of their face and join in the middle on top of the head while damselflies have eyes which protrude from the sides of the head, almost as if on stalks.

See that intricate pattern of white in the middle of the web? It's the stabilimenta of some white spider. Cool shit right. Here's what I've learnt from LynnK (and from surfing) on the function of this structure: there are a few theories:

as the name suggests, stabilimenta adds extra structural support to the web
helps attract prey to the web
helps to make the web more conspicuous so that birds don't crash into it

read more about it here (blog of a US bio undergrad tt I chanced upon).

oh oh and! did you know that... (sorry if this is obvious to some of you... spider lab pple do correct me if i'm wrong): only female spiders make webs! males are kinda just existing to mate. -ha.

= Bishan Park =

from left: S, R, LK, LynnK
contemplating the qn: how many types of ferns can there be on a single tree?
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5 different ferns spotted (clockwise from top left):
ribbon fern, staghorn fern, rabbit's foot fern, shoe string fern, oakleaf fern
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many birds spotted too.. all around one island in the middle of a pond. But my lousy camera can't capture it. Here's link to mantablog and tide chaser's blog for the bird photos.

= Herbal Garden =

welcome to herbal garden, where a TCM practitioner comes every Sunday to give guided walks.. have yet to go on one of those walks though so here's the plants without explanations of their medicinal purposes.

the garden is small but has a wide variety of herbs
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mostly chinese labels
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love this lovely heart-shaped fruity thing
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literal translation from chinese: lantern grass (herb)
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the fruit inside (from plant above) tastes like tomato
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now you know who's been eating your curry leaves
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lynx spider?
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Wasp moth (Amata huebneri)
this was the moth I used to catch in primary school, coz it flies really slow :)
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About plastic bags

2008-01-12T01:55:00.000-08:00

A question from Ms AngKH:

"If we cut down on use of plastic bags, what are we to use for our rubbish?"

I kinda don't have the problem at home coz no matter how much my family cuts down on use of plastic bags we also seem to have enough spares (those collected when we forget to bring cloth bags out and such) for rubbish. but yes someone please help solve Ms AngKH's problem.

MPA's reply to the labrador issue

2008-01-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

My email to MPA

Dear Sir/Madam,

I chanced upon a fellow singaporean's blog commenting on the sad state of labrador beach due to the tearing down of concrete structures. http://reddotbeachbum.blogspot.com/2007/12/labrador-hope-rebirth-and-waiting.html

During my undergraduate years in NUS I was part of a team that studied the biodiversity of animals on Labrador beach. Our study had revealed the rich diversity of the area [D. Huang., L.M . Chou, P.A. Todd, K.H. Ang, P.Y. Boon and L. Cheng. Algal and Invertebrate Diversity of the Intertidal Zone at Labrador Nature Reserve, Singapore (2006) Malayan Nature Journal 59(1), 93-102] and it pained me to see the beach in its current state. May I enquire why the contractors were allowed to leave debris lying about in this manner as it is no doubt destroying the fragile coast.

From MPA's contacts website I was not sure which person to contact regarding this matter but I would appreciate it if you could help to forward this email to the person in-charge if I have sent this email to the wrong department. I (and many other nature-lovers in Singapore) look forward to MPA's favourable reply.

Regards,
a concerned Singaporean

MPA's reply

Dear Ms Boon,

1 Thank you for the feedback dated 30 Dec 07.

2 The MPA is concerned with protecting the marine environment, and had taken pre-emptive measures to conserve the environment in the affected area in Labrador Park, even before the works began. One such measure was to translocate the corals in the area to an artificial reef. This project was led by local marine expert, Prof Chou Loke Ming. The corals will be returned to their original site once the works in the area are fully completed. An article regarding this project was recently published in the Straits Times. We attach the article for your information.

3 Since early Dec 07, our contractor has stepped up the maintenance of the beach in the work area and has been assisting to clear the debris brought in by the tides.

4 The contractor is currently in the process of removing the cofferdam, and all construction debris including the concrete blocks will be removed and disposed properly. The removal of the cofferdam is expected to be completed in end Jan 08, and we will ensure that the cofferdam work area is cleared of all debris before it is returned to the National Parks Board's management. Please be assured that conserving and sustaining the environment is an important consideration in the planning and execution of our works.

Sharkwater

2008-01-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

the movie

hearing like a dolphin

2008-01-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

It is well known that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) hear with their lower jawbone. More specifically, the fat-filled lower jawbone conducts sound waves through the jaw to bones in the middle ears. With that in mind.. doesn't this look familiar?

"User can hear voice of caller only by contacting the bone conduction speaker on his/her head…to solve problem of communication in noisy place and for old people and people with auditory handicap." - Pantech

Talk about biomimicry. haha.

'Greening' my diet

2008-01-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

One of my new year resolutions is to be vegetarian at least once a week. In fact.. the long term (ideal) plan is to go full-fledged vegetarian in 5 years.

Thinking of gg vegetarian not only for vanity reasons. some interesting well-referenced facts from govegan.com :

2006 UN report: Raising animals for food, the report said, is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems"
more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow go to farmed animals
fish on fish farms must be fed 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce one pound of farmed fish flesh
An area of rainforest the size of seven football fields is destroyed every minute to make room for grazing cattle, but each vegetarian saves 1 acre of trees every year
You save more water by not eating pound a beef than you do by not showering for an entire year

Of course, the biggest reason for me to go vegetarian is that the world is running out of fish. then you may ask why don't I just stop eating seafood and continue guzzling meat. well, for the simple and not very well known reason (proven by the exclamation on my brother's face) that the use of fish meal in animal feed is one of the contributing factors of overfishing.

I'm sure there are people like me who know how bad meat eating is for the environment and want to change their diet, but we just can't bear to give it up.. I have to admit that even though I'm not a big fan of meat, its been hard for me even to go vegetarian once a week - especially when I meet friends to eat out at least once a day. Reminder to self: don't go to Adam Road Food Market on my veg-day. No vegetarian options AT ALL. Well, alternatively I can opt to eat meats and fish that have been farmed in a environmentally friendly manner. but.. seriously in Singapore the consumer awareness is just not there. and when pple don't demand for such information, no one bothers to advertise it.

Guess I'll just have to stick to the vegetarian diet.

Baby steps man.. baby steps.

Story of Stuff

2007-12-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

Great video on the world's consumption patterns.

buy buy buy.. definitely singaporean too.

*back blogged* read up on Buy Nothing Day here.

Tips for being Green in Singapore

2007-12-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas at CJ

2007-12-28T19:08:00.000-08:00

Had a special christmas this year helping Koksheng with his Chek Jawa mortality and recruitment project. Here's us toasting champagne on the intertidal. A memorable first for me. Glad kenny had the chance to see CJ for the first time too. Before this I haven't been to Ubin for the longest time, so even though I was told the diversity of CJ critters has gone down due to lower salinity, the variety of stuff I saw was still exciting - to me la.

We (Liana, me, Kenny, Shuyi) had a fun time surveying peacock anemones, with Liana being the head peacock molester. Other great sightings include a cake seastar, gazillion common seastars and sand stars, flowercrabs - and more that I couldn't take photos of coz I stupidly brought a full SD card. grrr.. anyhow.. will upload pix when dear JUAN has time to pass me photos. :) meanwhile, check out KS's collage of the day's survey here and Shuyi's photos here.

P.S.: anyone wanna go Penggarang to cycle? :)

Dreaming of a Green Christmas

2007-12-22T19:55:00.000-08:00

*back blogged*

VideoJug: How To Have A Green Christmas

Christmas time.. time to share our love.. *in the tune of cheesy Backstreetboys song* - yes la.. that was my era.

Tis the season for the retail pple to hear the cash registers ring with big spenders buying all kinds of unnecessary gifts and way too much christmas food. While squeezing my way through the throngs of last minute gift shoppers (all who think SG has way too many pple say 'ay!'. AYYY!!!) in vivocity this weekend, couldn't help but wonder how many Singaporeans think about the amount of wastage we create every christmas. ehem, do remember that Singapore is the ONLY country in the world that dedicates an entire island just for waste disposal.

I guess for me personally it's easy to pull out the 'green' card coz my family and even among friend I don't really have the whole big gift exchange thing gg on. It also helps that I like making/ baking (gingerbreadman!) my own gifts and my family has started getting conscious about not buying too much food for this years christmas dinner - for example, leave out the weird tasting varieties of ham that no one touched last year and get only the family favourite. But hey I don't think it's THAT hard to make a little effort in making your holiday season a little more Earth-friendly.. Read some green christmas ideas here and here.

Think the underlying principle should be this.. 'want not, waste not.'

Merry yuletide.. and in the words of my aussie friends.. stay greeen!

Medicinal Plants of Singapore?

2007-11-20T19:50:00.000-08:00

One of my best takeaways from my Alaska trip was how I learnt from my friend to identify plants around us that could be used to make tea to cure illnesses. Like when I was having a bad flu, she showed me how to make yarrow tea. And it was so easy, just pluck leaves from one of the yarrow (which is a weed growing all over the place), put it in a cup, pour hot water, and let it simmer for 10-15 min. And it worked really fast too. I was in cold sweat just minutes after drinking it.

Now that I'm back in Singapore and having a cold again, I find it sad that I can't do the same here- just coz I don't have the knowledge of my own region's herbs. I can't help looking out at the field of grasses behind my house and think: hmm.. i'm sure there's a cold remedy somewhere out there. yes i know fedac and clarinase are easy to get.. natural living is good la.

So here's asking if anyone knows of any good books that has some common medicinal plants that can be found in Singapore and the region. With good photos of plants and its medicinal uses. So far all i've found online is this book: 'Medicinal Plants of Asia and the Pacific' by Christophe Wiart. Don't you find it ironic that its an Angmohs writing the book. hmm..

Wild, Green and Rouge

2007-11-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

Reefwalk @ Changi Beach

2007-11-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

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

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!

moon crab. (Ashtoret lunaris)

tonnes of them all ard. pretty pretty pretty.

more on moon crabs by a fellow changi RWer here

brittle star

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.

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.>

Welcome to the Blooooooo

2007-11-11T21:22:00.000-08:00

Decided to start a new blog to share photos and experiences and my rantings on green (and blue) issues here.

enjoy.