Spineless but vicious

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

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

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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

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




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Happy April Fools. :)

Thanks guys

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?

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

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

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

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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?

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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.