Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Semakau Walk on 23 Jun 2008

Went to Semakau Landfill on Monday with a group of Dunman High students doing a module on Coastal Protection. Finally, I got to be the hunter seeker, and thus had the time to take some proper photos with slightly better compostions this time round.

Just did an entry on Semakau recently, and so this one will just be a quick listing of some of the things we saw.

Sunrise at Semakau
We got to witness a lovely sun rise while walking from the old Pulau Sakeng to the old Pulau Semakau.

synaptid sea cucumber
Again, we managed to find what I called the "Big Five" sea cucumbers. The above is a long synaptid sea cucumber (Family Synaptidae) among the seagrasses.

ocellated sea cucumber, Stichopus ocellatus
The ocellated sea cucumber (Stichopus ocellatus).

dragonfish sea cucumber, Stichopus horrens
The dragonfish sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens).

stonefish sea cucumber, Actinopyga lecanora
The stonefish sea cucumber (Actinopyga lecanora).

sandfish sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra
The sandfish sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra).

sand-sifting sea stars, Archaster typicus
We got to meet some of the stars of Semakau too. The sandy area near the seagrass meadows had lots of sand-sifting sea stars (Archaster typicus).

knobbly sea star, Protoreaster nodosus
And nearer to the coral reef crest, I found this orange knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodosus).

Horned starfish, Protoreaster nodosus
And not too far away, there is another pinkish red one.

hard corals
As the tide was quite low, we were able to see huge patches of lovely hard corals.

soft corals
And there were lots of soft corals too.

jellyfish
We have been seeing many of this jellyfish for the past few months.

Sea anemone from the family Aliciidae
This black lumpy thing is actually a sea anemone from the family Aliciidae.

Sea anemone from the family Aliciidae
Here's another look at it with its tentancles out. These anemones supposedly can give anyone who touches them a nasty sting.

noble volute, Cymbiola nobilis
Saw quite a few noble volutes (Cymbiola nobilis), and one of them just finish laying her eggs!

nudibranch, Phyllidiella nigra
I found several black phyllid nudibranchs (Phyllidiella nigra) too.

Scallop, Chlamys sp.
Found this scallop (Chlamys sp.) high and dry.

Fluted giant clam, Tridacna squamosa
Here's another key attraction of a Semakau - a fluted giant clam (Tridacna squamosa).

Anemone shrimps, Periclimenes brevicarpalis
Found quite a number of sea anemones, but unfortunately none with the clownfish. Most of them had anemone shrimps (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) on them though.

flatworm
And some how, even though it was already quite bright, there were lots of flatworms!

Was certainly glad that the weather stayed good and we managed to find some many interesting organisms :P

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