It was a nice breezy evening... While strolling, I came across the red-tailed parakeets squaking from the top of the trees, the swaying trees and even came across this road kill... Can you guess what it used to be?
If you guessed the horn-eyed ghost crab, you hit the jackpot! :( I also noticed (like any other weekend), fishing is a favourite past-time for many Singaporean men. I wonder what do they usually catch along these beaches...
Just slightly after sunset, the critters start to emerge in great numbers! Gong gongs (Strombus canarium) and ball sea cucumbers all start to burrow out of the sand. The sifting sand sea stars and biscuit stars too, came out of their sandy homes to join in the fun. I'm glad that the students were able to witness this emergence and I must add that they were wow-ed by the numerous number of animals burrowing under the sand!
Today is also a day with many special finds!
I found this slug while busying myself with a moon snail. I'm not sure of the slug's ID but I'm certain that it has been seen elsewhere before. Hopefully someone can enlighten me!
One of the largest living gastropod snail on our shores would be this Melo melo snail! I was awestruck when I saw it! It was just lying on the sand. How cool is that? This is my first time sighting it on the mainland shores. :) Exciting!
Other special snails included this olive snail... This is only my second time seeing this snail!
The common ball moon snail (Polinices didyma) were abundant tonight... Did you know that the Latin name of this moon snail is derived from the males' sexual organs? hehe... Go find out more about that!
I found this Spotted moon snail (Naticidae)! According to the previous sightings, they are usually found on the Southern shores. This is probably a new record of it appearing on the Northern shores. :)
Sea pens are such a lovely sight especially when submerged in waters with its tentacles extended out to feed. Actually, sea pens are closely related to the corals, explaining the number of extensions on their tentacles. :) On the previous trip, I only saw the while sea pens and found only one purple pen.
Baby sifting plain sand stars! Both of them were hugging each other. haha...
Lastly, a pair of eyes hinted to me that a creature lies beneath the sand. True enough, I found this solefish! It was opening and closing its mouth.
To ID the fish, I gently revealed the entire body, only to shock all of us that with such a small head, the fish sure had a long body! It is a Commerson's sole (Synaptura commersoniana).
It was great to know that the students are getting better at ID-ing the animals and understanding the impacts on our shores. It's also good to know that our shores are alive with each trip bringing more different animals to light. I wonder what I'll find next time. Till then... Signing off... :)
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