She looked down and saw “so many fishes!” Singapore’s relentless nudibranch hunter (armed only with a camera and a pair of superhuman eyes) spent a weekend with the reefs of Pulau Hantu and saw many creatures, great and small! Some where “pretending” to be something they are not, many were hiding, and others sat right […]

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By Aidan Mock: I was on exchange in Perth for a marine biology class when it happened. We were sharing what our favourite marine animals were and an earnest student who didn’t have a background in marine science piped up and said “I know that they’re not animals, but I find corals really cool”. That sentence […]

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By Aidan Mock: When I first started conducting research for this article, I googled ‘Singapore seahorse’ to get a feel on whether Singaporeans associated this noble sea steed more with the oceans or with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). However, it came to my surprise that the top hits were related to neither option . Instead, it […]

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If you were to mention ‘Singapore sharks’ to the average person on the street, the most likely response that you would get would be ‘…fin soup’. And then, depending on the environmental awareness of the respondent, either a heavy sigh or a licking of the lips. However, few Singaporeans know that Singapore has real live […]

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By Aidan Mock: Reflecting on World Turtle Day, I recall two memorable characters from my childhood, Crush and Squirt – the chilled-out turtles from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. The turtles in the movie were plying the east coast of Australia, but did you know that the hippie turtles depicted in the movie have friends that […]

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By Aidan Mock: As a diver, I have long wondered what exactly nudibranchs are. They are one of the more commonly sighted creatures on the Hantu reefs and come in an amazing array of colours, shapes, and sizes, but I’ve never really see them doing anything. I decided to spend some time investigating these creatures and […]

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Wrappers are pretty – that’s the idea. They are intended to attract, mesmerise, and evoke a sense of allure. But once we are done with them, we crush them up and toss them aside. In spite of its evocative potential, a pretty piece of wrapper, is alas, benign. But not these. These are wrappers of […]

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It’s that time of the year again when SCUBA divers in Singapore get to spend an entire day out at sea, uncovering Singapore’s magical marine mysteries! We do this once a year (that is, overdose on diving at Pulau Hantu) to celebrate the efforts of our dedicated and passionate volunteers, who have been reaching out […]

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Variable fang blennies Petroscirtes variabilis are small elongated fishes that can be encountered in coral reefs of Singapore’s Southern Islands. Apart from discarded glass bottles, they have also been found making their homes within the shells of large snails. Watch this video as the blenny leaves its bottle, makes an about-turn, and swims back into […]

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Not only are we on an expedition, we’re on an expedition in really turbid waters. Losing your buddy is a given. But you won’t be able to do any work at all if you lose your equipment. So the less things you have to focus on getting a grip on, the better. In an attempt […]

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