If you love taking a closer look at life on the reef, you’ll love diving in Singapore. Though we do get surprised by some mega fauna every now and then – we’ve had schools of batfish, barracuda, and Silver moonies – to authentically enjoy Pulau Hantu’s reefs, we have to marvel at the impressive diversity […]

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I’ve always thought these Blue-lined flatworms (Pseudoceros sp.) get their Latin name Pseudo- “not genuine” and Ceros- “horn” because they do not have “true horns”, that is, feelers. Those pinches at the top of their bodies that serve as sensory organs similar to antennae. Then I started getting confused because there is another genus of […]

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What happens when a pair of female anemonefish meet?

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  In a departure from our monthly visits to Pulau Hantu’s reefs, Hantu Blog volunteer, Verona Huang, had the opportunity to help the folks from the Tropical Marine Science Institute (“TMSI”) in a dredge survey around the waters of Kusu Island and St John’s Island as part of the Mega Marine Survey, Singapore’s first comprehensive […]

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A Yellow-lipped sea krait scans the reef flats of Singapore’s Pulau Hantu for an opportune meal. The colubrine sea krait, banded sea krait or yellow–lipped sea krait (Laticauda colubrina) is a species of sea snake found in tropical Indo-Pacific oceanic waters. [1] It is easily recognised by its yellow upper lip and black bands covering […]

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A pair of cuttlefish were spotted along the reefs of Singapore’s Pulau Hantu. They were about the same size. Could they be siblings? Or were they individuals from different clutches that find safety by being in a pair?

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Slipper lobsters are a family of decapod crustaceans found in all warm oceans and seas. Despite their name, they are not true lobsters, but are more closely related to spiny lobsters and furry lobsters. Slipper lobsters are instantly recognisable by their enlarged antennae, which project forward from the head as wide plates.

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Neopomacentrus filamentosus is an egg-laying species. The male fish in this video appears to be establishing a territory. It does so by cleaning a rocky ledge or coral surface. The male fish will court the female and encourage her to swim to the cleaned spot. During the actual spawning, the female will deposit her eggs […]

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A Tigertail seahorse Hippocampus comes, feeds as it remains well hidden within the reefs of Singapore’s Pulau Hantu. At 0:20, the seahorse turns to look at the camera, then at 1:17 it spots something below it and begins to sway, slowly extending its body with each sway, eventually extending itself all the way to grasp […]

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A pair of Copperband Butterflyfish, Chelmon rostratus, feeding along the reefs of Singapore’s Pulau Hantu. Butterflyfishes are corallivores, that means they eat coral. As such, the species is used as an environmental indicator for the health of a reef.

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