Blog Log: 23 May 2010

May 24, 2010

May has been an intense month for a lot of people in Asia, and for the oceans as well. But it’s also been an exciting time for biodiversity with World Biodiversity Day and the exhibition of wonderful images of wildlife in Singapore in the heart of Singapore’s shopping district.

Taking a break from the perpetual hustle that goes on in Singapore, Blog divers retreated to the depths of Pulau Hantu, and this weekend, or volunteer Cindy Tan, “breaks her jinx” as she says, when she spots her first Slender Ceratosoma nudibranch! After which, she spots another 4 more, for a total of 5 of this bizarre and beautiful marine slugs!

While sticking her nose about the reef, she managed to find a bunch of egg capsules belonging to a Spiral melongena snail.

She also encountered a little cuttlefish on the reef. Check out how its colouration matches the portion of the reef it is hovering over, almost perfectly!

Then there was a not-so-little cuttlefish. From this angle, you can clearly see the unique W-shaped pupils that cuttlefish have.

When I first saw this photo, it seems as if a single looong nudibranch has coiled itself around this bit of coral. Of course, anyone who’s seen this nudi before knows that they don’t get THIS long. At least, that’s as far as it has been recorded! So what appears to be one, is in fact two sea slugs, chasing each others tails around a coral branch.

View more pictures at the Hantu Blog Gallery.

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