Tiger-tail seahorse (Hippocampus comes) PHOTO: Lam Pei Min/Hantu Blog
Low visibility conditions continue to keep the reefs of Pulau Hantu in the shadow, that is, until our volunteers show up to shed some light! Divers reported “good diving” over the last weekend of July, and understandably so – we haven’t seen seahorses in quite awhile. Though they are known to be common on our reefs, local seahorse populations are small and vulnerable to over harvesting by collectors for the aquarium trade. Every time we see some on the reef, we feel hopeful that our reefs have a chance to visit the future. Read the rest of this entry »
In the previous post, we shared how a section of Hantu Island’s reef slope has succumbed to the impact of sedimentation. Just three years ago, this part of the reef was alive with Goniopora coral, as the picture below shows.
Reef slope covered with Goniopora coral colonies in 2009
Today it is covered in silt, algae and strings of mucous from the stressed corals, with a few small colonies of coral between the rubble. Read the rest of this entry »
In the quest for algae, I got the chance to dive at some really special places off Singapore. I’m really amazed at how beautiful our reefs are despite the heavy development that occurs around all our coasts and islands. If the reef are willing to work hard to survive, we should also do our best to support it. Evidently, we have managed to do so in some areas, either intentionally or by accident. Whichever it is, I think the presence of such magnificent reefs that house incredible tropical diversity are a testament that we don’t have to choose between development or preservation, and that it is possible to have the both. Read the rest of this entry »
Algae hunting in the southern islands took to a great start this morning. As soon as our boat pulled up along the west-side of Jong Island, we spotted two Great-billed herons walking along the water’s edge, poking about for food. Though they are the tallest birds you’re likely to encounter in Singapore, they are very shy and hard to approach, so I had to zoom in from the boat to grab this grainy picture. Once done with the brisk bit of bird watching, it was down to business – algae hunting! Read the rest of this entry »
Who cares about algae? Jeffrey Low does! And you should too! Algae provides food and shelter to many creatures on the reef. A famous and favorite amongst them is the Sargassum frogfish. Sargassum is a kind of marcoalgae, or seaweed. Some species of sargassum spend their entire lives drifting in the open ocean, never attaching to the seafloor throughout their life cycle! Kind of like flying fish! Can you think of other reef organisms that spend their entire lives in the open ocean? Read the rest of this entry »
Hantu Blog volunteer and underwater photographer Jimmy Goh, who recently had his pictures published in the book Habitat’s in Harmony, gives us a close-up perspective of Pulau Hantu’s macro fauna, beginning with the beautiful sea slug above. Read the rest of this entry »
With Saturday spent at Singapore’s first Biodiversity Festival at the Botanical Gardens, Hantu Blog volunteers spent Sunday doing what they do best – finding more stuff out on the reef, so we can tell everyone else about it! And boy did they make some findings! The day began even before the divers went underwater, with the encounter of the Yellow-lipped seakrait (above) creeping down from a coral encrusted pillar. Divers were ecstatic! But they weren’t about to get too close. Laticauda colubrina is a highly venomous sea snake and one should avoid handling it. That said, this snake is not known to attack if left alone and unprovoked, it is also very unlikely that one gets bitten by it firmly enough to have venom injected because it is back-fanged (intended more for fish than large mammals). If one should get bit by a Yellow-lipped seasnake, the first symptom is the rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue. While we’re out at sea, we certainly don’t have the facilities to replace your thumb should it dissolve away, so these snakes are best left alone. Read the rest of this entry »
After two whole days of talking, seeing and showing the diverse kinds of plants and animals of the land or marine kind at the Botanical Gardens for the Singapore’s first ever Biodiversity Festival, the answer to the question “Singapore got wildlife meh?” has definitely got to be a resounding, “ABUDEN!?” (abuden is derived from the Hokkien expression “ah boh, then?”, a Singlish expression meaning “if not, what then?” usually used as a sarcastic retort to rhetorical questions). Here’s a recap of the festival with the help of the hordes of pictures and tweets that were being posted live from the event venue so you can relive the festival! Photo: Ivan Kwan Read the rest of this entry »
August 2, 2012 
Posted in Biology, Blog Log, Photography 
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