For a great laughter - Marine animals in the haze.

As we found 6 Masked burrowing crabs (Gomeza sp.) this morning, one of us made a simple joke about the current haze situation in Singapore with the crabs.

Later in the afternoon Kok Sheng came up with an image for laughter:

I decided to create a few...

Enjoy the laugh!

Masked Burrowing Crab and Special Snail at sandy Changi

A female Masked burrowing crab (Gomeza sp.) with eggs was found at Changi during the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Surevy (CMBS) Northern Expedition held last October. This special crab was sighted today at the exact location. In fact, the team found 6 of them!

Masked burrowing crab

As the common name suggests, the Masked burrowing crab burrows and stay in the sand. It is difficult to spot the crab when it is burrowed. However the crabs were out in laying motionless on the sand and seagrass patches. What was the reason for this strange behaviour?

Seastars, Sea Cucumber, Seahorse and interesting Flatworm at less hazy Changi

A team head out for Changi shore this morning with haze condition of about 89 on a 3hr PSI.

What is so special about this part of Changi shore would be the hard-to-spot-at-first Armoured sea cucumber.

Armoured sea cucumber

The Armoured sea cucumber is easily overlooked as ascidian or hard coral. Covered with silt, it blends in very well on the silt covered surface and looked just like any other blobs. Only when the first Armoured sea cucumber is spotted, the rest appear magically.

Nemo, Fantail Rays and Giant Clam at Terumbu Bemban, CMBS

It's the second day of reef survey for the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey (CMBS) Southern Expedition. At 3am, bigger group of staff, scientists and volunteers gathered at the dinning area for breakfast. There are 3 teams heading out for reef survey this morning, all to different locations - Big Sisters' Island, Terumbu Bemban and Beting Bemban Besar.

It was important to sort the teams right before boarding the 2 boats by Summit Marine System. Terumbu Bemban and Beting Bemban Besar may just be next to each other, but efficiency in transporting the correct people to the correct location is crucial as we have limited time on the exposed submerged reef due to the low tide window.

Pre-departure briefing and boat sorting.
Image by Ivan Kwan

First Predawn Reef Survey for CMBS at Terumbu Semakau

It has been 6 days since the Southern Expedition for the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey (CMBS) started. Yesterday was my first time stepping into the base camp for the expedition, meeting familiar and new faces. I am involved in CMBS as a volunteer since Dec 2010 as a regular volunteer. The Southern Expedition is the second expedition event I had participated in, with the first at the Northern Expedition held in October last year.

Prof Peter Ng takes special transport to base camp, a foldie.
Image from my twitter.