Project Semakau Hunting-seeking trip 13-Jun-2010

It was a very early hunting seeking trip, so an overnight trip was planned. During the 1st day, we had a mangrove identification trip and the sunday morning we had the hunting seeking! It was quite a fruitful trip with quite a lot of things mastered! Tried to ID some of the things I've seen, but the identification is not 100% correct. :P

Euchelus quadricarinatus
Spotted-belly crab (Ozius guttatus)? Din manage to take a look at its underside so cant really confirm this ID.
Sentinel crab (Macrophthalmus sp.) rather common tiny crab in the area.
Purple climber crab (Metopograpsus sp.) There were quite a few of them in the crevices and moving frantically away from me.
Lightning dove shell (Pictocolumbella ocellata) It really has pretty patterns like lightning on the shell!
Not too sure what is this. Looks like a jelly blob with tentacles at the middle.
Transparent prawns/shrimps, don't know the ID.
Crenate swimming crab (Thalamita crenata) It has bluish claws and carapaceand brownish legs. It was really fierce! When I spotted it, it looks very harmless like the 1st photo. Then i provoke it with a chopstick, it became very fierce, like in the 2nd and 3rd photo! And it wanted to fight with me!!!
Sun starting to rise~~
Noble volute (Cymbiola nobilis) It is a fierce predator! It will use its strong muscular foot to wrap around its prey, thereby suffocating it. Look at how well it can camouflage with algae growing on its shell in the upright position!
Black Lipped Conch (Strombus urceus) Easily identified by its black lining around the opening. Look at curious eyes sticking out at the right hand side of the shell. On the left hand side, there is a brown elongated flap, it is the operculum, which is supposed to close the opening of shell and to flip itself upright when overturned.
Synaptid sea cucumber (Family Synaptidae) It really look just like a worm, an extremely long worm! This particular one is about 60cm long! And it move like a worm as well, swimming in the water slowly.
Green ascidians (Class Ascidiacea) They are stuck on to the blades of seagrasses and looks just like a piece of bubble gum stuck on the blades. There are many different colours~ Orange, pink. white, brown........
Hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertillo) Also known as teddy bear crab, with its brown hairy outlook~
Pink sponge! The cartoon spongebob square pants is actually this kind of sponge! They are filter feeders, whereby during high tides, it will suck in water from one of the holes and water will be excreted via another hole, in the process, food is taken in.
Tiger-tailed seahorse~ (Hippocampus comes) Ron says it is a pregnant male! The females will pass on the eggs to the males after courtship and the males will be the ones who provide care to the young. Seahorses are considered fish and it has fins to move about and a flexible tail to grab on to things like seagrasses to stay at the spot and not get carried away by the currents or waves.