Semakau guided walk with SJI

I spent my Deepavali holiday guiding a group of students from St Joseph's Institution at our fabulous shore of Pulau Semakau!

Though they are currently working on marine-related school projects, it is their first time exploring our natural shores looking at seagrasses and corals. It was great to be able to share with them our marine biodiversity without having to swim or dive!

There are lots of blooming Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) and among the seagrass meadow is a nursery for marine creatures such as this Swimming anemone (Boloceroides mcmurrichi).

Also spotted among the seagrass meadow will be this tiny and cute cuttlefish.

On the higher shores with seagrasses, I came across these yellow fluffy looking things which I do not know what they are. Eggs?

The giant Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus) always provide a great opportunity for group photo taking.

Moving closer to the coral reef at the edge, we saw many different species and types of corals such as this uncommon Acropora coral (Acropora sp.).

If you look closer among the branches, there are other living creatures found embedded inside such as tiny clams! If you are fortunate, shrimps and gobies can also be spotted.

This is another species of the Acropora coral that has fatter branches.

It seems that the Persian carpet flatworms (Pseudobiceros bedfordi) are coming back to Semakau as I have not seen them for some time. This particular individual seems to be slightly injured.

Later on, I stumbled across yet another one which is not injured as the previous. Their patterns are intricate and they do look like persian carpets. Haha!

A special find that the hunter seekers found will be this well camouflaged spider crab (Micippa philyra) that I've not seen or took notice of it before.

This crab will close up its legs and claws when it is overturned on its underside. Sometimes it does look like a ball!

Though it looks very boring from above, this crab has pretty green chela or claws as seen from its underside!

All too soon, it's time to head back! Here is a photo showing the broken jetty among the mangroves at the higher shores. We are so blessed to have escaped the rain and bad weather!

More photos of the trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/koksheng/archives/date-taken/2011/10/26/