Slugful day at Ubin shore

We saw quite a number of lovely sea slugs on our trip to Ubin shore last week!

One of the many slugs we saw was this slug with many pretty dots and large feathery gills.

This Hypselodoris nudibranch (Hypselodoris sp.) found by Ria is probably Hypselodoris infucata. They are usually only found on our northern shores.

Another nudibranch that we came across would be the Rose nudibranch (Dendrodoris fumata). This slug can be quite common on certain stretches of northern shores such as Pasir Ris, Punggol and Changi. I saw at least 3 or 4 of them on this single trip.

I found this Yellow foot nudibranch (Thordisa villosa) attached to the side of the huge boulder. Think it is my first time seeing it!

Here's a look at its underside, which will explain for its common name- yellow foot!

Found stranded out of water, this sea slug with lots of bead-like bumps on its body is known as the Beaded nudibranch (Hoplodoris nodulosa).

The rocks of our northern shores are usually encrusted with lots of colourful animals such as sponges, ascidians etc.

These blobs hanging from the side of huge rocks are not anemones but are Ball tip corallimorphs. When expanded in water, their tentacles will stick out showing the ball-like structures at their tips.

This Onyx cowrie (Cypraea onyx) sticking by the side of the rock was busy laying eggs for more baby cowries!

The reefy parts of the shore is home to many Feather stars (Order Comatulida). I particularly like this feather star with distinct black arms with their ends in white.

Here's another feather star of another pattern.

Jia Ling later found found this bluish feather star with something living with it... it's a brittle star!

Though this brittle star looks like the usual ones that we find on the shores, who knows whether they really do live together for the brittle star to hitch a ride with the feather star.

Here's yet another brightly coloured brittle star found living among yet another animal.

Yup, the animal that the brittle star lives on would be the Sea fans (Order Gorgonacea)! Though the tide was not extremely low, some of the sea fans were sticking out of the murky waters. Maybe we should visit this shore on a morning super low spring tide to explore the sea fan garden. :)

Another gorgonian that barely was sticking out of the water would be this larger sea whip!

We came across the usual range of sea cucumbers found on northern shores. One that took my attention would be this small white / beige cucumber that we do not know its identity.

This poor orange Cake sea star (Anthenea aspera) was injured! Think it got munched by a predator.

This seemingly harmless Glass anemone (Doflenia sp.) in the sand can sting quite badly should you touch it.

Glad that this Ubin shore that we have not visited for two years is still doing well. Like other parts of Pulau Ubin, the rock formation is very special. The rocks have vertical furrows or also known as pseudo-karren that were etched by rain over many decades or so.

We were once again blessed with a rain-free trip on this cool evening. This trip marks the end of my shore explorations for 2012.

Here's wishing all a wonderful and fulfilling 2013 to come!