Finally, I set foot at the natural shores of Lazarus during this trip. The first stretch of the shore is rather rocky.
On the high shore, there were a number of very small Land hermit crabs (Coenobita sp.). They were all extremely shy and hid back into their shells when they sense motion from me.
There are plenty of nice coastal plants along the shore such as this Seashore pandan (Pandanus tectorius). Read Ria's post for more fantastic plants of Lazarus.
The autumn red leaves of the Sea almonds (Terminalia catappa) add on to the colours of the shore. I like how the branches lie low in this photo.
We reached a huge lagoon where much of the shore has already been exposed. Imagine the joy I had in exploring a shore for the first time! It's like a giant playground to me. hehe!
There are many Long black sea cucumbers (Holothuria leucospilota) on this shore! Especially near rocks. Also present are the Frilly sea anemones (Phymanthus sp.).
Here is different looking Frilly sea anemone.
That's not all. I also encountered this sandy-looking version again at Lazarus. It has yellow and blue tentacles on a closer look. We had recently seen this at St John's Island.
The corals there are not as spectacular and crowded as Hantu and Sisters. The shore reminds me of Tanjong Rimau of Sentosa.
Nevertheless, there is still a good range and number of hard corals spread out within the lagoon's clear waters.
Soft corals are not common on this part of the shore. I only encountered two colonies during the whole trip, of which one was an uprooted one.
There were many of these bright Red ribbon worm all over the reefs. They are very sensitive to light and would shrink into crevices and holes immediately.
Ria told me that there are sand dollars on this sandy shore. After looking for a while, I finally found some Cake sand dollars (Arachnoides placenta).
Echinoderms wise, I also found this Garlic bread sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra) that was injured. Probably it was predated earlier on.
Just when I was about to leave the sandy shore, I came across this lone Common sea star (Archaster typicus). This made me suspect that there must be more of these guys somewhere else.
Ria was in great form in finding nice critters during the trip. First, she found this really pretty and cute juvenile Red feather star. It has a fainter colour for its arm tips.
Secondly, she found this Ornate leaf slug (Elysia ornata) that was not really that green. These slugs suck seaweed sap to give its green coloration.
That's not all, the third find from Ria will be two of the Spider conch (Lambis lambis)!
As for me, I could find this well camouflaged Dolphin shell snail (Angaria delphinus) because its opening was facing upwards instead of the shell.
I'm not into taking good photos of fishes as they usually swim away very quickly. Somehow, this Bengal sergeant (Abudefduf bengalensis) was quite slow moving. Haha!
I quite like this shore, especially for its super clear waters! We went on during the same trip to explore the artificial sandy shore connecting Lazarus and Seringat. More about what we discovered on a later date!
More photos of the trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/koksheng/archives/date-taken/2011/02/20/
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