February 1, 2008
What an exciting dive it was last weekend! Now we’re really motivated to do more diving this year! Sure you saw of our photos from the last post, but there’s nothing quite like watching the animals and our divers in the ACTION of exploring and discovering new things in Hantu’s reefs!
Here’s an tinsy tiny flatworm that Pei Wen spotted whilst we were shielding from the monstrous current out in deeper water. Boy! Was she eagle eyed! Imagine how treacherous it must be for a tiny fella like that to be surviving in the rough habitat of the reef. With all the hungry fish darting about, does it have some sort of secret weapon?
And here we go creeping into the eerie and claustrophobic thicket of the sargassum “forest”. Even though we call it “seaweed” sargassum is really a kind oflarge brown algae. I wouldn’t have ventured in if not for the enthusiasm of my divers! It’s amazing how even though the area of the reef is relatively small compared to some greater reefs out there, there still so many different ways to dive it, so many things to explore, and a ton of things to discover!
Here we have the famous Tomato Clown anemonefish, one of 3 species of anemonefish that can be found in Hantu waters. As you can see, these fish are very shy, always trying to dodge the camera, into the safety of their anemone. Other types of anemonefish found around Hantu include the Flase Clown and the other being the Saddleback. The latter is a truly rare encounter!
Finally here’s taking a peek at what it’s like to cruise along the reef flats of Hantu with confidence! Sibling Wen Loong (who gave the “v” sign) and Pei Wen were amongst the most enthusiastic divers I’ve ever led!If you’re inspired to join us next month, drop us an email with your details!
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January 29, 2008
It’s our first dive of the new year, and what a way to kick start 2008! We had all sorts of wacky currents running at various depths in the water and we had an over cast sky that threatened rain the whole morning! Good thing though, it didn’t pour till after our 2nd dive, which was good because we got to wash our gear (and ourselves!) before getting back to the mainland! (Topside photos courtesy of Pauline Leow)
We had an interesting bunch of divers for this trip, 4 teachers at secondary and Junior College levels, and 2 researchers – one terrestrial (our volunteer Ming Sheng) and another who’s doing a study of the rabbit fish in local reefs! It was a great envirounment for learning new things and also to take different perspectives and talk about various research methods and the biology, ecology and behaviour of corals and other reef organisms!
Although the visibility was not at it’s best, Hantu always has surprises to offer. Because fishes were less present (possibly because of the strong current and turbid waters) divers had the opportunity to learn more about corals and the organisms that inhabit them! I also paid closer attention to the HUGE variety of sponges on our reef because there are just so many kinds and they’re so beautiful in all their bright colours and of course, their very captivating bahaviour (did you know that a colony of sponge can reassemble themselves if held in a contained body of water after being disassembled?).
While the divers and the fish might not have been enjoying the strong current, animals that depended on it such as corals and tube worms were out in full force! Check out the beautiful tentacles of some of our corals and the attractive feeding arms of the reef’s feather duster tube worms!
Trying to dodge the currents, we kept close to the reef. VERY CLOSE! And at some points, we were even navigating the eerie reef flat that was densely covered with sargassum seaweed! What an adventure! It was really exciting to see the little sea creatures that lurk in the safety of the foliage, darting out and away from us when we got near. We saw critters like flatworms, gobies, filefish, damselfish, and butterflyfish hiding in the “field” of seaweed!
Despite the turbid water conditions, our enthusiastic divers were totally excited about reaching the depths of Hantu and navigating its dark and tricky seabed for the chance to see a tigertail seahorse! It’s always a favourite amongst divers and certainly makes every trip worthwhile!
Razorfish! I absolutely love these fish and always look forward to running into them near the Goniopora corals!
Our corals are so special and important to the survival of our reef. Yet most times, divers explore reefs without giving much attention to coral, preferring to focus on more conspicuous “animals”. Well, corals are animals too! And they are certainly the most conspicuous living things on our reefs! One of the Hantu Blog’s objectives to teach divers as much about coral as the life that can be found living alongside it. Did you know that Singapore reefs have nearly 30% the coral diversity of the Great Barrier Reef in less than o.o5% of the size?! Remember, without the corals, there won’t be a reef, and certainly no pretty creatures for us to discover!
Finally, the most captivating find for this trip, was what I believe to be an Acopora goby’s brood of eggs! If you take a closer look at the shiny bead-like object affixed to the wall of this acopora coral, you can actually see the tiny fish eyes of the developing embryos within the eggs! It’s not yet confirmed, but it’s likely that the eggs belong to a dark green coloured Acopora goby that was sticking very close to the eggs, but fleeted away into hiding the moment I drew my camera near. The eggs take a few weeks to hatch but we don’t know how long they’re already been developing! It’d be exciting to return during our next dive to see if and how they’ve developed!
Stay tuned to the Hantu Blog to catch our exciting videos that will be uploaded soon enough! It’s always a different experience to observe the motion of the ocean in underwater Hantu! To see all the photos from this dive, visit the Hantu Blog Gallery
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December 20, 2007
Sorry this post has taken awhile, but here it is! Alas! Apologies to those who have been checking in frequently for updates! I’ve got some videos from the November dive to post as well and will work on that once this gets out. For the holiday season, the Hantu Blog closed it’s monthly dives and will resume the Blog dives in the New Year. We are now reaching the end of the 3rd year of the Hantu Blog and are looking forward to commemorating our 4th year of awareness building come March 2009! We hope you’ll join us for our annual Anniversary dives that are only the most exciting dive trips you can have at Hantu Island. Our experienced dive guides are possibly some of the best Hantu divers to experience local waters with!
Swimmer crabs are one of the most difficult creatures to photograph on our reefs because they are extremely skittish, shooting off into crevices on the reef almost as soon as they are spotted. Once they are cornered though (such as the one above!) they put up a mean defense and will readily nip whatever is threatening them. This is their defensive pose. It may be a small creature and not seem formidable, but those pincers are deceptively sharp and very effective!
Some colonies of coral were found covered with a kind of tiny flatworm (above left on porites, and centre on fungia). The worms don’t cause the coral to bleach per se, but because they block out the light, the zoxenthelle eventually leaves the coral and causes it to bleach.
Other cool creaturs we saw included a small school of razorfish (left) which swim upside down, mimicking the movement of drifting blades of seagrass. They can be quite a challenge to photograph too because they are so razor thin (hence the name!). Once they turn away from you they practically disappear from view! Apart from the commonly spotted phyllidia sea slugs (2nd from left and center) and flatworms (right), dive guide and Reef Friends volunteer Jimmy Goh also photographed a tiny flathead (2nd from right) seeking shelter under the shell of a spent cowrie.
Another thing that Jimmy spotted was the Rubble pipefish above. These fish are occasionally encountered on our reefs and are one of the more common species of pipefish at Hantu. They may be abundant in certain areas of the Indonesian island, with as many as 10 found on a single coral colony! They are so-called because they are usually found on patches of coral.
Other invertebrates encountered included crinoids or feather stars (left), icon seastars (2nd from left) and tube worms or feather duster worms (4th and 5th picture).
Nudibranches are one of the favourite creatures to discover in Hantu’s reefs as there are several species. Some of them can be very tiny, only about the size of a pinhead, but we’ve also come across some nudibranches as large as a clenched fist! One of my personal favourites on the reef are the Trapezia crabs. They are usually found hiding deep within a colony of acopora coral and can be very very trying to photograph because they are quick to hide and there are endless creases in the coral in which they can squeeze their little bodies into. Also in same coral, I found 2 acopora gobies. Photographing them is even more of a challenge! They are super fast and dash away form any threat in less than a blink of an eye. My patience eventually wore out after hovering above the coral trying to get their picture for close to 10 mins! Trapezia crabs are known to be able to defend a coral colony from the coral-eating Crown of Thorns seastar, which does not occur in significant numbers on Hantu’s reef.
This Tomato clown anemonefish may seem cute and adorable, but it is anything but! Lunging itself toward my camera, it attempts to get me out of a threatening distance. When in need of protection, it can dive into the somewhat safe tentacles of its home anemone or even under it. Such behaviour makes is easy target for marine fish poachers. If you keep a marine aquarium at home, please ensure that the shops you purchase your fish and coral from come from a sustainable source. This can often be determined by the pricing of the fish, though it is not necessarily a reliable judge. Best you do as much research as you can!
That’s it for now! swing by soon for videos from the November dive and see you again in January! Happy Holidays!
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November 17, 2007
Everytime I blog or take a photo, it’s often of an animal or a group of animals, or of life underwater. But there’s a very important aspect to diving at Hantu and the Hantu Blog, and that’s it’s people. The Hantu Blog is run entirely by volunteers who are more committed than you can imagine, to ensuring our dives run smoothly and that we manage to even organise a dive every month!
Take MingSheng for example, the photographer of the pictures in this post. For our late October dive, MingSheng, who’s a Malaysian, shuttled all the way back to his home in JB after we were done with the dive, and spent the night at a relative’s place just to help us out during the weekend. Of course, not all our volunteers have the need to do that. But making sure they are there for the public and for the education of our reefs once a month, for 12 months a year, is an effort that’s far beyond being just enough.
Diving at Hantu is just one aspect of the Hantu Blog, and ensuring a safe, enjoyable, and educational dive for all onboard (including the crew! we’re always learning!) is just a small regular milestone for us.
Thanks to MingSheng for compiling these quirky photographs to show the other side of the Hantu Blog!
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November 17, 2007
Hantu’s reefs have alot of potential for photographers, especially if they are looking out for macro stuff. A suitably rigged up camera and a keen set of eyes can leave the photographer gasping for more air as there’s hardly ever enough time to finish shooting everything.
Here’s a close up peak into the hidden lives amidst Hantu’s reef, as photographed by Ivan Choong who joined the Hantu Blog for its dive in late October. Ivan has been photographing underwater wildlife for several years and returns to Hantu often to rekindle the spirit of local diving.
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November 1, 2007
Believe it or not, the feathery appendages that stick out of Barnacles and filter particles from the passing water aren’t the arms or its mouth but its feet! Barnacles evolved from shrimp or prawns, and eventually turned to use their feet for feeding instead of swimming! Here a tiny barnacle, only as big as the coral polyp next to it, feeds as it remains embedded within a Galaxea coral.
These Razorfish, aka. Shrimpfish, swim with their heads facing downward and tails pointing to the sun! They are so thin that they can easily disappear from view if you’re looking from the wrong angle. They drift in schools just above the coral reef, picking out bits of food. You could be fooled into thinking they’re just mere blades of seagrass drifting in the ocean with their effortless floating motion.
This is the first time we have shot a video of the Juvenile Painted Sweetlips. The Harlequin Sweetlips is a more common encounter on Hantu’s reef. What an unusual fella! And it can’t keep itself still! Similar to the Juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips, this young fella flicks its body all over the place as it swims to possibly mimic the behaviour of a poisonous sea slug as a defense against predators.
The Hantu Blog isn’t the only place where people Blog about Hantu! Check out some amazing pictures that I didn’t manage to see at the sites of our divers!
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October 30, 2007
The monsoon season is here but it’s still quiet down at Hantu. Just as well! The Hantu Blog left with a full boat of divers this weekend and comprised several nationalities – from the UK to US, and India to Western Europe. Of course, most of us were seasoned locals who just couldn’t wait to discover another day of diving at Hantu’s every surprising reefs!
Our first dive of the ay was relatively quiet less a few angry damsels. We encountered a pair of nonchalant Copper banded Butterflyfish which were quite happy feeding and didn’t mind being photographed. I also spotted a patch of algae growing on a coral head (second from left). There’re several factors that could lead to algae blooming, one of the most common reasons along developed coasts is the runoff of fresh water. Speaking of runoff, it was mentioned in a UN report released just this week that there has been “a rapid rise of “dead zones,” where marine life no longer can be supported because pollutants like runoff fertilizers deplete oxygen.” Luckily for us, there’s still lots of corals to be observed and the algae growth around Hantu (at least so far) seems to be in isolated patches.
Can you spot the filefish in the photo on the far left? It’s got its tail facing the camera. What’s amazing camouflage! Another critter that seeks safety amongst coral is a tiny tube worm (2nd from the right). Can you see them? They’re the tiny, salmon-coloured nodes that seem to be sticking out of the coral. They’ve got themselves embedded within this Favia boulder coral and that’s probably where they will stay for a long time, harvesting food from the current and growing deeper within the coral. On the far right, a colony of zoanthids.
As we moved along the dive, we came across two separate schools of razorfish, also called shrimpfish. They comprise four small species of tropical marine fish and can be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Razorfish are nearly transparent and flattened from side to side with long snouts and a sharp-edged belly. A thin, dark stripe runs along its body. It is from this and their shrimp-like appearance that their name is derived. They swim in a synchronized manner with their bodies pointing down.*
This is the first time I’ve photographed the Three Saddle Cardinalfish in Hantu waters. They appear less common than the other species of cardinalfishes which can be spotted amongst Hantu’s plate corals. This fish may be found in marine, brackish, and freshwater environments and is primarily marine. It is known to be nocturnal and can be commonly found in the aquarium trade.**
On the second dive, we explored the deeper depths and searched amongst the whip corals for interesting lifeforms. We found (L-R) allied cowries, crinoids, and whip shrimp.
I also came across this brilliant coral and I think it is a Black coral – the only coral in the world that has been listed as a threatened species by the United Nations. Usually you’d see them with red or orange-coloured polys. It is called Black coral because unlike most corals, its skeleton is black instead of white, as is observed when most corals die or get bleached. It became a protected species because its trade in the aquarium trade, jewelery trade and collection as a curio has severely threatened its survival throughout its range. How encouraging it is to find this in Hantu! If you dive and come across more Black corals in local waters, please email us and send us your pictures!
Slugs and flatworms are always fun to shoot underwater because they are so colourful but also because they just sort of stay still and let you have a go at them!
Finally, everyone’s favourite and a gem in Hantu’s reef – Tigertail seahorses can be spotted on a regular basis. Similar to slugs, they move slowly (infact, seahorses are the slowest fishes in the sea!) and are easily photographed. Because of that, they are also easily collected for the aquarium trade. Like Black coral, all species of seahorses are prohibited from trade because their use in traditional medicines has severely threatened their survival.
Pulau Hantu has 2 varieties of Tigertail seahorse, above is the mottled variety. But whatever colour they feature primarily, all Tigertails have the distinct striped markings at the tip of their tails that give them their name.
Stay tuned to the blog to check out our cool videos from this dive! Coming soon!
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October 1, 2007
Keeping my fingers crossed during the week seemed to work. Bright sunshine and great visibility meant first timers on our trip were lucky to experience Hantu at one of its best. Above, diver Lee Wen descends into the depths.
Many on the first dive got to see lots of nudibranchs Reef Xplore guide Ming Sheng quoted “11 species” of nudibranch! I didn’t get to see that many species, but surely they seemed in a higher density than usual. Perhaps it was the sunlight that brought them out; not just illuminating them, but an organism called zoxanthellae that it ingests when feeding on coral produces sugars with the suns energy, much like plants and photosynthesis.
There were also several Icon Seastars – a rare and threatened species that occurs often in Hantu’s waters. The one above seems to have a parasitic mollusk attached to the surface of its body. These beautiful seastars became threatened simply because of the way they look. Unregulated and unmonitored harvesting for sale and collection as curio threatened this species survival. To be sure you don’t contribute to the trade, don’t buy any marine souvenirs wherever you are.
I’ve not photographed this critter for a long time – the butterfly whiptail is one of my favourite fish on Hantu’s reefs. It’s curious nature often brings it close to divers, especially when you remain absolutely still. Similar to another fish found on our reefs called the Paradise (White-shouldered) whiptail, the Butterfly whiptail is more strikingly coloured despite its more modest name.
A bright sun-shiny day is always good for appreciating Hantu’s amazing diversity of coral.
Tubeworms are another favourite of mine. Although they don’t have a very attractive name, their patterns, colourations and even behaviour can be fascinating to observe. One should take note that observing tubeworms requires ALOT of patience! If you settle along one for long enough, you will see how it orientates its feeding appendages to siphon out food from the passing water most effectively. Today I saw a truly tiny and adorable tubeworm just a few millimeters in diameter. It was easier to startle than its larger counterparts and so I was unable to photograph it.
Two of the “11 species” of sea slugs Ming Sheng accounted! On the left is the Gymnodoris nudibranch is “known from Indonesia and Singapore and recently reported from Hong Kong and Tanzania, this species has a wide Indo-West Pacific distribution. It has similarities in colour pattern to G. ceylonica but the orange spots are much larger and more densely arranged, the body is more elongate and the gills relatively small. There are also major anatomical differences”* On the right is the Phyllida seaslug, a common sighting on Hantu’s reefs. Some inidivduals have been found as large as a clenched fist! One wonders how many hydroids and years it took to create such a monstrous size!
This is just one of the 3 batfishes we saw today. Two of them were sighted just at the surface of the water near our boat. I cam across this individual just as we began the second dive. It was so conspicuously places above a crop of whipcoral that I just had to take a picture. However, my approach was poorly timed and I startled the resting fish which swam into the distance promptly (far left picture). Towards the end of the dive, as we reciprocated, I noticed the same individual had returned to the same coral outcrop to rest in the same position it had earlier. This time however, I timed my approach and kept taking pictures as I approached it. It was a wonderful experience to have been granted to opportunity to photograph it.
Finally, everyone’s favourite! The seahorse. Everyone wanted a seahorse today, and it was extremely stressful! No doubt most of our dives are blessed with seahorses, you never quite know when you are going to see one. Thanks to tips from the other reef guides though, I managed to find this one, clasped tightly onto coral, facing away from the camera. It’s not visible in the picture but this individual was “expecting”. Male seahorses are the ones that carry and “give birth” to young seahorses. Chay Hoon said he spotted another “expectant” dad on another location, which might mean it’s Spring time in the sea! Time to have lots of babies!
To round it off, I saw this shy and solitary Kite Butterflyfish (left) swim right past me as I was exiting the second dive. The above is a frame grab from a video I shot, hence the low resolution. It may look similar to the Copperbanded (Long beaked) Butterflyfish, but it differs with its “triangle shaped body, four brown bars on sides and a black ocellus (spot) on soft dorsal fin.”** It occurs solitary or in pairs, over reefs and also in estuaries, feeding on coral polyps and small invertebrates. It is a popular aquarium fish. The Kite Butterflyfish is less common than the Longbeaked, and while it is reputed to be found in pairs it is more often sighted solitary in Hantu’s waters. Don’t buy marine fish from aquarium shops unless it is certified that they have been farm reared. The picture on the right is a brilliantly-coloured polyclad flatworm strikingly contrasted against a red encrusting coral.
Stay tuned to the blog to see cool videos of underwater Hantu from this weekend’s dive!
* Source: The Sea Slug Forum
** Source: A Guide to Common Marine Fishes of Singapore
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