divejunkie goes to Cyrene!!

After last night's frenzy while I was basically taking my room apart to find my track pants (which is still MIA), was kinda in an un-excited frame of mind when I woke up this morning for the trip. Considering the pre-dawn meeting time, the entire bunch of us were rather chirpy albeit a little nonsensical with our brain (synapses?) not fully functioning yet.

No photos for now since I am slow in my photo processing flow TT_TT But I thought I would just quickly post up some thoughts about my first time doing an intertidal on a patch reef ^^ (Especially since the rest are churning out their picture/video packed entries one after another!) Have been hearing and reading quite a bit about the Cyrene reefs, from lab seniors and fellow volunteers, and she certainly hasn't failed to deliver. From when we were still on the boat, waiting for the smaller boat to fetch the 2nd batch of us over to the landing area at the sandbar, a (eagle?) ray just leaped out of the water! It was one of those split-second-suspended-in-time kinda thing. Happened so fast yet so clearly! Seems like Cyrene was welcoming us back to her shores!

Told CH that I wanted to see the Melibe sp. opisthobranch, and she promptly spotted one and hollered for me. *yay* Having seen one in real life, I managed to spot a smaller one all by myself too! While making my way over to the Melibe sp., was distracted by the many many knobblies (Protoreaster nodosus), and Kenneth even spotted one that looked like a uberly pale version of the Pentaceraster mammillatus aka evil star that was in the news recently. Though after showing the photos around and some discussion, this pale yellow one may turn out to be yet another species! Dr Lane has been contacted, and we eagerly await his response to this unique star we saw. Too bad none of the dark "evil" P.mammillatus were seen.

There's another trip out tomorrow while I'm out on a dive and I hope they would see even more things that they can share with us ^-^ I will try to put up a more detailed entry with photos some time soon! Stay tuned!

EDIT:
this divejunkie of a fish is stuck at Semakau landfill for most of the weekend (and yes, I do mean MOST since it's an overnight), likely to be back with even more photos *geh* so the proper Cyrene blog entry and photos would only appear late next week after I do a summary of the Sedili weekend... Gomen-nasai for being so slow with the photos....

Click for the rambling...

Review: Nudi books

Being the nudist (meaning 'seaslug lover' NOT 'exhibitionist'!!) I am, I am a *somewhat abashed* owner of THREE nudibranch books!! (amongst other nature books) And for those of you who know how much they cost and how I tend to build my own personal library of sorts, you probably can "value" my really messy room. ^^ The latest addition being the Nudibranch Encyclopedia by Neville Coleman. Having a spot of free-ish time now (before the April-June) madness busy-ness descends, so shall do a quick and rough comparison between (and a somewhat review of)Coleman's latest and his previous 1001 Nudibranchs book. The covers look pretty much the same but the first difference is in the thickness and weight. 1001's a mere 144 pages and soft cover, whereas NE's nearly 4 times that at 416 pages and hard cover. A tad bit hefty for a field guide, especially when your dive gear already takes up so much space and weight (not to mention your cameras and other assorted barang-barangs). Plus, most divers are more of generalists than nudists per se, meaning if they wanna bring along their ID books, it would be for quite a few critters... So the new kid book on the block suffers the first blow of being less portable, but how does it do content-wise?

Firstly, the section describing the main features of the different seaslugs now has labeled photographs instead of diagrams to indicate the names of the different anatomical portions of the sluggers. Much less detail as compared to 1001 that even includes the type of cerata. Guess quite a few of the features are difficult to see in the field, and the general audience wouldn't be so concerned with knowing where the seminal groove is or how the abulmen gland is wrapped round the digestive gland.

Not much changes were made to the section on habitats, well, except that in NE, the portion on open ocean opisthobranchs is omitted, and even the part on zoogeography was taken out. And on the other hand, the portion(s) on nudibranch behavior has been expounded upon. More details and insights into the 5 senses of opistobranchs, respiration, locomotion, defence strategies, and the topic we all love to hear about, sex. I like the change in the section on feeding where more photos of slugs in action instead of static shots of their known food. Stuff like what we observed at Hantu recently. Sections in 1001 that I miss having are stuff like the details on the slug look alikes like flatworms, lamellarins, onchs, allied cowries, etc.; as well as the section on associations from slug hitch-hikers to parasites. Also the not-so-relevant-but-fun/nice-to-know section on photographing nudis is also gone. Well, considering the number of good photos that plague Dr Rudman on the seaslug forum, guess most of the nudists already know the basics.

And now we get to the meat of the books. The slug parade!! The arrangement of the sluggie information is now alphabetically (family then genera then species) in NE instead of in decreasing complexity of the opistobranchs as it was in 1001. Furthermore, NE has around double the number of photos compared 1001!!! No wonder there was so much delay from the initial Christmas 2007 release date. Having the names arranged alphabetically does make things way easier to find, since we have had the alphabet ingrained into us from young. Figuring out and trying to remember the slug complexity hierarchy would easily give anybody a headache, and when you factor in the constant updating of species and all.... Also, in NE, the non-nudi opistobranchs are presented first, which is the opposite of 1001 where it was nudis first, other slugs later...

So aside from the new photos and new species recorded, what else is "new" in NE? Larger photos to oogle at and glomp. More details and descriptions on features of the species, and as far as possible, photos of juveniles and eggs are also included. Definitely moving away from being merely a field ID book to more of a proper reference book. Can't wait for the day when the encyclopedia would have expanded into a multi-volume set with all the down-and-dirty on seaslugs. That would be like putting the entire seaslug forum into print~~~~ Look! Even my plushies are intrigued by it! And nice and set to become nudists themselves!
Intrigued by nudibranchs but not so hot on getting the details on names and all? Here's another good read:
Both the Nudibranch Encyclopedia and the Nudibranch Behaviour books can be ordered from I-NSC. 1001 Nudibranchs is no longer available since it's supposed to be updated with NE. And no, I am not being commissioned for any of these books. They really are good reads!

Click for the rambling...

Introducing our nudibranchs! 「シンガポールのウミウシ」

Have been dragging out this post for like ages now, especially since I wanted this to be part of my IYOR mini-project series.... Guess that would have to wait (yet again), so that this entry doesn't end up being one of my to-be-blogged-but-never-made-it-onto-ASHIRA entries...

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Be it while walking the intertidals or while diving here in Singapore, the one organism that never ever fails to intrigue me (no matter how many times I see them) are the nudibranchs and their fellow seaslug relatives. Definitely WAY WAY WAY sexier than their landlocked slug relatives! The word "nudibranch" is a mix of Latin and Greek, meaning "naked gills". So these little sluggies that I love so much are actually just shell-less snails! In fact, thery ARE related to marine snails and some of their opisthobranch (Greek for "behind gills") relatives still retain some sort of shell. But to me, nudibranchs are pretty much butterflies of the sea. Their colorfulness, graceful swimming, and their widespread appeal to divers all over the world, just seems so butterfly-like. It's not surprising that I also find butterflies fascinating! =^-^= That's a story for another time... Let's get back to introducing some of these colorful critters found in our tiny island locale.

(1) Jorunna funebris ブチウミウシ Those who follow Neville Coleman's books on nudibranchs would know this bloke as the funeral Jorunna. I prefer to call it "oreo cookie nudibranch" - because it reminds me of many Oreo cookies with all their creamy goodness spilling out in a great big pool! These nudis are commonly found in tidal pools when the tide is out, as well as when diving, and there are times in the year when we are really lucky to see them in the process of procreating! While some people with more sensitive skin are allergic to sponges, this species FEEDS on blue sponges. Thinking of the spicules (glass-like pokey bits) found in sponges, I can only imagine how tough their mouth parts and stomach are!

(2) Glossodoris atromarginata キイロウミウシ Another species of nudibranchs that also feed on sponges is the black-marginated Glossodoris. Like the Jorunna funebris, it is also a commonly seen denizen of our coral reefs. A literal translation of its Japanese name can be taken to be "yellow colored nudibranch", and from the photo on the right I am sure you can tell why! The main body color ranges from a very pale yellowish off-white to the nice creamy butter yellow seen above.

(3) Pteraeolidia ianthina ムカデミノウミウシ Serpent Pteraeolidia, is known locally as the blue dragon, and can sometimes be mis-identified as a Flabellina sp. as they look rather similar at first glance. Unlike the first 2 nudis introduced above, this species of nudibranchs possess zooxanthellae, and can photosynthesize, just like hard corals and giant clams!! They are extremely common and as many as 15-20 individuals can be spotted in a single dive or approximately 40 minutes!! I kid you not!! Given that our local waters are NOT known for their sparkling clarity, you are probably wondering how they managed to proliferate if they just photosynthesize... Just like hard corals and giant clams, the zooxs are not the sole food source of the blue dragon. They also feed on the nasty stingy hydroids that a really a dime-a-dozen here. Sometimes we even spot some small juveniles that are mostly white, lacking the zooxanthellae (see below). That's all for now. Would definitely be back with more slug goodness!! More photos of nudibranchs and other seaslugs can be found here:
http://flickr.com/photos/juanicths/sets/72157602810022239/
http://flickr.com/photos/juanicths/sets/72157602811360563/

Click for the rambling...

Nudibranchs Encyclopedia

IT IS HERE IN SINGAPORE!!!! Thanks to Ivan for delivering it to office ^^ As well as making me one of the first few in Singapore to receive it!! *goes into fangirl mode* Rather heavy hardcover book but more nudi photos to oogle and glomp~~~ Photos much bigger that those in the 1001 Nudibranchs book.... Ria of WildSingapore has contributed a number of photos too (and is mentioned in the special thanks!), meaning Singapore slugs have made their mark in the book too!! Quite a thrill to see ^^ Shall I do a review of it? hmmm....


Order from I-NSC now!!

Click for the rambling...