Of Stingray and Stonefish

15 May 2010 - Was out at 4am this morning to explore St. John's Island. Although initially a little bleary-eyed (I had to wake up at 2.30am), all feelings of sleepiness disappeared the moment I set foot on the island. St. John's Island is home to many beautiful marine life!

Marcus spotted this octopus gliding through the water. This fella was not at all shy, and allowed us to follow it around for quite a while.

We saw quite a number of this Red Egg Crab (Atergatis integerrimus) on the shore today. Also spotted in abundance this morning were Brown Egg Crabs (Atergatis floridus) and Mosaic Reef Crabs (Lophozozymus pictor). These Xanthid crabs are highly poisonous and should not be eaten.

Saron Shrimp (Family Hippolytidae). This is my first time seeing this colourful shrimp with beautiful patterns.

Chay Hoon spotted this Very Long Ribbon Worm (Baseodiscus delineatus). It's probably longer than 1m. I couldn't see where it starts or ends...

and here's another type of worm - the White-Orange Black Flatworm (Pseudobiceros uniarborensis).

This is the common, but still very beautiful, Blue-lined Flatworm (Pseudoceros sp.)

Kok Sheng found this strange slug which no one had ever seen before... hmm... could it be a new species?

Also seen today is this beautiful Ornate Leaf Slug (Elysia ornata).

And here's another first sighting for me - a Blue Dragon Nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina)! Isn't it beautiful? Am really happy to see one as I kept missing out when the rest spotted it on other shores.

Spider Conch (Lambis lambis). Saw a number of them today too...

James showed me this colony of Beaded Corallimorphs.

The only sea cucumber I saw today - Black Long Sea Cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota).

No idea what fish this is...

Another first sighting for me - a Blue-spotted Fantail Ray (Taeniura lymma)! Unlike most of its counterparts, this fish was not very shy, and actually swam right up to our feet!

We all got a little nervous when it came up close. See the barbs at its tail? We were afraid it might suddenly whip its tail and injure us!

And while we were distracted by the stingray, I suddenly noticed a stone that had white tips. Thinking that I might have imagined seeing a frowny face, I decided to bend over for a closer look. And what I saw made adrenalin course through my body - this is no doubt a stonefish, and Wee Hock's heel was less than 15cm from it!

This is what the Hollow-cheeked Stonefish (Synanceia horrida) looked like when I first spotted it. If not for its slightly opened mouth, we would have missed it altogether and one of us might accidentally step on it! *shudders*

Here's another shot of the stonefish. And today, for the first time, I actually saw the fish swim! Stonefishes usually stay perfectly still even when disturbed, but this fish actually swam away when we shone our torchlight on it. Check out Andy's blog for a cool video of what the stonefish is like underwater.

It was really creepy to find the stonefish, especially since we saw it immediately after a comment James made - "If I really have to step on one, I would rather it be a stingray than a stonefish." Of course, none of us would want to be stung by a stingray, stonefish, or any other animals for that matter! This is yet another timely reminder that we have to be extremely careful when out on the shore. Mother Nature is beautiful, but it can turn pretty nasty too!