091230 Pasir Ris

Went to take a look at Pasir Ris after the news about the dead fish. Besides the garoupa from the fish farms, there were also many dead wild fish, a sad indication of what was out there.

Also took a look at the living creatures on the shore.


A strange stranded fish. It was still alive and seemed to recover somewhat when returned to water.


About a foot long.








It seems to have no eyes. Suggested by Ivan to be Taenioides gracilis.


Drill snails and eggs.


Kok Sheng found this razor clam. It has a rather interesting movement method which Kok Sheng captured on video.


Kok Sheng also found this bubble shell snail.


Strange worm.




Tiny Polychaete, about 1-1.5cm long.


The only peacock anemone I saw.


Kok Sheng found this purple sea cucumber.


Astropecten indicus. Quite a few of them on this shore.


Stichodactyla haddoni. There were a few of them along the beach. They are indicator organisms according to Kok Sheng (soft bodied and among the first to die due to low salinity) and so it is good that they are still doing well.


Not sure if I've seen this anemone before. It is about 1cm across including the tentacles and found on a log. Anthopleura?


Sea pen.


Holes in the dead logs make good hiding places.


Fiddler crab defending its mate in the burrow?




Quite a few of these dead pink eel-like fish along the bank of the canal outlet. They also appear to have no eyes but seem different from the living blind fish.








More dead fish.


Luckless parasitic isopod casualty.

091229 My room

Taken against my monitor using Marcus' super 5x macro lens. This insect is about 2.5-3mm long and seems to either have a taste for human blood or mistake my arm for a tree. It also seems to favor moving sideways rather than straight ahead. Anyone know what it is?

091224 Venus Drive

Christmas present from Venus Drive, the treetop village is back! Also, smaller clusters of the same mushrooms along the path before the treetop village.

One thing I realise, it is good to bring a second camera when shooting this species of mushroom. It doesn't glow very brightly and so exposures easily reach 5min or longer. A second camera allows the wait to be more productive and make the time go faster as well.


The treetop village under normal light.


Underside.


Topside.


Stray light from my torch lighting up the background as I was restlessly walking up and down the path to pass time during the obscenely long exposures.


Can you spot the snake?


snake with iridescent scales. Suggested by Marcus to be a Sunbeam Snake (Xenopeltis unicolor).


Huntsman spider.

091223 Venus Drive

Quite a satisfying night. We saw a snake, 2 geckos and many mushrooms. And we didn't even cover half the entire distance, stopping way short because we wanted to end early (which we didn't, spending a good hour on the frog because it stayed so still we could actually pick bits of loose grass off it).


Looks like a Golden-ringed Cat Snake (Boiga dendrophila). It was easily 2m long and completely unafraid of us, going about its own business with the air of an apex predator.


My first time seeing 2 Kendall's Rock geckos (Cnemaspis kendalli) together.


A pupa with the distinctive basket surrounding it. What insect is it?


A very still but not very well positioned Salticid.


Bioluminescent mushrooms dotted the landscape in greater numbers than during my first visit. Unfortunately we didn't see any large clusters as we didn't go all the way.


Damaged gills.


Against an orange-red sky.


Looks like a Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax).

091221 Botanic Gardens

Went to stretch legs after watching Avatar and showed my friend the rainforest walk at the Botanic Gardens.


My first photo of a Cicada.


Barklouse?


What tree is this?


Plenty of caterpillars on the handrails.


Twig-like feather-legged spider. It was green to the eye and strangely brown through the lens.


Argiope sp..




A couple of tiny beetles.




Wasps? One of them was feeding on the white flowers beside the Koi ponds near the Green Pavilion. That flower bush proved to be quite a nice place to look for bugs :


Salticid, very shy.


Most flies now bring to my mind the show "The Fly (1986)".


Plenty of iridescent flies on the bush.




Mantis nymph?