110619 Terumbu Selegi

Terumbu Selegi is the place to find Phymanthus anemones. They could be found in all variations here. Another very common find here would be the long black sea cucumbers (Holothuria leucospilota).


Some Phymanthus like this one demonstrate very well why sea anemones are hexacorallians. They have six lines of symmetry.






Phymanthus and more Phymanthus.


And a sand Phymanthus.



And a tiny Phymanthus (8 mm diameter) that was completely covered by rock (both photos of the same individual). I found another one later.

As they resembled the sand Phymanthus, including the orange-red body column, and that sand Phymanthus tend to be smaller than the green varieties, I'm making a wild guess that it is possible the sand Phymanthus are the younger Phymanthus or Phymanthus that somehow lost its rock cover while growing up and therefore the same thing as all the other Phymanthus we see. Dr Daphne has also mentioned before that she believed the sand Phymanthus to be the same thing as the other Phymanthus.


However this green Phymanthus was much smaller than usual, so anything still goes...


Kok Sheng and Meilin showed me this three-spot damselfish (Dascyllus trimaculatus) in a Stichodactyla gigantea. I first saw it on Semakau but could not get a decent shot in the murky waters there.


Carpet eel blenny.


Acropora coral.


Tetralia nigrolineata in the Acropora coral.


Corallimorph carpet.


Ivan was the rockflipping king today:


He found this strange sea star


a large heart urchin (Maretia sp.)



and this pair of spider crabs. Cute couple dressing alike.


Kok Sheng and Meilin also found this cryptic sea star.


Large cluster of Holothuria leucospilota.


This black sea cucumber was found under a rock and might be a young black long cucumber.


Eriphia ferox.



The same octopus changing clothes in a flash.


Elysia ornata. Found in sand far from any seaweed.


Discodoris boholiensis.


Phyllidiella pustulosa.


Phyllidiella nigra.


Jorunna funebris.


Glossodoris atromarginata.


Very long ribbon worm (Valenciniidae).


Trochus niloticus. I saw 2 and Rene found a third one so they should be pretty common here.


These Eunice reef worms seem pretty common too. They creep out of their holes to look for seaweed and the moment the grab a mouthful of seaweed, they retreat in a flash into their holes.