Dr. Dan @ Mandai
Had the privilege of joining Siva and Airani as they brought Dr. Dan and his students to the Mandai mangroves for a spin this evening. It's always a pleasure listening to Siva speak about the mangroves (amongst other things), and the folks from Duke sure added a lot of excitement to the night. Going out with people like Dr. Dan, who is a fount of knowledge about seemingly everything, is simply wonderful. Not to forget the usual cast of critters out and about at night. Made for a really nice evening out!
Some things we saw...
These web-weaving spiders were everywhere! And it was all I could do not to stumble into the webs slung between the trees , branches and saplings. I think we startled this one into taking cover under a nearby leaf.
The fish-catching Wolf spider.
Episesarma singaporense, one of three species of the ever-present tree-climbing crabs, extremely active, out taking advantage of the darkness and the low tide to feed.
A very pretty Perisesarma. There were a couple of students from the marine biology lab who were looking at these crabs, and one of the things they were trying to do was figure out what the colourful bands on its face are for. I wonder what they found? Am not sure which species this is. Perhaps eumolpe?
The duller Thunder crab (?), which likes to wedge itself into crevices, and its other crabby friend nearby. Missed the introduction by Siva as I was busy snapping photos elsewhere. Hence have no idea what its scientific name is, or what it eats, though earlier he was joking about it only letting go if it hears a peal of thunder. Which led me to wonder about crabs and their auditory senses. Do crabs have ears???
A mudskipper sitting calmly on the ground while I snapped away at it from 20cm away. Something I always wonder about, since it's happened before, but only in the mangrove. The ones we find on the intertidal reefs are usually extremely skittish, and would never tolerate such a close presence.
Slimy slugs. Always a favourite of mine. These onchs are fat!
And another slimy mollusc. Under a log, we found these concentric circles, which Dr. Dan mentioned were someone's eggs. Not sure if this snail was laying them, or just happened to be passing by.
Dr. Dan's sharp (despite what he claims about them being on the decline) eyes spot a lovely Cerberus rynchops, the dog-faced water snake, in a pool. It calmly tolerated being picked up and remained still for a couple of photographs after being placed back gently into the pool.
The students looking around on the mudflat, with JB and its assorted vehicular/singing noises in the background. Tide coming up with a vengeance! At low tide, these mudflats (according to Siva) are the biggest and best remaining in the area, and it is here where the migrating birds seen at Buloh feed.
Sigh...the Mangrove Pit Viper continues to elude me... Still, it's something to look for the next time I go to the mangroves. :)
Some things we saw...
These web-weaving spiders were everywhere! And it was all I could do not to stumble into the webs slung between the trees , branches and saplings. I think we startled this one into taking cover under a nearby leaf.
The fish-catching Wolf spider.
Episesarma singaporense, one of three species of the ever-present tree-climbing crabs, extremely active, out taking advantage of the darkness and the low tide to feed.
A very pretty Perisesarma. There were a couple of students from the marine biology lab who were looking at these crabs, and one of the things they were trying to do was figure out what the colourful bands on its face are for. I wonder what they found? Am not sure which species this is. Perhaps eumolpe?
The duller Thunder crab (?), which likes to wedge itself into crevices, and its other crabby friend nearby. Missed the introduction by Siva as I was busy snapping photos elsewhere. Hence have no idea what its scientific name is, or what it eats, though earlier he was joking about it only letting go if it hears a peal of thunder. Which led me to wonder about crabs and their auditory senses. Do crabs have ears???
A mudskipper sitting calmly on the ground while I snapped away at it from 20cm away. Something I always wonder about, since it's happened before, but only in the mangrove. The ones we find on the intertidal reefs are usually extremely skittish, and would never tolerate such a close presence.
Slimy slugs. Always a favourite of mine. These onchs are fat!
And another slimy mollusc. Under a log, we found these concentric circles, which Dr. Dan mentioned were someone's eggs. Not sure if this snail was laying them, or just happened to be passing by.
Dr. Dan's sharp (despite what he claims about them being on the decline) eyes spot a lovely Cerberus rynchops, the dog-faced water snake, in a pool. It calmly tolerated being picked up and remained still for a couple of photographs after being placed back gently into the pool.
The students looking around on the mudflat, with JB and its assorted vehicular/singing noises in the background. Tide coming up with a vengeance! At low tide, these mudflats (according to Siva) are the biggest and best remaining in the area, and it is here where the migrating birds seen at Buloh feed.
Sigh...the Mangrove Pit Viper continues to elude me... Still, it's something to look for the next time I go to the mangroves. :)
Labels: Nature
posted by Wai at 8:47 AM
3 Comments:
Nice post, thanks for bringing a camera and taking photos!
The pleasure was all mine. It was a fantastic end to an otherwise dreary day. :)
Oops! Mr Budak thinks the first spider is in fact a lynx spider, due to its long hairy legs, long thin abdomen and small eyes. The behaviour, of hiding under the leaf when disturbed sounds about right. Thanks for the correction!
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