I Shall Wait For You…..

to come out again, Mr/Ms Mantis Shrimp…..

And true enough, patience paid off and here’s he/she peeking out of his/her hole!

More of the Mantis Shrimp and a video of it.

We were diving at the smaller western patch reef at Pulau Hantu with the The Hantu Bloggers last Sunday afternoon. My second time diving at this site and this time round, I get to go one round around the patch reef! Though visibility was still poor at about 1-1.5m, there were still lots of critters around! We then proceed to the bigger patch reef for our second dive.

Lots of nudibranch! From top-down: an unknown Aeolid nudibranch, Blue Dragon nudibranch(Pteraeolidia ianthina), Chinese Goniobranchus nudibranch(Goniobranchus sinensis), Black-margined nudibranch(Doriprismatica atromarginata), Striate Chromodoris nudibranch(Chromodoris striatella), Doto nudibranch(Doto sp.), Bullock's Hypselodoris nudibranch(Hypselodoris bullockii), probably a Verrier's Goniobranchus nudibranch(Goniobranchus verrieri), and Savigny's Goniodoridiella nudibranch(Goniodoridiella savignyi).

Many Flatworms too!

There's also Acoel Flatworm on some hard corals too.

Commensals like Allied Cowries, Shrimp, and Brittle Star can be found on Soft Corals, Sea Fans and Crinoids!

Sometimes, we can come across Spider Crab and Red Egg Crab.

Managed to find a Tiger-tail Seahorse toward the end of the 1st dive! This is the only decent shot that I managed to get before it swam into a crevice.

Glad to know that the Saddleback Anemonefishes are still at their usual site. Of course together with their shrimpy "housemates".

A Good Deal Not To Miss.....

GS-Diving offered a discounted price for this weekend dives at Pulau Hantu! Haha.....a good deal not to be missed and I get another chance to breathe compressed air. So, why not?

First dive was at the North jetty. The visibility still at about 1-1.5m. Same as two weeks ago when I was there. There was slight currents but still manageable. As usual, we tried to search for the Seahorses. However, I did not find the one that I saw during last trip at its usual spot.....Hmmm

Here's what I saw during first dive;

Shrimp on Sea Fan! Frontal and side views!

Plenty of Crinoids!

Besides Shrimps, you can find Allied Cowrie on Sea Fans too!

Came across a Carpet Eel Blenny and it has a parasite on its right eye! Eeks!

A Thorny Sea Cucumber.

Among the Staghorn Corals, you get to see the Bandit Coral Crab (Tetralia nigrolineata).

 

A Rudman's Phyllidiella nudibranch (Phyllidiella rudmani).

A Girdled Glossodoris nudibranch (Glossodoris cincta).

A Slender Ceratosoma nudibranch (Ceratosoma gracillimum).

A school of Silver Moonies under the jetty at the end of the first dive.

We went over to the west side of the island and this is the first time that I dive at the smaller patch reef (arrow pointing)!

Sadly, noticed that some corals on the reef flat are bleaching.

A Blue Dragon nudibranch (Pteraeolidia ianthina).

Quite a few of these yellow Doto nudibranch (Doto sp.) on the Hydroids!

Came across an unknown Aeolid nudibranch on another Hydroid too!

A Ocellate Phyllidia nudibranch (Phllidia ocellata).

A small Siboga Cuthona nudibranch (Cuthona sibogae) on one side of a Hydroid,

and a pair mating on another side of the Hydroid! 

A Crinoid with a Brittle star!

Spider crab hiding inside a hole.

One of the many colourful Ascidians.

Flatworm. 

A Gorgonian Wrapper Anemone on a Sponge instead of a Sea Fan! 

An Anemone Shrimp on a Giant Carpet Anemone sharing......

it with a cute but grumpy False Clown Anemonefish! :p

Glad to see this rarely seen Echinothrix Sea Urchin at Pulau Hantu! Think it's my first time seeing it here.

Haha.....though it is a small patch reef, still I was not able to make one round around it before I have to surface for departure. Hope I can come back to survey the other half that I did not get to explore!