Super Low at Labrador

The Wildfilms crew visited Labrador at super low last saturday. I was unfortunately unable to join them, as we were doing a Reefwalk out at Kusu (which was pretty amazing as well, but what things I missed!). Fortunately, Ria has kindly offered to share her photographs of some of the fascinating things exposed by the -0.1m tide. All photographs in this post were taken by her. Thanks, Ria! :)


They found FIVE seahorses on Labrador.


AND a HAIRY filefish! So the hairy crabs are not the only hairy things on Labrador. Filefish, also known as leatherjackets, have skin that is quite rough to touch, hence their name (file as in nail file, I guess - but i doubt the fish themselves would make good nailfiles! :p). As you can see, this one is covered by thick black hairs. He's quite colourful underneath too, blue-green all over.

And then there's the rather unusual assortment of small slimy things (which I seldom see on Labrador)...

A flatworm.

And some slugs! I'm still trying to find out what the tiny snot-green one on the left is, but the one on the right has been spotted quite frequently all over Singapore's shores recently. Glossodoris artromarginata is pale yellow, with the distinctive frilly black margin. The gills on its back swivel back and forth in the water, appearing to rotate. When startled or when picked up by an overly curious Homo sapiens, it can withdraw its gills and rhinopores (that's the 2 black things on its head, which are used to sense food or chemical signatures in the water) into its body. How cute is that? :)

The superlow tide also revealed some lovely corals at the fringe, which are usually still covered by water. Ria got some fantastic shots of them. More will be written about them soon, so keep checking back!