Noteworthy fishes of Singapore 18 February 2009
Posted by cat64fish in Local narcosis.1 comment so far
I managed to get a paper (article 12 on the list) published in “Nature in Singapore“, and e-journal edited and published by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. It documents 5 fishes recorded in Singapore that we’ve seen during surveys of the coral reefs. Three are new records, namely the titan triggerfish, Janss’ pipefish and humphead bannerfish. Of the remaining two, the polka dot grouper had not been observed live by divers locally, although two specimens exist in RMBR; the banded goby was previously reported by other researchers, but strangely, no specimen or photograph exists of it, until now.
It still amazes how much our marine environment, just a stone’s throw away from where most of us live, still harbours such beauties. Makes me wonder what else is out there.
Other “new” finds …. Lots of nudi’s at Colourful Clouds blog; sea stars on the Wild Shores blog and many more, I expect.
Eagle rays! 3 February 2009
Posted by cat64fish in Overseas high.1 comment so far
Another :shark” photo … ok, strictly speaking not a “shark”, but close enough 
These six eagle rays were cruising through a channel at Gam, Rajah Ampat, at about 10m of water. I had to swim perpendicular into the strong current to get the middle of the channel, and just in front of the school. Then, I had to face into the current (so that the rays were in front of me) and just went along with the flow of the current, to get this shot. Water wasn’t very clear – we were plagued by sedimented waters throughout our 10-day stay there.
Sneaky guitar ray 3 February 2009
Posted by cat64fish in Overseas high.2 comments
Inspired by Southern Fried Science, I thought I’d post some of my “shark” shots. Here’s a funny one.
I was on a live aboard to 7 Skies wreck and we had stopped by Kuantan Wreck. A couple of divers who had been here before were eager to be the first in the water to catch sight of a guitar ray, which they claimed would be scared away by the crowd of divers if they didn’t get in first. So off they went, with my following leisurely behind. And Lo! there was the guitar ray, which was hiding in a crevice in the wreck, that the first two did not see! As it streaked out of it hidey hole, I managed to snap one picture (on my trusty point-and-shoot Canon S50) of it sneaking past the divers in front
Permanent head Damage 3 February 2009
Posted by cat64fish in Land-lubber.Tags: studies
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I’ve gone and done it … I signed up for the graduate programme at NUS, and am now attending classes and worrying about my CAP and all that. Only time will tell if I was “brave” (as someone put it), or foolish.
Yea me 
