Bintan Seashells

Hey peeps!

My dad just came back from Bintan and before he left, I kinda gave him a little "task" for his trip. Yup, it's to shell for me in Bintan. So, he has returned and given me the shell haul of his trip. It isn't alot but is all right considering the only time he shelled was the 15 minutes of spare time he had occasionally. In case you do not know where is Bintan, here's an map of the island that is 45 minutes away from Singapore. By the way, both places are world's apart so if you are planning to come to Singapore, you might want to stop by Bintan on the way. :)

 So here's a picture of the beautiful sunrise. Unlike the beaches in Singapore, Bintan boast beautiful, sandy beaches and crystal clear waters.

 This is his shell haul, Bintan Seashells. I guess the best of this collection is the miter, olive and auger. frankly speaking, I have no idea what their exact species is but will have to research and will return to you asap. :) There are also many black-lipped conches, nerites, top shells and a dog conch.

 Bintan is situated southeast of Singapore. Apparently, I think its under a scheme in which Singapore and Indonesia jointly develops the Riau islands. Another island worth taking a look is Batam, south of Singapore. This island has superb seafood such as see haam (blood cockles) as large as a fist (ok, maybe not so huge but its not less than half a fist thats for sure), live fishes, mantis shrimps. The most famous is 933, or九三三 seafood.

I'm not sure of this photo's credibility but I guess its possible, probably in some secluded area of Bintan. Enjoy :)

Punggol Point Trip 3

Hello!

   As promised, there will be a blog post on my shelling trips. So here it is, managed to visit punggol point again. One lesson learnt though, never go to the beach for shelling during high tide. I didn't have a really great shelling trip but did manage to find some shells that were never seen on the beach before. :)

 So here is the beautiful Sunset i managed to catch. Luckily, the weather was perfect for such photos. I got many of these. :)

 This is one of the usuals, the jingle shells. Found about 10 of these. Due to the high tide, i could only comb the upper swash line which is quite sad... T_T

 And here it is, a Lineated Nerite. This one's alive but i managed to find an empty one later. It was still high tide so speaks alot on the snail's ability to tolerate heat.

 The shell "colony". There was a Chinaman's hat shell but i decided not to pick it as it was a juvenile. :)

 And the pick of the day! An Olive shell!!! It was lying within a shell clump and i almost missed it! However, i'm not so sure if it is a native species since the sand here is reclaimed.

 The shell and coral.

 The coast was covered with sea almond trees. I used to use the dried leaves and soak it in water. It stains the water tannin brown and is really good for Fighting fishes.

 Sunset again...

 And again... i guess this is my fave . the beach looks so clean!

 And the water is really clean too! By now the tide ws receeding real quickly. The sand bar offshore was also slowly showing.

 The end of the shore. By now i guess it's 7.15pm. Suprisingly, the beach is pristine so is the water. Kinda like those in Bintan.

 Haha! Found this stick in the sand and wrote this on the sand. I also left it on the shore for those who sees it to figure out who wrote it! :P

 Barnacles. Acorn barnaclesto be exact. These guys managed to colonise the whole tree root. Btw, the whole tree is uprooted and long dead.

 The sand bar. It seems to inch closer to the shore after during every visit. I eventually managed to step onto it when the tide had receeded far enough.

 And just for the record, another Melongena Shell!!! This guy was feeding when Iyanked him out but I am really apologetic as it was totally an accident.

 This is Johore. Highly industrialised Johore. You can also see Serangoon Island in the centre.

 And at 7,45pm, i managed to take a snapshot of thewater beneath. Crystal clear. This is interesting... -From the Jetty.

 Worm Shell. Thit time, it is empty. (The last time I colected one still had its resident in it. Oops. )

Keyhole Limpet. You do see many of them along the shore d to the high number of sponges in the intertidal area in which they reputedly feed on.

And two lovely pink clams. the clam on the top is much richer in colour.

So here it is, the day's haul. It isn't really alot but i'm pleasantly suprised at the range of shells available since I have never seen many of these species around before. :)

Cones

Hello!

    Well, its the start of the one-month holiday! Yipee! Well, to kick it off, lets have the first blog post on CONES. Well, these are the current ones in my collection, of which most of them come from the Indo-Pacific Region. Thes are also found in the intertidaol region so you would probably come across them while beach combing or snorkelling. Oh! BUT BE VERY CAREFUL, some of them are highly poisonous and you would rather chose not to place it in your pocket while shelling. Hmm...most of the larger ones are bought from shell dealers but the majority of the smaller ones are from the shores of Asia.
(Hi Pam! :) )

 So here's my collection. Apologies for the poor photo quality. Err...it isn't alot of them too. :) All together, there are 23 species represented here. Majority of them come from the "pearl of the orient', philippines and more specifically, Cebu.

 This is the first five, in a clockwise direction, we have:
1) Fig Cone, Conus figulinus. This guy's from Bohol in the Philippines.
2) Textile Cone, Conus textile. Shenzhen, China. This is one of the most venomous species around, beware :). These shells are usually found amongst coral rubble, reefs and sometimes sand bars. According to the shell dealer, most of the seashells come from Hainan Island so i guess it would be a better choice for shelling.
3) Beech Cone, Conus betulinus. Shenzhen, China. This species is similar to the flea-bitten cone.
4) Lettered Cone, Conus literatus. Sabah, Malaysia. These shells are usually found corals.
Btw, most cones are found along sandy shores, coral rubble and corals so finding one in a mangrove is usually just someone playing a trick on you. :P
5) Banded Marble Cone, Conus marmoreus bandanus. This species is one of the most diverse, with numerous subspecies so it is better to have a guidebook beside you while identifying them.

Three Filipinos, One Malaysian and One Chinese...
Similarly, in clockwise direction:
1) Geography Cone, Conus geographus. Shenzhen, China.
2) Rayed Cone, Conus radiatus. Purchased at Shoemart, Philippines. The approximate size of this shell is probably 3/4 fist long... :)
3) Striated Cone, Conus striatus. Another Filipino shell. This species is usually harder to find along the shoreline. (Actually, all these are hard to find on an average beach :P)
4) Imperial Cone, Conus imperialis. This species is a highly variable species so do look up the internet for the widest range of varieties!
5) Virgin Cone, Conus virgo. This is the Malaysian from Sabah. There is a similar looking species that is whiter and larger. :)

 Boomz...here is the next seven...
1) Tesselate Cone, Conus tessulatus. similar to the ivory cone, this species distinguished by it's orange hue. Filipino
2) Ivory Cone, Conus eburneus. This species is strikingly similar to the beech cone and sometimes, have the same colour! However, this guy has more spots than the other.
3) Err, this one I'm not really sure... but i guess it is a magus cone? Conus magus. I looks similar but I will need to check this thing out.
4) Omaria Cone, Conus omaria. This species is similar to the Princely Cone. Filipino... Geez :)
5) Marble Cone, Conus marmoreus. Ah Ha! this is the one that i've been talking about. This cone is the representative subspecies of the marmoreus family. It is also highly poisonous. Oh, but he's Thai. Got him from the Weekend market in Bangkok.
6) Err...frankly speaking, i have no idea what this species is but i suspect it's a Striated Cone variant.  Oops... :P  He Is Malaysian.
7) General Cone, Conus generalis. Another Filipino. I have not polished this guy yet but the shells are usually more colourful and bright.

 And the last five...
1) Glaucous Cone, Conus glaucous. Found him in a basket of seashells in Cebu. Certain books rate this shell as a category 3 shell (relatively rare) but i guess it's not. It seems pretty common...
2) Noble Cone, Conus nobilis. This is my fave. He was COLLECTED along the shores of Bohol on the early morning. Another subspecies of this one would be the Victor Cone, or Conus nobilis victor which is the "handsomer" of the two
3) Oops again... my apologies but i guess this is yet to be identified by me yet even though it has followed me for 6 YEARS!
4) Hebrew Cone, Conus ebraeus. This species is one of the most commonly collected cones. Found him in Cebu (or is it Bohol?)
5) and 6) I am seriously pai seh (embarrassed) right now. I have not found out the names of these cones. No. 5 is from the Philippines and No. 6 is from Vietnam...

WOW... i have finished it! :) Err...appealing to all viewers out there! :) If you do know the names of the unidentified cones, please feel free to drop a comment in my "comments box". 
Hee hee, felt as is i was writing an essay or publishing a book on Cones. Haha :) :)
(Hi Pam, here's the cones that I have. So sorry for the numerous unidentified cones. :) I will try my best to help you identify as many shells as possible and do feel free to email/blogpost your seashells! Have a great day!) :)

Moon Snails

hello!

As there was a annular solar eclipse today, I decided that we might as well celebrate all things MOON!!! Yup, the moon snails are one of the more common gastropods along our local shores and i thought might as well we do something to remember this day!

 Dang, i can't rotate it! :(

Floating Land

Hello!

As promised, I will set this blog post more for mangroves. So here it is. Went to visit a "secret place" in Singapore. It is in the middle of the Johore Straits and thus, no seashells. :( However, there were numerous mangroves around and so were their seeds. :) So here is a small intro on the days activities!

 So here's the only shell found today! The African Giant Land Snail. found it along the grassy patch near the carpark and it was clean of residue.

 halfbeaks that are near the harbour. They can also be found elsewhere with the archer fish.

 Archer Fish and green chromide lazing about near the harbour... these are the salt water species.

 The dock. Behind is Coney Island. It is slated to be a nature reserve soon! Majority of the plants would be the rhu tree...

 These live drills were found along the side of the harbour walls. I guess it was low tide when I arrived.

 Coney Island again, this time while we are on the boat!

 The Country Club.

 Punggol beach/park. The whole stretch here is lined with cages of granite rock.

 The western wing of Punggol Park, this is the stretch which i usually visit for my shelling trips!

 Eastern Wing. Much more sandy beaches.

 Nightmare and Sweet dreams, OBS Harbour. this was the harbour we mistook as the one we were supposed to dock at and ended up getting everyone chised off... :)

 Pulau Ketam. This whole island is covered in mangroves and is split into two islands during the high tide!

 More mangroves...

 Ah Ha! The rhizophora sp. mangroves. This is probably where most of the seeds collected were from. Look at the impressive root mat of the plants!

 Some of the mangrove seeds that were found. I think most of them were rhizophora but will have to check again. I will probably create another blog post to that has their identities. :)

 Beautiful. Pulau Ubin in the background. I actually kayaked past this area during OBS but never had the chance to snap a photo. Well, tha place was so relaxing it felt like a dream. Everything is so slow and calm. The dogs there were also very friendly too. :)

 Hee hee! A boat named as this! CHIO BU!!! Maybe if i had a boat i would name it chiobu too.

 So here are the mangroves. I have separated them by colour and shape. the ones second from the left on the top row have a squarish cross section. Rhizophora sp.

A close up view. this photo is snapped in my room.

I really enjoyed the visit there today! It was like a quick retreat after being bombed by poor results from the past exam... T_T Still, enjoyed the family time with my family, Ah Kong, Ah Mah, Xiao Yi, Pa, Ma, Hannah etc... I will probably be going back there again so hope to bring more interesting stuff the next time! :)