I'm Back! Bintan Shelling Expedition 1

OMG people!

    I have just returned from a major shelling trip in... Bintan! Thats right, if you do not know where is Bintan, do check out my previous post on Bintan Shells. So, what did I do? Ok, every major holiday, we would usually go somewhere for a major shelling trip and I have had a HUGE haul from the whole trip. One luggage full so we really had to be careful not to smash the fragile ones. So, if you are planning a shelling trip in Southeast Asia, just a word for you, Never expect anything from an Indo-Pacific beach... what do I mean? It means that you will never be able to get the "ideal" shell haul from the beach. It may be much better (in my case) or worse so don't prepare anything or thinkn you will collect this or that shell because it may not even appear. For example, I found only one pathetic Spider Conch for the whole entire trip but I found many other shells like a Enlongate Janthina, Strawberry Cockle... and many others (ok, they may be common but its a first time for me! :) ) So in total, I have made 4 major shelling trips and 4 minor ones (major = more than an hour) and I guess all the sandfly bites were pretty worth it and the shelling trips helped me to get a nice tan. :P
So here is the first 2 trips. These were held on the beautiful beaches of Eastern Bintan, Trikora region. The sea is lovely and crystal clear and best of all, the low tide stretches like hundreds of metres offshore! Sadly, the haul from this section wasn't too good but when I went over to the other side, it was a whole new experience...

 So here it is, Bintan Cabana Resort... a 50 minute ride away from the ferry terminal. Along the way we went past beautiful shorelines and coast.

 And as a welcome gift, we had a rainbow! The best part is it was not and did not rain even though we got the rainbow!

 My sister and I shelling... the sun now isn't that hot :) we did not find many shails, just some bivalves and certain cerith shells that are usually occupied by hermit crabs. The sea was pretty calm so not many shells were washed onshore. :(

All of a sudden, Dad tells me that there is a better beach at the Eastern Wing of the beach! I did not take this photo and regretfully, did not take any photos of the shells there either but the mostly were Ark shells and Black Lipped Conches. I also did find many One-toothed Turban Shells. :)

 7a.m., I wake up in the morning... But it's not Friday. :) The shoreline is filled with thousands of Mud Cerith Shells!

 The first find of the day! A Whelk!

 Ceriths again... the white one is a Common Vertagus.

 And Woo Hoo! A Giant Clam! this guys a juvenile, about the size of a fist. A Giant Clam (This is its name! )

 And we have hundreds of Soldier crabs!

 A pair here...

 This is what I found on the rocks, a Melongena Shell and a Bituberculate Rock Shell!

 The resort...I am now easily 80 metres away from the shore.

 Haiz... What a relaxing place...

 And In the afternoon, thr tide rises and this is what you get. Crystal clear water for hundreds of metres out!

 My resort room.

 This is the western end of the coast. Apparently, it is filled with mangroves for a section so we decided to explore it. There weren't many shells in the mangroves though...

And relaxation for the sore back at last... I did visit the Eastern end of the coast but again, did not photograph anything there but I did find a Spider Conch! I also found a Straberry Cockle and over two dozens of Black Lipped Conches. The same few (Ark, One-toothed) were there coupled on with a few Cardita Clams! I will be showing you the photos of what I have collected very soon! Also, this blog will be updated on the other few shelling trips soon so stay close! The next few will not be in Trikora but Lagoi and I have lots to tell! With that, good night! :)

RAWLZ from the Caribbean!

Hi!

    So, here is what the title is all about...
    During my last trip to South Africa in June 2010 (I missed the World Cup T_T...), I managed to come across a lady who sold seashells. As I was looking through the choices, my Mum suddenly passed this shell to me and it was gorgeous. A Lion's Paw Scallop! This is the only Caribbean shell I have in my collection. Apparently, it was shipped in so it cost about $12. It is fully orange with a hue of purple in its interior. It is the size of my palm! (about 15 to 18cm) It seems that they are found on sandy beaches in Florida and the Caribbean Islands. So here's some photos for you to enjoy! :)

 The ins and outs... I give it a grade "GOOD" since there are minor flaws...

Orange!!!

Seashells of the Indo-Pacific

Hello!

    I'm really apologetice for being so blogger-inactive. Have been running tons of errands and stuff this holiday. So since i've not been visiting the beach lately and thus, no new shell hauls, I thought maybe I should do a post on Indo-Pacific seashells. (The photo on the right was taken on one of my trips to Mauritius. The Pearly Nautilus cost a bomb! $40 for a shell! :( )

   

 Bubble Conches, Euprotomus Sp.

    So the first 3 shell you will probably encounter on a sandy shore with corals further out at sea are these Bubble Conches. ( Top Picture ) The first one is Euprotomus vomer (Vomer's Conch), the second one is Euprotomus bulla (Smooth Bubble Conch) and the third one is euprotomus aurisidianae (ark Diana Conch). All three species are superficially similar at the first look but if you pay attention to the colour of each species, the actually differ. The texture of the shells are also different, the roughest being the Dark Diana Conch and the smoothest, you guessed it, the Smooth Bubble Conch. They all live in the same habitat, sandy shores with corals or coral rubble so its really worth taking a closer before you give the verdict that your shell is a Vomer's conch. :)

 Venus Clams, Meretrix Sp.

     So, this family is called the Venus Clams. So, going in a clockwise direction, we have Meretrix lusoria (Common Orient Clam), Meretrix meretrix (Common Venus Clam) and Meretrix lusoria (I call this dark coloured variety Chocolate Venus Clam :) ) Similarly, they all survive in similar habitats like mudflats, sandy shores. The most common one we have in Singapore, the LA LA! I guess we differentiate them by the presence of a black streak along the side of the shell for the Common Venus Clam.

     Harp Shells. This family has given me the most headache. Apparently, you would have to identify them by the type and number of streaks on the inside of the shell. So the one on the left is Harpa major (Major Harp) and the one on the right is Harpa harpa (True Harp). They all live within the same habitat. the other species are much more similar looking so have fun identifying your shells! :)

     Jewel Boxes. These guys are the hardest to find on a shore. Chama lazarus (Lazarus Jewel Box) is shown above. They can be found amongst corals or rocks, depending on what species you are looking for. Perfect specimens are extremely rare.

 Olive Shells, Oliva Sp.

The final one shown here is the olive shells. The largest one is still under identification and so is the white one. The two orange ones, I suspect, are Orange Ornate Olives (Check blog post on Changi East) These snails love the sand and you can usually see their tracks along the sand at low tide.

:)

Reticulate Distorsio

Hi!

Yup, sorry I wasn't able to show you my favourite find yesterday. So here it is! A Reticulate Distortio Shell, Distorsio reticularis. I guess this is the first distorsio I have in my collection. Tried to look up for information in it on the web but can't seem to find much except one from seashellhub.com. Apparently, it is found on sandy shores which are less disturbed. Its colour ranges from white to slightly brownish-yellow. gastropods.com also provides 4 photos for you to identify the shells. Family Personidae, Genus Distorsio. It feeds on echinoderms and lives on sandy shores under coral bits. If any readers have information on its feeding habits, please feel free to comment! :)

:) Hope you will find your own distorsio too! :)

Changi East Trip

HHHHEEEELLLLLLLLOOOOOO!

I am extremely tired and worn out from where Dad and I went to today. Yup, since you've seen this title, I went to the extreme east of Singapore. The coast of Changi East is uninhabited ant the beaches are pristine, althought eh water may be slightly murky. In any case, it is by far the BEST PLACE TO SHELL in Singapore but there's a catch, you would need to find your way in first. So, as people wo have never entered this region before, we decided to follow google maps to enter the forest. I would have to repeat that we did not expect the trail in to contain swamps, huge lallangs, prickly creepers, and anything that you will never expect. In summary, the entrance to the coast was to BASH THROUGH THE FOREST. (We did eventually find an easier way to exit but by then it was too late.) So in any case, here is the whole recap of what happened today...

 So here it is. We begin by parking the car at the SAF Yacht Club. According to google maps, we were supposed to follow along the army training camp for a short distance and then later turn right. This is the scene when we first enter the forest. There is a huge expanse of tall grass. This does not look like singapore but it is. It was about 9,30a.m. when the photo was taken.

 This is the forest. Doesn't this remind you of like a scene in some WuXia movie or like one on vampires or something. Further down, we would hit a Casurina forest, indicative if the coast.

 We detoured around and somehow or rather ended up in a large expanse of lallang. At this point I would like to say that it is rare to find any grass in Singapore that is taller than your ankle but these guys were TALLER THAN ME! (Btw, I am 170cm tall :P )

 Initially, we saw this patch of sea  lettuce and thought that the coas was not far away... We were hell wrong. It was actually a swamp land in which while trying to navigate across, I fell in and lost my glasses... Luckily Ah Pa found it after 15 minutes.. :)

 And all of a sudden, this huge Attacus Atlas Moth just flew from the Lallang beside me. The Atlas Moth is the moth with the world's largest wingspan and its silk can be woven into clothes. In Singapore, it is rare due to habitat loss. This is the second time i've seen such a creature...

 The canal. Apparently, this place is restricted but we could see tons of fishes in the water, mostly Mizambique tilapia i guess.

 Nice red flowers.

 And eventually, after bashing through all the way, we finally reach the coast. See? It is empty... I guess there is no place in Singapore by which you can be left aone except in your room or somewhere which requires 2 hours of hiking before reaching it.

 And since now is the start of Summer (well, technically) we have the flowers blooming along the coast. Beautiful. The morning glory was still in bloom when we reached the place.

 A scallop shell. There were tons of them littering the shore....

 Ah Ha! A frog shell and flat clam!

 And here you have 2 variegate fig shells! We eventually found like 20 of them...

The sand wall, I guess its colonised by birds. :)

Precious finds of the day: 2 Orange Ornate Olives, Oliva iridans :) One from me and one from Ah Pa. :)

Purple Diphos Shell, Diphos sanguin, 西施舌紫云蛤科 in Chinese. these guy look different from those I got from Kuching 2 years ago.

Here is the whole day's haul. It is one pail full but most of it are the Figs and Dog Conches (Gong Gong)...

A Marbled Scallop, Laevichlamys squamosa I think...

Moon Snails! I found like half a bucket of them lying on the shore. The species here are the Lined Moon, Powisianus Moon and Calf Moon

A Japanese Bonnet Shell, Phalium bisulcatum. I found this species in Kuching too.

Donax Sp. I call them butterfly shells but they are actually surf clams. There were millions o them and a few live ones too! I would have collected more if those pesky sandflies did not bother me so much...

And finally, a Sunburst Carrier Shell! I have never had any of these in my collection and this will be my first! :)