63 species - 45 minutes snorkelling - Mamutik

A strange kind of Anemone to say the least, this was photographed off Sapi island back on 11th July 2008.

After a long weekend SCUBA diving near Cebu in the Philippines last month and processing all the emerging photos, I'm now able to get back to more recent events nearer home - this time a chance to test out my newly repaired video camera snorkelling off Mamutik island. Not very good I'm afraid, but it has still been possible to pick out 63 fish species during just 3/4 hour before the battery gave up. And three of these are new to my TARP fish list (now standing at 430 species), one also being new to the comprehensive TARP fish checklist (now at 551 with evidence).

The overall new fish is the Halfbeak Hyporhamphus dussumieri. The other two are the Damsel Pomacentrus simsiang and wonderfully - the Butterflyfish Chaetodon adiergastos (last listed here in 1992).

Going back to the 63 fish species in 45 minutes, I'm wondering whether there could ever be enough interest to have some sort of contest in TARP - to photograph and identify as many fish species as possible whilst snorkelling? Maybe something for the future...

Fangs, Babies & Butterflies

Just think - this beautiful baby sponge seen off Gaya island on 30th August 2008, may already be well on the way to being a giant barrel sponge capable of hiding Porcupinefishes or Lionfishes...

Anyway, I'm still catching up on my fish observations - this time data from 20th February this year. First a confusion to clear up: Until now, I have persisted in calling a certain type of Wrasse Oxycheilinus orientalis because a significant authority suggests it. However, having read further, I am pretty certain that what I have seen is actually called O. rhodochrous even if the first authority doesn't recognise it. And whilst reviewing my photos of the suspects, I realised that one was just wrong. Further investigation convinced me that in the past I have actually seen a second species (not yet listed for TARP by myself nor by Gerry Allen previously) called Oxycheilinus bimaculatus.

Alongside this are three more fishes not previously listed in TARP by either of us: Moray Gymnothorax zonipectis (normally only visible at night so very nice to spot on a daytime dive), Wrasse Pseudocheilinus hexataenia (which hides most of the time and only appeared to me in the background of a photo of another fish), and yet another large Grouper species (hooray!) Plectropomus leopardus.

Lastly, there were two special fishes which Gerry had already seen but I hadn't: Butterflyfish Chaetodon auriga (I sometimes wonder why the Butterflyfish presence seems to have dwindled since 1992), and the very localised (known only from the coast of Sabah and Palawan island) Fangblenny Meiacanthus geminatus; with its poison fangs, it has prompted some very good mimics - at least one of which (the juvenile of Scolopsis margaritifera) can also be seen in TARP.

In total then, my TARP list stands at 414 fish species, and the combined list total at 548 (it will take me a while yet to update this list on line).

400th Fish Species Caught on Camera

I'm pretty certain that the soft coral pictured here off Sapi island exactly a year ago (6 April 2008) is a member of the family Xeniidae. That should make up for yesterday's uncertainty.

I bought a digital video camera and housing a few weeks ago, in Singapore. A day or so after testing it out whilst snorkelling, it died on me. It's been awaiting parts from japan for repair ever since. However, the day I tested it (16th February) brought me a surprise: a new species of Sergeant fish (Abudefduf septemfasciatus) hiding right in front of my eyes - sure enough I'd misidentified it a couple of times in the preceding 1year. Sadly, my photo is complete rubbish, being pulled off a test-shot with the video. Still, I know where to go next time to get better photos.

Tourism 2008 Figures Equivocal

Preliminary 2008 Sabah visitor statistics are in. I've added them to my historical graph for ease of reference. Overall, numbers appear to be down around 7% on 2007. However the number of visitors from non-contiguous countries is barely down (less than 2%) and the number of non-Sabahan Malaysian visitors is up for the ninth year in a row: this time by over 7%. The apparent down-turn is actually caused by a big drop (60%) in the number of visitors from Indonesia (the drop in their actual numbers matches the total drop in all visitor numbers to within 1%) and I would be surprised if this represented a significant group of true tourists; given the global economic downturn I am quite surprised that non-Indonesian visitor numbers have not plummeted. Incidentally, the figures for the month of January 2009 appear to reflect this argument in comparison to the month of January 2008 as well (aside from a significant drop in South Korean visitors).

I'm a huge fan of these large soft corals (photographed on 30th August 2008 off Gaya island). I didn't touch them though so I can't confirm if they were from the family CLAVULARIIDAE (if so they would withdraw into tubes) or XENIIDAE (nowhere to hide).

Dolphin Superpod in TARP

Who knows for how long they'll stay, but a superpod of dolphins has been sighted in TARP! Beautiful!

I'm sitting on a day's worth of dive photos, unprocessed so far, but expecting to add two or more fishes to the TARP species list in due course.

I'm beginning to feel the need for another night dive - my last was 22nd April 2008 when this feeding Acropora hard coral (family ACRPORIDAE) was snapped off Sapi island.

Hairy monsters

Nearly the end of 2008 and loads to reflect on this year in TARP Watch (which I won't here). But the place still continues to surprise me: on Christmas eve, I was snorkelling for only an hour off Sapi island and photographed examples of another 5 species new to me here! This takes my total to 389. (The combined total of all known recorded identified fishes since 1992 now stands at 529; contrast this with the most speciose part of the Caribbean: Bonaire with 487 species logged in the REEF database). December 24th's additions were: Needlefish Strongylura incisa, Damselfishes Chrysiptera unimaculata (Juvenile) and Pomacentrus dickii, Sea Chub/ Drummer Kyphosus vaigiensis (also a new family here for me - KYPHOSIDAE), and lastly the Boxfish Ostracion meleagris (this one male).

Perhaps the craziest-haired fish of 2008 is shown here off Gaya island on 11th July - Antennarius striatus (family ANTENNARIIDAE).

527 catalogued fish species in TARP

This Squirrelfish Myripristis hexagona (Family HOLOCENTRIDAE) at Agill reef off Gaya island on 11th September 2008 probably thought it was nicely hidden; nicely framed more like! Anyway, I am pleased to announce the launch today of a collaborative wiki-based checklist of all 527 known fish species in TARP (not merely my own which already reach 384).

Sapi-Suckers

Here's an amazing little creature: a suckermouth rockskipper (Andamia heteroptera - Family BLENNIIDAE; thanks to Jeff Williams for identification help). As the name suggests, its lower lip forms a sucker which it uses to hold itself onto surf-bashed rocks here in TARP (this one on Sapi island on 11th November 2008). He takes my total fish list for TARP to 384.

Seen the same day was also my first sighting of the adult Spadefish: Platax teira (I've seen the juveniles around already).

Sapi: Slides, Swells & Suckermouths

It's been good to get back in the water after travelling recently. Given the rains and the wind however, Sapi island proved a bit of a mess (not of course the manicured front tourist beach). Landslides have brought two big trees down onto the second beach, which is also covered in soil and rocks from the slips and the water was yellow (pity the poor lagoon fishes). The waves were uncharacteristically big breakers too, stirring up sand further out in the lagoon. Overall, not at all pleasant. I only managed to snap a few blurry shots but hurried back as my brother, visiting for a few days, got seasick snorkelling with me in the big swells. Lazing by the rocks on the beach however turned up a lovely surprise: Jeff Williams tells me they were Suckermouth rockskippers - preferring to sit just above the water line on surf-bashed rocks. I'll be plugging them it into my database in due course and coming back to the blog with a name and ID panel.

Meantime, enjoy this opalescent little crab - possibly Lissoporcellana quadrilobata of the Family PORCELLANIDAE - which I snapped on a large ghostly white Dendronephthya soft coral out on the mud off Sapi island on 11th July 2008.

Crazily named Damsels

A macro shot of an anemone tentacle shows some fascinating detail - one can almost imagine that each nematocyst sack is visible in this photo taken on Plate Coral Reef off Sapi island on 11th July 2008.

This weekend I've been able to catch up on feedback from Gerry Allen regarding several Damselfishes I questioned him about recently. It turns out that as I suspected, two are actually new species to me: Pomacentrus armillatus and Pomacentrus burroughi. In addition, he confirmed my diagnoses for several colour morphs - the adult Neoglyphidodon melas and Neoglyphidodon oxyodon, and an intermediate form of Pomacentrus cuneatus.

I was also pleased to hear back from Jeff Williams regarding a new species of Blenny for me seen earlier this week whilst snorkelling - Nannosalarias nativitatis. In total now, my Checklist for TARP fish species has reached 383.

Beautiful Monster

Like a troll under the bridge, this potential killer of a Box jellyfish (Family CHIRODROPIDAE) loiters under the gangway down to the floating pontoon and the speedboats at Jesselton harbour; departure point for TARP.

As well as this beautiful monster, Eid (Hari Raya to Malaysians) on 1st October 2008 also offered up several new fish specimens to me whilst out snorkelling at Sapi island. First off the Parrotfish Scarus oviceps. Next, a shoal of Sweepers Pempheris oualensis. Last but by no means least, a couple of majestic juvenile Batfish Platax teira. Still awaited is the diagnosis of a Blenny new to me, not yet identifiable in any of the sources I have access to. For now then, my total of species photographed in the Park and logged in my Checklist rises to 380.

In addition, I am pleased to have much improved photos of two Damselfishes which I have habitually only managed to photograph blurred blotches of before: Dischistodus melanotus and the juvenile form of Neoglyphidodon melas.

The Olango tango

Olango island is opposite Mactan island on which is housed the international airport for Cebu in the central Philippines. It's only an hour and a half away from KK by plane and can be expected to share a significant ocean fauna with us here. I had a chance to explore last weekend, but I will try to connect my comments to TARP:

First of note is that I recorded 79 species of fish in 1 hour and 35 minutes underwater (two dives) in a single location called Talima. In comparison, it took me 3 hours and 6 minutes to do the same in TARP. My initial feeling is that the species density is much higher at Talima, although I could just have attended an amazingly diverse site (not the impression given by our dive leader who said he had chosen Talima because it was sheltered from big waves but not that good). The size of the larger fishes shoals in Talima was obviously greater than TARP: continued fishing of larger fish in TARP could conceivably have had an impact on species density in proportion to shoal densities.

Secondly, 34 (43%) of the fishes I recorded at Olango were never recorded by me in TARP despite diving or snorkelling here with a working camera for over 75 hours. Even if all other fish species were identical, there is a minimum of 9% unique to Olango compared to TARP (but more likely the figure is around 40%: my 2 dives in Talima are akin to a statistical sample). Possibly, it is because Talima represents an ecosystem not exactly matched in TARP - eel grass with scattered coral bommies and a very deep drop off. But a number of species I have not seen in TARP but are found at Olango were seen in a 1992 survey in TARP by Gerry Allen. It makes me wonder whether Olango represents a more healthy reef in general now - more like the TARP of the early nineties? In that case, given the pelagic nature of many reef fish larvae, it makes me wonder if the coast and near shore reefs of western Sabah will ever be rehabilitated sufficiently en masse to return TARP to the best it could be - it will take more than preserving TARP by itself.

Thirdly, four interesting groups appeared at Olango which have not turned up in my experience in TARP: Hawkfishes (an example photographed under a wrecked boat spar from the family CIRRHITIDAE Cirrhitichthys falco is shown here), Unicornfishes (Genus Naso), Drummers / Sea chubs (Family KYPHOSIDAE), and Anthiases (Genus Anthias). Why? Unicornfishes appear to prefer to be near deep drop-offs - and we have none in TARP whereas off Olango, the slope drops off steeply in a coral wall at around 15-20 metres. But as for the other groups, I have no idea although the beauty of Hawfishes and Anthiases does make me feel that TARP is poorer for not having any.

Hotlips and a purple sponge

20th September 2008 was a low visibility, somewhat tired kind of a day. I missed a photo of a new Angelfish to TARP - Centropyge vroliki - so I haven't yet added it to my Checklist; also an unusual Grouper and some kind of Pipefish which had disappeared by the time our dive leader could attract my attention. But lunch on Sapi island brought to the attention of my camera a pair of strange leaf-like fish in only a few centimetres of water which Gerry Allen later helped me to identify as a juvenile of Plectorhynchus gibbosus (better known as 'Harry hotlips'!) I also photographed a Wrasse new to me: Pteragogus cryptus, and the Rabbitfish Siganus corallinus, bringing me up to 377 fish species in the Park. (I also managed to replace my embarrassing splodge of a picture of Emperor Lethrinus erythropterus.)

As always in low vis, I fall back on close-ups such as this strikingly contrasted Comatulid Feather star on a purple sponge background, taken on the same day at Agil reef off Gaya island.

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Fairies & Fangs

A beautiful Boxfish (Family OSTRACIIDAE) - Ostracion cubicus; new to me in the Park back on 11th September this year at Hanging garden off Gaya island, this one being cleaned by a juvenile Cleaner wrasse. A couple of other new fishes too: the Damselfish Neopomacentrus azysron and Wrasse Macropharyngodon negrosensis taking me to a total of 374 species in the Park.

Thanks to Dr Hioyuki Tanaka too for help in identifying the Juvenile Fairy wrasse Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura with its little white nose spot. The day also saw access to better shots to update or add slight colour variations to Fangblenny Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos (the blue form which likes to mimic the Cleaner wrasse seen in today's picture), Goby Amblygobius hectori, Damselfish Hemiglyphidodon plagiometopon, Blenny Salarias obscurus, and the initial phase of Wrasse Labrichthys unilineatus.

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Cleaner shrimps & fish bombs

9th September 2008 saw this cleaner shrimp (Family PALAEMONIDAE, Genus Urocaridella) leave the resident Stingray in the tyres off the south side of Sapi island, and make his way hopefully towards my camera housing. Pretty. Pity about the poor visibility in the park though, which below 18 metres off Sapi got down to only 2 metres! Anyway, above that, it was a nice enough couple of dives involving a new Boxfish species, for my checklist. Including the return to Agil reef off the west end of Gaya island where I picked up a couple of new species of fish (more in a later blog), and some nicer photos of some rarer stuff previously seen, it turned out to be a productive day.

Incidentally, an alleged fish bomber was recently arrested in KK.

Dive-in Saturday (apologies to David Bowie)

Are any readers aware of the new Underwater Channel which has opened with free viewing? Some fascinating stuff and well worth uploading their viewer for. (I'm not just saying this because their Forum Editor liked this blog!)

I was surprised when reviewing my photos from my last dive on 31st August, to discover that I had photographed 5 new species, taking my total to 371 in the park (Checklist now updated). The cutest has got to be the Cardinalfish Apogon nigrofasciatus who's little red and yellow candy-cane nose appeared between Staghorn coral tips in a blurred photo of a blenny which I was about to discard, not having noticed the Cardinalfish whilst diving. Next is a tiny Whipcoral goby Bryaninops loki. A big snapper Lutjanus argentimaculatus proved momentarily obliging, as did a Sand flounder Pseudorhombus cinnamoneus from a new Family for me. Lastly I'm adding a new Scorpionfish Scorpaenopsis oxycephala although its differentiation from other Genus members underwater will be next-to-impossible; you'll need a good quality side-on photo and well spread pectoral fins to examine later.

Along the way, I picked up better photos of the Juvenile Hogfish Bodianus mesothorax, the Initial Phase Parrotfish Scarus hypselopterus (at least - it showed a previously hidden diagnostic feature although being more out of focus than the existing photo), and a rare Grouper Epinephelus ongus (I'd only seen it once before, in April 2006).

Lastly, some gorgeous fish just asking to be photographed - like the Damselfish illustrated here on Agil reef off Gaya island: Pomacentrus vaiuli.

Sponge-heart

It could be blood vessels on the surface of the heart. In fact, it is a form of Sponge from the Family CRAMBEIDAE (possibly Genus Monanchora) taken on 6th July 2008 off Mamutik island.

Further to my second snorkelling session last week (28th July), I can now report back on two new species of fish uploaded to my Album and Checklist (totalling 366 species now), namely: The Moral eel I mentioned in an earlier blog (Echidna nebulosa), and an apparent predation escapee in the form of a small roughed up Rainbow runner - Elagatis bipinnulata.

I've also uploaded the panel for the Trevally - Caranx melampygus - from 26th July with the better photos from the 28th. Additionally, I've added panels for the Adult of Damselfish Neoglyphidodon oxyodon (modifying the Juvenile panel along the way) and the Initial Phase form of Parrotfish Scarus psittacus. Lastly, I've modified the panel for Lutjanus carponotatus having photographed a Juvenile (not sufficiently different to merit its own panel but confusingly different if seen small to merit inclusion alongside a parent).

A fish a day...

I mentioned some new fish species seen in the last week and I'm starting to get them up into my album. From the 26th of August whilst snorkelling off Sapi island, come three new species: the Goby Istigobius ornatus, the Emperor Lethrinus erythropterus (apologies for the illustration since it was a long way away and moving fast so an out-of-focus blob is all I got to show for it, but its key feature - white tail rings - are obvious), and the Trevally Caranx melampygus (no illustration yet since I got a better photo on 28th August but I haven't processed those yet). I haven't updated the Checklist yet either because of this but suffice to say for now the total of fish species I've logged in TARP is 364.

In addition, I have uploaded an ID panel for the diagnostic Juvenile of Damselfish Dischistodus chrysopoecilus (which justifies my renaming it in my list a few weeks ago from D. pseudochrysopoecilus), and I have added a better photo for the Butterflyfish Chaetodon rafflesii.

On 31st March 2007, I found the iridescent lip of this Sea squirt mouth at Hanging gardens off Gaya island irresistibly photogenic, so I went ahead; I believe it to be a member of the Genus Herdmania in the Family PYURIDAE.

Happy Birthday Malaysia!

Sincere words from a Brit. It's not often that I can get close up to, and auto-focus on a fish's face, but perhaps in celebratation of Merdeka day, this Damselfish (Dischistodus prosopotaenia) gave me a flash on Saturday 30th of August 2008 whilst diving off Sapi island. Let's hope there'll still be somewhere beautiful for his descendents (and perhaps ours) in TARP in 2057 when Malaysia reaches a century.

The last week has seen me snorkelling or diving in the park three times and I hope soon to get an update on several new species I've noted.

Names and Nemo crabs

This Porcelain crab Neopetrolisthes maculatus (family PORCELLANIDAE) was interested enough in our visit to its home anemone at southeast Mid-reef on 6th July 2008, that it chose not to flee but pose (perhaps it thought it was being menacing?!) Beautiful anyway.

Having now had a chance to review the checklist of marine fishes in TARP produced by Gerry Allen on a visit to Sabah in February 1992, I have made a few more alterations to my checklist (the other day, I added a Stingray as an initial result). This time around, I have re-named the Spinefoot Siganus canaliculatus as Siganus fuscescens (Gerry noted the latter was common but made no mention of the former, both of which are very similar, so I have changed my diagnosis in deference). I have done the same for the Goby Amblygobius albimaculatus (was A. phalaena in my old scheme) and Dischistodus chrysopoecilus (I had it listed previously as D. pseudochrysopoecilus).

I'm also taking the opportunity to bring the Genus up to date for the Cardinalfish Nectamia savayensis (until January 2008 it was still generally known as Apogon savayensis and the amended FishBase reference has only recently come to my attention).