Goodbye TARP

GOODBYE TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PARK! I'm writing this from England where I have just arrived after a wonderful three years on and off in Sabah. In memory of the place, I thought I'd post my picture from 1st September 2007 off Gaya island of perhaps the strangest and most beautiful creature I had the pleasure to meet there during the last three years: the Whip coral crab Xenocarcinus tuberculatus (family MAJIDAE).

I bowed out with a lovely day of dives (4 in all) with my daughter on 15th July 2009. I was surprised to see a new Damsel - Chromis ternatensis - which is new to the TARP aggregate fish checklist, and pleased to see a lovely Wrasse I've been keen to see in the park - Novaculichthys taeniourus (the Rockmover). As of today, my confirmed list stands at 441 plus 3 without evidence, and the confirmed aggregated TARP fish checklist weighs in at 560 plus 4 unconfirmed.

I've been so pleased to be part of this and hope that in due course, other divers and snorkellers will add entries to the aggregated list.

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.

Mind-googling technology

My friend Marc is an Orangutan specialist here in Sabah; he loved this crab when we came across a similar one whilst diving together (Achaeus japonicus commonly known as an Orangutan crab) from the Family MAJIDAE. I took this photo on Bubble coral between Sulug and Manukan islands on 23rd June 2007.

I'm beginning the task of modifying my fish identification on-line, to include an example of every photographed sighting I have logged in the park. It allows me to locate each photo too (if you have Google Earth then a simple button allows you to see the photos dotted around the park to show actual distributions). It also makes it easier for others to double-check and question my identifications (go right ahead) and hopefully will provide a more meaningful legacy for future researchers into the fishes in TARP. Not wanting to pay Google anything, I am limited to 250 'albums' per log-in ID (I have over 370 species with 400+ colour morphs) so I am starting with an ID for 'Sinkers' - fish which tend to sink if not swimming, as opposed to 'Swimmers' (I didn't have the heart to call them 'Floaters') who find it hard to sink except when asleep at night. I've already uploaded material for 9 species, for example Gymnothorax javanicus; go ahead and hit the 'View in Google Earth' button in the bottom right of the screen to see the distribution of my sightings, with the details on any one if clicked. It will also provide a gallery to locate other peoples sightings if they send them to me with or for identification and permission for me to add them.

I'm making changes to the checklist off-line to provide the relevant links too, but this is incremental and I'll only upload it when I next upload substantive changes to it.

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).

Cryptic crustacean

11:46am, 9th July 2008, sands off western Gaya island: what on earth is it? Tell you later.

Another great day of diving. Not so many new fish species (more in a later blog) - it feels like new discoveries are slowing down - but some good stuff none-the-less. First off, some piccies to update existinig ID panels for the Fairy wrasse Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura (Initial Phase), Wrasses Halichoeres scapularis and Stethojulis interrupta (both Terminal Phase), Damselfishes Chrysiptera rollandi and Pomacentrus lepidogenys, Goatfish Parupeneus barberinus (another Goatfish which normally runs when it sees my camera), and Cardinalfish Siphamia versicolor (likes to hide amongst Sea urchin spines). I also stumbled across a gang of curious adult Eeltail catfish (Plotosus lineatus) in an old submerged log, which are sufficiently different from Juveniles to merit their own ID panel. I've updated the links in my checklist.

Well, in case you haven't guessed, my picture today is of a small jellyfish being held upside on the back of a crab (half-buried in the sand, eyes to the right). What a fantastic defence for a daytime foray!