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).

Squeezing Sponges

I can't resist commenting now that we have official opinions about the upcoming impact of the global financial crisis on Sabah's tourism. Yesterday a drop was predicted which seems much more realistic to me. I feel sorry for those who depend on tourism income. Yet I also feel a little bit happier for the denizens of TARP who might just get a little less squeezed by all the attention they have been trying to get used to in recent years.

I've been investing huge amounts of effort reformatting my fish guide mock-up. Undoubtedly no one will now be wanting to invest commercial money in the project in the near future; after all, who would buy it? But as a not-for-profit conservation project a donor might be interested to cover the costs. And if I'm willing to make no profit and still can't get it published then maybe I will post the book in PDF format on-line so people can print their own copies: perhaps on waterproof paper or for laminating if they want to take it under water.

I'm also looking into obtaining photos of previously unseen fish (by me) via other outlets so as to improve the comprehensiveness of the guide. We'll see: they too are likely to be feeling the pinch and may not have much time now to help.

Here's a gorgeous Poripheran (sponge - possibly Family LEUCETTIDAE) which I hope will have a less pressured 2009 (photo taken on 21st July 2006 off Sulug island).

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.