273 fish species in TARP: illustrated on-line

Chelmon rostratus (Butterfly fish from the family CHAETODONTIDAE) above (photographed on 22nd September 2007 at Hanging Gardens off Gaya Island) is just one of 273 fish species I have photographed in TARP, and now presented online with simple comparative descriptions. (293 variants/ sexes/ ages have their own descriptions since several species can have such different forms). The location is www.tarpfish.blogspot.com and I hope to add to it and modify it as time goes by; watch the feed in the side panel of this blog.

Sabah Society Invitation

I've just been invited to give a photo presentation on the marine life in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. It will be at the Sabah Society in Kota Kinabalu on Tuesday 27th May starting sometime after 7pm. I won't be able to show everything I've got but I'm sure I'll find space for the creature here in my presentation as I find it fascinating. Known as Heliofungia actiniformis (from the hard coral family FUNGIIDAE) you, like me when I wrote the first draft of this blog this morning, could easily mistake it close-up for the 'Finding Nemo' anemone - Heteractis magnifica. I took this photo on 10th February 2008 at Hanging Gardens off Gaya Island.

Nice fish. Shame about the eggs

Noting the full moon, a couple of us took the plunge last night in the hope that coral might be spawning as had happened in Palau a couple of nights before. Little joy on that front: just one coral head spawning and I was unable to capture it on film or photo. Anyway, I came away with some lovely shots of an Octopus and my first view of a Stargazer.

Whilst many hard corals only come out at night, soft corals are often open in the day, like this one (from the family ALCYONIIDAE I believe) which I took on 17th November 2007 at Clement's reef north of Sapi Island.