My friend, Endy, has a special interest in marine creatures. He has led many intertidal outings for NPSS and iMOG including this morning at Changi Beach Park (CBP). The meeting time was set at 7.00 am and shooting to commence at 7.30 am. When Kyaw Htay & I reached the meeting point (Car park no. 6, CBP) at 6.55 am, Endy was already there with a few participants. A beautiful rising run caught our attention.
(A loving morning at Changi Beach Park)
Those who came punctually or earlier quickly grabbed our cameras to shoot the sunrise.
(Bennett in action)
At 7.30 am when all the participants were present, Endy gave a safety briefing and offered some tricks and tips on how to shoot marine creatures.
(Trip Leader, Endy, gave a safety briefing)
Thereafter, we went into the low-tide area to commence shooting.
(Members searching for subjects to shoot)
The first subject that we spotted was a starfish with interesting orange spikes.
(Starfish with orange spikes)
There were quite a number of crabs found. Here are two of them:
(Please help if you know the ID of this crab)
(Moon crab)
Someone spotted a beautiful prawn and everyone of us wanted to have a shot at it. Here is my take:
(A beautiful prawn)
Among all the subjects, I spent most time on hermit crabs. Hermit crabs have long, spirally curved abdomens which are soft. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab, into which its whole body can retract. This was a very small hermit crabs about 10 to 15 mm in size. I was fortunate that it was eager to see its surrounding.
(A tiny hermit crab)
As the hermit crab grows in size, it must find a larger shell and abandon the previous one. This habit of living in a second-hand shell gives rise to the popular name “hermit crab”. I personally find shooting smaller hermit crabs easier than bigger ones. Here is another tiny one but it was more comfortable to come out in the water.
(Another tiny hermit crab but in water)
The tide came in fast and by about 9.30 am, it was already too high for us to continue shooting. We packed up and went to Loyang Point for our early lunch! Here are some of the candid shots to end the day.
(Members in action)
The Wild Side of Singapore 