Tag Archives: Mangrove

Blog about Mangrove Forest

Dog Faced Water Snake

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I have spotted this dog faced water snake (Cerberus rynchops) a dozen times in mangrove forest. In Greek mythology, Cerberus is the three-headed watchdog of gate to HELL (welcome you to enter but stop you from leaving, muhaha…). Despite its nasty name, this snake has only one head, and its mild poison is not strong enough to kill a man. Their brown skin blends perfectly into their surrounding, so 99% of the tourists, even the frequent visitors, never spot this snake.

Dog Faced Water Snake is a nocturnal snake, which means it is active at night. To see it during daytime, you really need some luck. Based on my experience, you have better chance of seeing it under one of the conditions below:

1) After a heavy rain last night. In the next morning, you would find this snake rests on a mangrove tree root. It does not like exposed open space very much. Look for roots that have a bit of covering above them, such as leaves or branches, but partially accessible by soft sunlight (see picture below). I have near to 100% chance of seeing them under such condition. I suspect they come out for a sunbathe, due to the cold water brought by heavy rain.

2) After 5pm or before 9am, you would find it moving slowly in the shallow water, looking for food such as mudskippers, lizards, frogs, and small fishes. You can Click Here to watch the video clip (Length: 2 minutes, Size: 4.7 MB). Since they move under the water, it is easier to find them during low tide. In the video, you can see that it tried to check out every burrows along the path, and it stays under the water most of the time. The normal snakes would feel more comfortable keeping their heads above the water while swimming.

3) At night. A local nature journal reported that someone saw dozens of water snakes crawling on the mudflat at night, searching for food. The park closed at 6pm, so I didn’t try this.

So now you learn my “secrets”. In the past, without any knowledge about it, I could not find them even after more than 20 times visit to the forest. You have to walked slowly and scan for S shape on the roots. The fun thing is they like to appear at the same spot. The next visit you would see them again around that area. The eyes of this snake are situated on the top of the head. This enables it to see above water and the rest of the body submerged. I found that they have very poor vision. They are not alerted if you remain still about 5 feet away.

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia

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Mudskipper

Mudskipper, a fish that walks & jumps

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Mudskipper (Family Gobiidae) is one of the weirdest fishes in the world. Many would have mistaken that they are amphibian or having a lung, coz they spend most of their time out of water. To me, they look like a kawai (cute) Japanese cartoon character. If you only see its eyes above the water, you would think that it is a frog. Their superb eyesight is excellent in detecting danger and prey movement.

When they are out of water, their mouth and gill chamber will hold air. Once the oxygen is used up, they will replace it with fresh water. They also keep their skin moist regularly, so they can breathe through the skin. They feed on crabs, insects, and whatever small animals that can fit in their mouth.

They get a pair of pectoral fins that give them the ability to crawl and move on the mud. It is also a common sight that mudskippers climb on the mangrove tree root and rest on it. When in conflict with each other, you can see their dorsal fins erect (see below) before they engage in a fight.

There are a number of mudskippers species. The photos of mudskipper show here are Periophthalmus novemradiatus. According to book, this species can grow up to 6cm (2.5 inches). But I personally saw one that reached 10cm (4 inches). If frightened, they will “hop” on the water to escape, and that’s how they got their name. To see how they jump on water, you can Click Here to view the video clip.

Despite their odd appearance, mudskippers are considered as a highly-priced delicacy in Taiwan and Japan. Before they are consumed, they are kept in fresh water for days to remove the smell of mud. Last month a Hong Kong TV food programme also introduced the mudskipper dish in Malaysia.

Mudskippers are shy. They try to stay away from people. However, our noise and footstep (which reveal organic substance under the mud surface) make them curious. If you remain still for a while, many of them will come around you, and even climb on your shoes. Mudskippers are doing so well on the land. They seem to like land better too. I have no doubt that these fishes will evolve into a 4-leg creature after millions of years.

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia

Hermit Crab

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It is so easy to find hermit crab. If you see a fast “walking” snail shell, that’s it. Hermit Crab uses discarded shells for protection. The one I show here is a mangrove hermit crab (genus Clibanarius), which is easily identified by its blue-striped legs.

Hermit Crabs are scavengers, with a good sense of smell. When threaten, they will retreat into their shells. They are very impatient though. After 1 or 2 minutes, they will try to crawl away.

Since a dead shell cannot grow with the body of hermit crab, as they become larger, they look for and move into larger shells. I wonder how they pick or upgrade a “house”. It even uses wood as its home (below is the evidence)!

Hermit crab may not be the only one attracted by an abandoned shell…

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia

Raksasa?

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Guess what is the name of the animal below:

The photo was not taken from the Ultraman TV program.

The answer is Mud Whelks (Nassarius jacksonianus). Have you gotten it right? You may have eaten this disgusting snail before. It is a gastrpoda that can reach 10cm (about 4 inches) in length, and comes in many shapes and sizes. Commonly seen in shallow muddy pool of mangrove forest, it moves slowly on the mud, grazing on algae on the mud surface. Mud Whelks is a scavengers that feeds on dead animals and leaves. It can detect prey using ospharadium, a chemosensory organ near the base of the siphon.

See the picture below. Its head looks like lamb or cow, right? To see its body FULLY extended, I nailed its shell upright in the mud. As you can see, its muscle is strong (look juicy too). I waited more than 5 minutes to get this photo.

Now I show the colour version of the first picture. I guess the black and white picture is very misleading. That’s the purpose. Haha! It is less fun if I tell you what it is in the beginning.

Mangrove Skink

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Guys, I would like to introduce you a friend who has smooth skin and slim body. Happy or not? Mangrove Skink (Emoia atrocostata) is one of the most common animals spotted in Sabah mangrove forest. Normally it has smooth and brownish to grayish metallic skin. This small, short-legged lizard is usually less than 1 foot (30cm) long. Like other lizards, it can detech its tail easily as an escape mechanism.

Basically they are everywhere anytime in mangrove forest. I always see dozens of them in KK Wetland Centre, on the broadwalk, under the mangrove root, on the sandy ground, open space… It looks very much like a skink that lives in our garden. In Hakka, we call it “Choa-Ma-Sa”. Choa-Ma-Sa is smaller and got beautiful red stripes on its body, while Mangrove Skink doesn’t.

They are timid but not quite afraid of human. They always keep a distance from you. If you come too close, they would jump into the water, so I assume they are good swimmer. During low tide, you can always see plenty of them roaming on the ground to look for small crabs, insect and other food.

I notice that they use only one eye to observe something. What I mean is — they don’t look at you face to face. Instead, they turn their head to side, using only one eye to look at you. I am not sure if they are trying to act cute or what. If you don’t believe me, just look at all the photos shown here.

Other two different skink species that I saw were spotted in Sepilok virgin forest and Klias wetland. The later one is only found in Borneo.

Photos taken in KK Wetland Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Caterpillar

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This bug is really a good house builder. As you can see in the pictures below, it can bind three leaves tightly together without using hands. Most of this nest is found on rhizophora mangrove tree. Yes, you guess it right. It belongs to a caterpillar.

Until now I don’t know the species name of this beautiful caterpillar. Most likely it will turn into an ugly moth and fly stupidly into fire to end its life. I deeply concern they will go extinct coz Sabah uses more candles than other states, due to frequent power blackout.

While I was busy watching it, it used something look like “silk” from its mouth to build the nest. The picture below shows its semi-transparent body shined through by morning sunray. You also can see the hair on its body. My past experience told me not to touch it, as it would cause hours of unpleasant skin irritation.

Another shot of it. I was holding the leaf (and try not to let it crawl to my hand). I did a bit of stage setup, to make the photos look more artistic.

Photos taken in KK Wetland Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Crabs Love Seafood Too

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Nature world is a cruel world. Big eats small. Strong kills weak. Due to limited food supply in mangrove forest, it is very common that big crab prey on the smaller of its kind. Though the photos below are not colorful, I can feel the lives in them strongly. I especially like the first one and make it my wallpaper.


Small Crab: “Don’t kill me please. I got 4 old mothers and 7 old fathers to take care.”
Big Crab: “You are such a BIG liar. You deserve to die!”


Small Crab: “I also got 1,503 children who need me badly…”
Big Crab: “Just shut up and say cheese to the camera.”

Yeah, I know you will say that you have sick of reading my blog about crabs. Heheh… I am a “Crab King” now. In fact, one publisher has contacted me for using my fiddler crab photos in their new book. Hopefully can make it. Seriously, if I got enough stories and photos, I will setup another blog that only talks about Borneo mangrove forest.

FYI, my next target is a green snake. I have been looking for it for weeks but still no luck. But I take other good photos along the way.

Update
Thanks to Dr Chris Glasby from Darwin, Australia! Finally I know the identity of the bugs I posted in my Creepy Beauty blog. You may check out the last paragraph for the answers.

Mangrove Slug

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More weird creature brought to you by Smoke Head. I think you all have seen the slug (a.k.a. Running-Nose Bug. Named after its wet and mucous body), right? The normal slug is usually smooth and black in color. When I first saw it, I thought it was a snail that forgot to bring its shell.

Slug is one of the most hatred pests of the farmers coz it can wipe out the leaf vegetable overnight. To kill it, just pour a bit of salt on its body. Very soon, the osmosis process will suck the water and fluid out of its body, and murder it eventually.

The Mangrove Slug (Family Onchidiidae) is totally different. Its skin is rough and spiky. I wonder if this is the secret protection that enables them to crawl on the salty floor of mangrove forest. They are only about 1 inch (2.5cm) in length.

Guess what? They don’t eat leaf. During low tide, you can see them busy grazing above muddy ground and surface algae. Their brown skin color blend well into the soil and they move very slowly. So it is not easy to spot these tiny creatures. I discovered they could change color too.

This morning I saw about 10 of them resting in a small and exposed area, with part of their bodies immersed in the water. I thought they were all death coz their skin color was so pale (see picture below).

I used my fingers to touch their eyes and they contracted (still alive then). And most of them opened their anus fully. I stood there and waited, hoping to see something such as shit or egg came out. But nothing. After hour of sunbathe, their skin color back to normal then they moved to the dry and shaded area. Anyone can explain this behaviour?

Note: Whenever I find new info and photo, I would update my old blog. Just to let you know that I have added a few disgusting photos and video to my old blog entry named “Creepy Beauty”.