I remember a joke told by LHS:
A group of people go to a restaurant.
One of them asks the waitress, “Do you serve crab?”
The waitress pauses for a while, then reply with a big smile, “We serve EVERYONE!”
MySabah.com also serves crab, and many. You might think that I am crazy about the crabs. Not really lah. It is just that I find that fiddler crabs are very photogenic and few photographers feature them. Aren’t you tired of those macro / close-up shoot of dragonfly lah, ant lah, beetle lah, etc.? I want to have something special here.
This will be my last set of fiddler crab photo gallery and it is meant to replace the older version of my previous crab photos. I dare to say my site is one of the few sites where you can find the most beautiful shot of fiddler crabs.
I don’t know the name of each species. I had sent some of the photos to a Singapore universary.
Once they help to identify them, I will update the blog. If I report a new species, you will find a fiddler crab that named “Smoke Head Crab”. Haha… if that happens, I wish the crabs won’t go knock themselves to the wall to kill themselves (then become extinct).
This bug got hundred of legs, but it is not a millipede and centipede. It is a good swimmer and live in swampy area. I saw it in KK Wetland Centre (formerly KK City Bird Sanctuary) and mentioned it in my blog before.
To know it better, I invite him out for an interview.
I stood in front of its burrow and shouted, “Good Morning, Mr Leggy!”
I believed he heard me but no response.
I shouted louder again, “Mr. Leggy. We have an appointment today. Shall we meet up?”
Again, no reply.
I was getting impatient, so I said, “If you don’t show up, I will not post your photos on MySabah.com!!!”
Then a faint voice came from the burrow, “Wait… I heard you the first time. I am still busy putting on my shoes!”
OK, here you go. The pictures of Mr. Leggy below. I think it got more legs than any centipede. Usually this bug is nearly black, with a bit of glossy blue or green color, and only a few inches long. But this one is 1 foot (30 cm) long and with metallic magenta color, I consider this one is quite rare (new species?). It is such a beauty.
When I saw it swimming, I thought it was a water snake. Some locals call it “Sea Earthworm” and use it as a bait for fishing. The photos below show that it got eyes and 4 “horns”.
Its appearance looks scary, but it doesn’t bite. Its body is so soft that it would break apart if you hold it with hand. I took a few pictures of it then let it went.
I also took a 25-second video clip when it swam in a container. In you are curious, CLICK HERE to Play the Video. I would like to find out its official and scientific name, but nobody is able to tell me. What it eat? Where it stay? How it live? I would like to know more. Please tell me if you know anything about it..
Updated (Dec 7, 06)
I found another kind of this bug, which I believe is another species. It is very similar with the one above in terms of body structure and size. The main difference is the head. This one has longer antenna and it is in black color, with a bit of dark blue. In fact, this species is more commonly seen in mangrove forest.
Last Tuesday morning I decided to explore deeper inside the mangrove forest. While resting, I saw a big worm crawled on the muddy surface. “Such a big earthworm!” I looked closer. No… It is that leggy bug again. Before that, I thought it was only active in the water since it is such a good swimmer.
You may CLICK HERE to Play the 20-sec Video that shows how it crawls. It tried to explore a burrow but was attacked by a crab inside. Warning! Viewer Discretion Advised.
Updated (Dec 12, 06)
Thanks to Dr Chris Glasby from Darwin, Australia. Below is the description of the identities of these 2 bugs:
Both ‘bugs’ are polychaete worms belonging to the family Nereididae.
Bug 1 is almost certainly Namalycastis abiuma, which is a species that prefers moist coastal areas like mangrove forests, coastal lagoons etc., and has a widespread distribution in the tropics and subtropics. It is unusual to see them in the open, as they prefer to hide amongst the rotting mangrove timbers, under rocks and other debris on, or near, the shore. Probably that is why they appear less common.
Bug 2 is more difficult to identify from your photos. Judging by its general features I would say it is Paraleonnates bolus, a species also quite commonly found in mangroves. These worms also occur in the mangroves forests of Darwin – and they can often be seen scavenging on the surface of the mangrove mud.
…it is also worth a note in a popular science journal, especially considering your nice pictures, and because ‘land’ polychaetes are quite rare and unusual.
KK City Bird Sanctuary has been one of my favourite photography spots coz it got a boardwalk that allows me to explore mangrove forest safely. The first time I went there was back in Jun 2005. Since then, I have been looking for snake and mud lobster in this park. After got disappointed again and again for one year, finally I saw both of them in two days. So excited!
They are not rare species. The reason they are so difficult to spot is that they are only active at night (but the park closes at 6 PM). Below are the pictures of a 8-inch mud lobster. Usually it hides inside a deep burrow during daytime. I was so lucky to see it busy searching for food in the shallow water in the morning.
Its color is like a cooked sea lobster. Look delicious but not sure if it is edible. Its Chinese name is “Thunder Crab” (scientific name: Thalassina anomala). It can grow up to 1 feet (30 cm).
The next exciting discovery is the Dog Faced Water Snake (scientific name: Cerberus rynchops). I found two of them. The first one is 2-feet long, second one is 1 feet long.
Dog Faced Water Snake is also active at night. I saw them waiting for their prey (e.g. fish, frog, lizard) on the root of the mangrove tree. This snake lives in water. If you look at the photos below, you will notice that they keep most of their body in the water. The first snake was about 7 feet away from me.
Below are the photos of the second snake. It was only 1.5 feet away from my camera. Later I walked into the water to take closer picture of it. It was alert and dived into the water 2 feet away from me. The water was so muddy and unclear, so I was not sure where it went (it could be next to my foot). Had to walk away carefully.
But no worry. This snake is poisonous but its venom is not strong enough to kill a human, and it is not aggressive. Do you think its face looks like dog? Wonder if it can bark. Its brown body makes it looks like tree branch, so you have to look really hard to spot them.
Another weird thing that I saw was the bug below. I think I may have seen it before. The way it swims is very funny. You can check out the video clip.
The long-nosed Proboscis Monkey (nickname: Dutch Man) is one of the superstars of Sabah wildlife. This funny-looking creature only can be found in the mangrove and lowland forest of Borneo. The two most famous sites to spot them are at Klias and Sukau.
Since I live in west coast, Klias, located 110 KM south of Kota Kinabalu city, is more accessible for me. To get there by car, it will take about 2 hours and the road condition is good. I overnight in Borneo Proboscis River Lodge, located next to the Klias River and 17 KM before Kuala Penyu town.
All the houses in Borneo Proboscis River Lodge is made of wood and bamboo, like a native village. Basic facilities such as toilet, bathroom, cafeteria, water supply and electricity are available. I stayed there twice and each time got power blackout which lasted from 0.5 to 3 hours, so you better bring a torch light. Insect repellant is a must, as hundreds of hungry mosquitoes will attack you 24×7. One night when I was laying on the bed, a 6-inch centipede crawled on my arm, quite freak out.
If you take their day trip package, you can join their sunset river cruise (about 5 PM) and watch fire flies at night (about 7:30 PM). It was a bad luck to have noisy kids on the same boat. Proboscis Monkey is very sensitive and shy. If the overexcited children see them, they will SHOUT, “WAAAAAH!!!! MOM! LOOK!!! MONKEY!!! MONKEY THERE!!!!!!” By the time I take out my camera, all the monkeys ran away already. I love kids. But when came to that moment I always felt the urge to kick them all into the river.
That is a 100% chance that you will see more than one Proboscis Monkey on the trees along the river, during sunset river cruise. But in most cases, they would be 100 feet away from you or hiding behind the leaves. The human and engine noise will scare them, so they will leave shortly. A binocular is highly recommended, so you can see their long noses clearer. Usually they move in group, with one male leader sit on the tallest spot, while his wives and children busy nearby. If you want to use a 3x optical zoom camera to take their photos, you will be greatly disappointed, coz they are too far away. The best time to spot them is around 6 PM (their bedtime) and 7AM. Long-tailed Macaque Monkey is more common, and they are not quite afraid of us.
Besides Proboscis Monkey, depending on your luck, you would see monitor lizard, kingfisher, eagle, snake, hornbill, etc. You would see crocodile by slim chance. If you look at the trees grow next the river, many of them got high prop breathing root so they can survive the flood. Unlike normal river, Klias River is a peat swamp river. There are tons of death leaves and organic substances under the river, so the water is dark coffee color and a bit smelly. Some even describe Peat Swamp as a carbon sink. And it flows slowly. I saw some catfish in the river. You can have fun fishing at the jetty if you want to.
The most unforgettable experience is to watch the “fire flies Christmas Tree” at night. FYI, the best time to see this is after the rain, and the night without moonlight. They will show you one or two trees where hundreds of fire flies gather, light up the tree like Christmas Tree. Coz it was too dark, my camera couldn’t take the picture. Anyway, I create the picture at the left for you to get an idea how it looks like.
Kota Kinabalu City Bird Sanctuary (KKCBS) is a must-go place for nature lover and photographer. At KKCBS you can see many weird wildlife and plants that are very different from the rainforest. I have been there for many times, and each time I would see new animals (yeah, new photos for my collection).
I have been trying to trace some hard-to-see wildlife such as mud lobster, water snake, monitor lizard, certain rare birds, and sting ray, but still cannot get their pictures. They are either moving too fast or hiding very well. Until now, I think my photo collection is still not complete enough to give you a full picture of what are there. Actually the photo gallery below was already complete last year. I will go ahead and publish them first. Hopefully very soon I can publish part two. BTW, there are 2 panoramic views that allow you to see the Mangrove Forest in 360 degree.
If you want to do bird watching, try to be there at 8 AM, when the park opens, or between 4 PM to 5 PM. I heard that they will open as early as 6 AM, in the future, the time which has the most birds searching for food in the mangrove forest. One of the main attraction is the fiddler crabs. They are very sensitive and alert. You need a lot of patient to take pictures of them. The male fiddler crabs got a huge claw as weapon and sexy symbol. The fiddler crabs are so colourful and special that I decide to put up another photo gallery just for them. It is the same gallery that I published last year (but didn’t blog about).
Remember I mentioned that I wrote an article about fiddler crabs and mangrove forest? My article and photos are posted on the newspaper today. Feel happy but a bit disappointed though. I sent them 30 photos but they only used a few, so it could not really show how colorful are the fiddler crabs. It was quite a pain to write the article in Chinese, as I have forgotten so many words. I also found it very tired to do hand-writing.. Too bad I could not make a living writing stuffs like this for newspaper.
Today I am lazy to blog. So I prepare an incomplete comic for a sequence of funny pictures below, for you to fill in the blank. Let’s see how creative are my readers. 🙂 Have fun.
Photos taken in KK Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
I have tried out the close-up len with my Sony Cybershot DSC-H1. It is like a dream comes true. Now I am able to take very close picture of tiny fiddler crab. Below is the picture of my favorite fiddler crab. See the three dots on its back? Look like a face, isn’t it? So cute.. I also have taken many photos of other fiddler crabs. They got red, yellow, orange, blue, green, black, white, brown and purple colors. I have written an article about fiddler crabs of mangrove forest and will send it to the local newspaper tomorrow (hope they will post it). I would like the public to see the beauty of these crabs and know the importance of protecting our mangrove forest, the home of these beautiful creatures.
Two male fiddler crabs fighting:
Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
