the Sunrise Hunter

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket Never let it fade away… Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket Save it for a rainy day … Familiar with this song?  Imagine catching a falling star and having it as your lucky charm. :-) So I had a chance to catch some falling "stars". Nusa Dua Beach was full of them and I felt like I was in a Giant Touch Pool at the sea world. The two common species of sea stars that I found in Nusa Dua are the Horned Sea Star or also known as the Knobbly Sea Star (Protoreaster nodosus) and the Pentaceraster mammilatus. They come in various bright colors and shape. Some have horned or spiky feature, however, despite their scary-look, sea stars are safe to touch with the exception of the poisonous crown of thorn sea star(Acanthaster planci). The features of sea stars are pentaradial symmetry and most of them have five arms that radiate from the central disk. Several species, such as the sunflower sea star (Pycnopod

Sea urchins are one of beautiful marine creatures that come in many sizes and colors. They are non-aggressive and may be found all over the world in the shallow, rocky bottoms, or between the sea grasses. Sea urchins are also infamous for their venomous spines that often accidentally injured people on the beach. But the fact is most of sea urchins are not venomous. The venomous urchins are characterized by the long sharp spine such in the family Diadematidae or the bright fiery color as present in the fire urchin. On my trip to Nusa Dua, Bali, I encountered several species of urchins. Some look dangerous, but some are so pretty. Cake Urchin Cake urchins or collector urchins (Tripneustes gratilla) are not venomous. They are edible and in some part of the world their gonads (mistakenly known as “urchin’s roe”) are considered as delicacy. This urchin is also exploited in Bali. Scientific reports from Indonesian Scientific Institusion (LIPI) stated that the cake urchins populat

Sea urchins are commonly present on shallow rocky area. Although most of them are not venomous, some species of long-spined and fire urchins are. So here are some precautionary steps to avoid urchin sting injury and measures to treat it:    Long-spined urchins between the coral crevices at Pantai Sawarna, Banten, Indonesia Prevention •        Do not walking barefoot on the intertidal shallow rocky area. The long-spined urchins often hide in the rock/ coral crevices. •        Look carefully when exiting the ocean, particularly in areas that are rocky, have coral, or ironshore coral. If an exit is covered with urchins, try to pick an alternate exit to avoid injury. Sea Urchins Puncture Symptoms •        A puncture injury from a sea urchin can cause swelling and redness around the area, which may lead to severe pain and infection. •        Multiple deep puncture wounds may cause more serious symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, muscle aches, shock, etc.  Sea urc

Sunrise at Nusa Dua Beach, Bali My first introduction to the intertidal wildlife was some sort of an accident. I was looking for the sunrise in Nusa Dua Beach, Bali. Instead of sunrise, I found many sea stars and other echinoderms as well as pretty sea slugs. They’re so amazing and I totally forgot about the sunrise. Then for 4 days I strolled around the beach and found so many magnificent marine critters. I couldn’t swim, so never before in my life that I had dreams of seeing all these beauties that I’ve only seen on the Discovery Channel or the National Geographic. So please note that none of the pictures herein are diving or snorkeling photos. Nusa Dua Beach is a very rich ecosystem, so I will have separate posts based on their types. In the meantime, here are some of the pictures I took from the trip: Sea Star It was still dark and this is one of the sea star I found on the beach, a Pentaceraster mammilatus. Well, I googled the Latin name and the search for P

I live in Indonesia, a tropical country. However, I used to not much of a beach person for I just can’t stand the intense heat of the beach. That was the main reason when my best friend and I decided that we would do a “cultural trip” only and promised to avoid the beaches on my first trip to Bali on February 2011. (Can you believe it? We went to BALI, the Island of Gods, which is famous for its great beaches and not planning to see any beach?) Well, apparently Bali had a different plan for me. It’s like fate, my first time to Bali was actually the beginning of another 4 Bali trips on the 2011 alone. From then on, I just fall in love with Bali and its beautiful beaches, particularly the intertidal ones. Intertidal Beach Intertidal beaches are rich ecosystems for marine wildlife. They are the place where organisms live between the low and high tide. The intertidal area of sea grass or rocky reef will be exposed at the low tide and thus available for observation without diving o