Horse Shoe Crab Release

A short stop in Lahad Datu for breakfast around 6am today turned into another Marine-life Rescue Mission for TRACC. Two Pala'u ladies arrived at the morning market with 3 horseshoe crabs. Both of them hardly speak any Malay so couldn't find out the exact location where they caught these pre-historic looking creatures. 

Anyway, bought all 3 horseshoe crabs and took them to Pom Pom island. I personally have only seen one here last year but we have seen many small ones in Kulapuan. Hope the release of one big female and two smaller males will bring back the population of horseshoe crabs around Pom Pom island. Our staff and volunteers were so excited to have this rare opportunity to handle these living fossils and releasing them back into the sea! - Gon

Horseshoe crabs are easy to catch and are often found in the fish market. They don't have any "meat" to speak of and taste a bit like fresh seaweed (salty, rubbery, cold and disgusting).

Horseshoe Crabs are often called "living fossils". The earliest record of them is in the Ordovician period 450,000,000 years old and they haven't changed much since.

They're more closely related to spiders than crabs but have 10 legs rather than 8 and external gills like a prawn.

They also have a peculiar number of "eyes". There are two compound eyes where you might expect them to be, but then there are five additional "eyes" that have different resolutions and functions - two of them respond to visible light and three to ultraviolet. There are also light receptors along the tail that helps the Horseshoe synchronize its body clock with light and day. Finally, there are two ventral (on the underside) eyes near its mouth.

Chinese School Group at TRACC

TRACC were host to a large Chinese FSXH school group in summer 2016 who came to visit for the first time. There were a total of 16 high school students from China and 4 teachers. Most came to learn how to dive, learn about what TRACC does and be involved in marine conservation. These students had no knowledge of what marine conservation is all about and what TRACC does and so many of the TRACC staff including myself had the opportunity to teach them about the life under the sea.

While most of the dive masters were assisting the instructors with the students’ open water and advanced open water, I had the opportunity to help Tom (the science officer) out with the science education. We gave short classes on coral identification, fish identification and artificial reef. I found teaching and educating these students really exciting. Not only was I learning as I teach, the students were really enthusiastic and wanted to learn more about the marine life. They are constantly asking questions and giving out burst of amazement about the uniqueness of every single species of marine creatures. As soon as we finished our classroom section, we hit the water for some snorkelling and started identifying the types of family fishes. Even though many of the students barely know how to swim and some are terrified of the water, they are still really excited to explore and discover the fishes or corals that they just learned. 

Natalie and Evelyn.

 Thinking back on the memories with the students, I personally felt really inspired by them. One of my favourite memories was teaching a student how to swim. Right from the start, before we head into the water, I could tell Evelyn was scared of drowning but yet she was determined to learn how to swim. In no time, she was swimming like a professional athlete. The best part of this particular experience was not only does Evelyn feel accomplished, I felt equally accomplished as she was.  We constantly high five and hugged each other and there was no other way to describe that feeling of achieving the same goal with another person. It’s amazing how much I have seen her grow from a non-swimmer to an excellent swimmer and diver. This was definitely a one-time experience I would never replace it for the world. The challenges and accomplishment that were faced are those memories I will look back now and appreciate the opportunities that TRACC has given me.

(This blog is written by Natalie Chai)

If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please check our website http://tracc.org or email info@tracc-borneo.org

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google+

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow our projects on facebook

Fun Dive at North Tip

The diversity at North Tip

The biodiversity at North tip has changed dramatically since May. Bluespotted ribbontail ray, nudibranch, bumphead parrotfish at the size of approximately one meter, humphead wrasse and the redtooth triggerfishes definitely grabbed my attention throughout this dive. Evidently, the photo above shows the diversity of fishes at approximately 30 meters. The redtooth triggerfishes are seen gracefully swimming about in the open blue water.

Redtooth triggerfish are one of the most diverse fish at North Tip.

Blue spotted ribbon tail ray at North Tip.

Furthermore, humphead wrasses have not been seen for more than five months. However, they were recently seen again in mid-August. During this fun dive, an adult humphead wrasse was just swimming peacefully past us. It was definitely a sight to see as I have never seen a humphead wrasse swimming in the ocean but rather I will always see these wrasses in Chinese restaurants, cramped up in small tanks ready to be slaughtered.  TRACC has so far bought and released 15 juveniles :-)

Humphead wrasses and Bluefin Trevally at North Tip.

(This blog is written by Natalie Chai)

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If you want to visit and volunteer to help with any marine conservation activity, please check our website http://tracc.org or email info@tracc-borneo.org

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google+

If visits to Tracc are not possible then like us and share our projects on Social media.

Donations to community projects, or support / sponsor an Intern or Marine science student are always welcome.

Big Fish Surveys

I have been a volunteer and science intern at TRACC for just over two months and the journey has been amazing. The work and effort that TRACC has put into conserving and rehabilitating the marine creatures has shown a significant difference since they first started. There are many conservation projects that TRACC does but one of my favourites is the large fish survey. 

Plectropomus are indicative of healthy reef.

The very first large fish survey was done in 2011 when TRACC first arrived on Pom Pom Island and the fish are still being surveyed and added as data. The reason for this is because we want to know if the coral restoration and artificial reefs are attracting fishes. According to the data, there has been a drastic increase in the number of large fishes since 2011.

Before my first large fish survey, Tom, the senior science officer, made sure that we knew how to identify the large fish families such as sharks, rays, triggerfish, groupers, sweetlips etc. As soon as we'd gone through the fish identification, we jumped into the water right away. On that very first fish survey dive, I had trouble identifying all the different types of large fishes but Tom guided and made sure I improved at identifying the large fishes. Thanks to him, by the time I'd done 3 fish surveys, I felt like a pro! Now, after weeks of surveying, I am taking over and leading the fish survey with new volunteers that are in TRACC.

I personally think that a fish survey is like a treasure hunt. Every large fish that we find is like finding gold! And stingrays are like finding platinum! One of my favourite fish surveys was when we saw three eagle rays in one survey and one of them swam right over our heads. That was one of the best dives I've ever had; not just to see an eagle ray but also to see it swimming so close.

Bolbometopon also need healthy coral

Another great fish survey experience was when I saw my first bumphead parrotfish. Those parrotfishes were about a meter long and had teeth that were so big they looked like they were wearing hockey gum guards. They seemed intimidating but they are one of the gentlest creatures I've ever met. During my survey, 13 of them parrotfishes were eating in a land full of corals. Somehow they really reminded me of a herd of cows.

These are only some of the many things I've experienced during my science internship and I'm only just beginning. Through diving and fish surveying, the ocean never fails to surprise me. I am learning new things about the ocean everyday and there is never a dull moment. I am definitely looking forward to getting on with the next fish survey and I will be sure to go in to the water with an expectant heart, knowing that in every fish survey that I do, I will be in awe.

Natalie surveying for big-fish at TRACC

If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.

Creature Feature - Pontoh's Pygmy Seahorse

Photo by Basil Bohn

Enigmatic by nature Pontoh’s Pygmy Seahorse fits like a puzzle piece into the drifting, moving, swaying landscape of her hidden hydroid home. She appears fragile with a figure the dimension of my thumbnail. Yet, she moves with relative confidence and ease. Her twiney tail wraps tightly around the base of one hydroid, before she pushes off and moves in one great leap of her tiny frame, tail grasping the next hydroid base to tightly anchor once again.

Found beneath the shelter of the wreck she is well hidden from potential dangers of ocean currents and predators as she nestles into her home. Her creamy beiges and browns mirroring the mossy world which she inhabits, difficult to spot by divers and predators alike. With no teeth and no stomach she must constantly prey on the tiny crustaceans and planktonic organisms. Watch long enough and you will see, a teensy snout protrude to slurp up her tiny prey.

Photo by Basil Bohn

This charismatic creature, also called the weedy pygmy seahorse, was only discovered in 2008. Once again, the small Island of Pom Pom and TRACC has been privileged with rarity and majesty in a diminutive form.

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.

Creature Feature - The Frogfish

Photo by Basil Bohn

The always frowning frogfish is one of the many visitors to the aptly named “biodiversity reef” at TRACC, an artificial reef created through the amalgamation of old plastic crates. With its rich landscape of corners, shadows, and holes for the refuge seekers of the ocean depths, the biodiversity reef produces a tiny city bustling with life. To the untrained eye the frogfish appears as a rather large squareish blob of algae crusting a crevice of the crates. Yet, suddenly in a moment of magic-eye realization, the frogfish’s perpetual frown and beady eyes appear.

This pouting frogfish perches on the inside corner of the reef, so convinced of his camouflage that not even the accidental tap of a fin on his tail makes him move away.  His gaping mouth continuously takes in water and filters it out the gill openings located slightly in front of his tail; modified pectoral fins grasp the corners of the biodiversity reef to keep him stable and anchored.

Frogfish on the Biodiversity Reef
Photo by Basil Bohn

A member of the anglerfish family, he waits and hides, his lure hanging deliciously just outside his mouth. His jaw and stomach bones are so flexible that he can consume something twice his size. Surely sometime an unsuspecting fish will be tricked by his false promise of food to become the frogfish’s next meal?

Next day, next dive and our frowning friend of a frogfish is finished with his fishing. No longer does he inhabit his inverted corner. Sometime in the light or the dark he has used his modified pectoral fins to walk, one fin in front of the other, or gallop, pectoral fins striding in unison, across the ocean floor.

Grateful for his visit and grateful to the reef, we look forward to when he might return.

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.

Artificial Reef Part 3 -- Bottle Reef Survey's and Sea Creatures

James Surveying the Reef

James gently sways in the hammock on a sunny afternoon as I lounge beside him in one of the white pliable plastic deck chairs so typical in the communal area of Number 4. He is clad in his usual apparel of swim trunks, me in mine of bikini and well-worn oversized tank top.  Casually, we talk of the work he has done surveying the biodiversity of the bottle reefs planted by TRACC and the pleasure of seeing increased biodiversity return the tiny white-rimmed paradise of Pom Pom Island.

James McElroy works primarily to assess the impact of bottle reefs as a healthy reef structure in depleted reef ecosystems, and “satisfied” is the word on his lips. The actual work of the surveys take place while diving and the posture of James as he surveys the bottle reefs and the test sites, which are patches of coral rubble that once were healthy reefs, is one of calm concentration. He hovers in the water a little aside and above the

A Grouper Between the Bottles

sites, marking species in pencil on a white plastic slate – later pouring over species identification books to figure out exactly what grouper he saw, or what that particular wrasse with blue and green sides and orange fins was that’s been bothering him all week.

His surveys take place over 9 weeks and utilize 72 identical bottle reefs planted at 6 different sites scattered at intervals around the island for the purpose of his experiment. Preliminary results indicate

a higher number of species and greater biodiversity as compared to the test sites. Over 50 different species have been recorded as populating the new bottle reefs, among them a resident moray eel hiding in the shadows of the concrete base, a blue ringed mimic octopus chameleonesque in its color changing abilities, and a rose patterned batch of nudibranch eggs.

The Survey Team at Work

James is satisfied not only to directly see the results of the bottle reefs, but also expresses a satisfaction in his contribution to TRACC: “To quantify the conservation impact we have made on the biodiversity of these originally barren areas is important for the credibility of TRACC and the techniques we are using.  In a small way, I feel like I’m working as an auditor outside of TRACC by analyzing the work the organization has done.”

Yet, at the heart of it James, like all of us at TRACC is the most pleased with the results apparent through what we directly see at the bottle reefs, “When I’ve spotted two species on a control site and 14 on a new reef, its satisfying as a conservationist to see the effect of the new reefs i built”.

Click here for Artificial Reefs Part 1 - Building New Habitats and Homes

Click here for Artificial Reefs Part 2 - Reef Stability and Recycling

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.