My Week of Snake Skin

Another discarded snake skin found this morning in Tanjung Rhu Mangroves of Langkawi. This must be my week of discarded snake skins.

Our boat was closing into the foliage of the mangroves and our skipper slowed down and started to reverse. Then suddenly, one of my guests shouted, "A snake!". My eyes were looking everywhere on the lowest branches of the trees. Feeling a bit embarrassed to ask, my mind was asking "Where? Where?". I looked at my skipper for a clue and then he said in Malay, "Kulit ular" (snake skin). I saw the discarded skin dangling on the leaves. However, my guests were still focusing on a different spot. And then shortly, I saw that snake hanging on the limbs.  Even my skipper who has good eyes didn't even spot it first... hahahhaha...

Everyone took their turn to snap pictures of the snake with the new skin. Because of that and all the excitement on the boat, I literally forgot to take a picture of the discarded skin. Bah!! That snake had a very beautiful shining skin and it looked "brand new" indeed. Unfortunately the discarded skin was incomplete. The head has gone.  

Someone asked me the species of that snake. "It is a Mangrove Pit viper!" Upon hearing that word "viper", the boat tilted to one side because most of them moved across away from that snake. 

The picture above was taken in November 2009. Mangrove Pit Vipers (Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus) are commonly found in mangroves of Langkawi and spotting one can be a challenge. They can be spotted hanging on the limbs of the trees between a meter to 3 meters above the water.  

One of my encounter with a mangrove pit viper was when I was pointing my finger to the mudflat while talking and looking at my group. As I looked down to where I was pointing, a juvenile pit viper was less than a meter away and ready to strike. Phew!

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An Ambush Predator In the Mangroves of Langkawi

This aggressive mangrove crab is a fierce predator that would snap its claws at anything it thinks it can eat including your feet! (White, 1847)

Forceps Crab (Epixanthus dentatus) picture taken from http://www.madeinnys.com/mangrove/e_dentatus.htm 

According to Dahdouh-Guebas et al., 1999; this Forceps Crab Epixanthus dentatus (White 1847) is an omnivorous crab but preys mostly on crabs and as well as climbing on mangroves roots (Cannicci et al., 1998). 

A forceps crab can grow only up to the carapace size width of 8cm. It can be identified with scattered orange granules on its carapace that normally hides under driftwood, rocks or debris. Like a male fiddler crab, this forceps crab E.dentatus has an abnormal claw. Unlike the male fiddler crab, the forceps crab E.dentatus has one thin claw and the other is a thick crushing claw. See above picture.

The stout right claw has a special tooth used for opening gastropods or crustaceans. While the other thin claw is like a forceps tool (or like tiny chopsticks) extracting the flesh of its prey. Wow! No wonder E.dentatus is called Forceps Crab.

I can't recall having to encounter a live E.dentatus yet but I was fortunate to find its exoskeleton or carapace. This carapace was found on the mudflat at low tide while I was kayaking in the narrow tributaries of Tanjung Rhu mangroves. From the shape of the carapace,  I believe that this E.dentatus must have gone through the molting process. Aha, it had became a soft-shell crab. I hope to see a live one with its claws ready to strike.

Classification: Biota > Animalia (Kingdom) > Arthropoda (Phylum) > Crustacea (Subphylum) > Malacostraca (Class) > Eumalacostraca (Subclass) > Eucarida (Superorder) > Decapoda (Order) > Pleocyemata (Suborder) > Brachyura (Infraorder) > Eubrachyura (Section) > Heterotremata (Subsection) > Eriphioidea (Superfamily) > Oziidae (Family) > Epixanthus (Genus)

This latest classification was taken from : World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) 

References: 

1.  A Field Guide to Kenyan Mangroves

2.  A Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore II; published by Singapore Science Center.

3. A Guide to Seashore Life in Singapore

Acknowledgement:

1. Thank you to A Field Guide to Kenyan Mangroves website for the picture (hope you don't mind)

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There It Goes Again!

This is my second time catching it red-handed in stealing fish from the fish farm. The owner is not going to be happy. But we were very happy to catch the act of "this drama" which happened in Kilim Mangroves, Langkawi two days ago.

This water dog is known as the Smooth Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) was spotted snooping on the fish farm.

It checked out the first compartment but no luck. Then it noticed that we were watching. We sensed that it was deciding to flee or try its luck. Also I felt that it had identified our boat was with a bunch of tourists so it decided to continue its act.

It walked over to the next compartment hoping for a luck of meal.

                                     

It walked in a cool manner in search of its next meal. And it found one! It  dived into the compartment, came out with a fish in its mouth and took a dip into the water. All of this action was in less than 30 seconds and left me no time to catch the moment of it capturing the fish. What a cool smooth act! Yes, this smooth otter was faster than my finger tip on the shutter. Bah! I forgot to switch to the continous shooting mode.

Having a face like a dog, smooth otters are considered as one of our mangroves top predators. Not just in the mangroves, these otters were spotted along the coastline of the island. They mainly feed on fishes and are excellent hunters. They are usually shy and can be seen travelling in pairs. In these two years, I noticed a decline of smooth otters population in Tanjung Rhu mangroves. I wonder why?

Have they moved to Kilim in search of food? Being shy creatures, why did they resort to taking fish from the farm instead of hunting? Where do they nest? Have their nesting area been disturbed? Have there been any population count of these otters in Langkawi?

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Kuala Gula Teeming with Birds and Wildlife (via Boat Cruise)

My apologies for being absent for three weeks. The apology is to myself for a start, at least. Besides the normal excuse of being extremely busy with work, I was away for five days at Kuala Gula Mangroves, Perak since Oct 19. This is my second visit to Kuala Gula for this year and a fantastic one.

We didn't get to go round the mangroves on a boat on the previous visit. On this second visit, we managed to hire a fisherman's boat with our chalet owner as our skipper for three hours on the third day. We set off before 8:00am and the tide was going out. The day was hot with blue sky.

Among the mangroves of Peninsula Malaysia, Kuala Gula is one of best spot to find assortment of kingfishers. Especially from October onwards, it is the beginning of the birds migratory season.

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). Common yet uncommon.

Stock-Billed Kingfisher (Halcyon capensis)

Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) Eventhough this can be seen everywhere but it is still appealing. 

Black-Capped Kingfisher (Halcyon pileata)

Kuala Gula also have plenty of White Throated Kingfishers (picture not taken) in the inner land.  They usually can be found along the main road and perched on the cables or poles next to the palm oil plantation.

Coming together with these migatory birds are the egrets and herons.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) on the mudlflat

Great Egret (Casmerodius albus) wading.

 

Grey Heron (Andrea cinerea)

Other waders were Common Redshank, Common Sandpiper and Plover family. Then, there was a bird larger than the Great Egrets. We were so fortunate to see this one.

Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus) or known as "Burung Botak" in Malay.

And of course, the top predator bird - the Raptor:

Brahminy Kites (Haliastur indus). Juvenile on the left and Adult on the right.

Brahminy Kites are scavengers. Besides going for their own hunt, they are willing to wait for fishermen to haul up the net for assortments of seafood treats. One example can be seen here. 

Brahminy kites "natural" feeding. Wouldn't Langkawi can be a better place for eco-tourism if the relevant authorities would follow the example of Kuala Gula??

White Bellied Sea Eagles were around but not as frequent as Brahminy Kites and the Crested Serpent Eagle.

Besides the birds, there were other wildlife "treats" as well.

 A Long Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) hunting for crabs on the mudflat at low tide. Can you spot her baby?

This family of reptile can be seen almost everywhere. This Malayan Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus salvator) here is enjoying its sunbathing moment. It was not bothered at all as we cruised past.

 A Mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) was caught by a fisherman and later was thrown back into the water. 

 Smooth Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) swimming shyly away from us.

Eventhough the skipper told us that the population of Giant Mudskippers (Periophthalmodon schlosseri) had reduced in numbers, they still can be seen almost everywhere in Kuala Gula mangroves.

 Unidentified crab spewing out bubbles. I have no clue why is it doing that.

The unexpected treat was the DOLPHINS!! Our boat headed out of the tributary as we wanted to check out the opposite side. Thanks to the low tide on the other side, the skipper was cruising slowly at the river mouth. The river was still calm and it was quiet until I caught a glimpse of it.

 A dolphin's tail flipped over the still calm water.

 What dolphin is this? I need help to ID this dolphin. Its dorsal fin had a pink tip.

The three hour boat ride kept us busy looking thru the binoculars, jotting down notes and taking pictures. The wildlife here is simply awesome. The right timing did help us a lot. Because the tide was going out, this situation allowed feeding activity for the wildlife. On this day, 21st October 2009, the lowest tide was estimated to be slightly below 0.50m.

The abundance of wildlife in Kuala Gula owes itself to the minimum commercialisation for tourism. In return, the mangroves supplement great income to the livelihood of people in Kuala Gula. Most of the industries here are heavily dependent on the products from the mangroves such as shrimps, cockles, crabs and other sea related products.

  Flat short trees yet awesome

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