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...

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 f...