A journey to remember...part 1

My first visit to the largest seagrass bed in Peninsular Malaysia was on 15 November 2008 at 5.00 p.m (Malaysia time)..

The journey was started at Jeti Pendas as shown in the figure..Tide still at high level during our departure, so  in this entry you will see mostly water scene than anything.. 

The scenery in front of the jetty

The squatters area along the estuary of Sungai Pendas

 Mangrove along the shoreline of Tanjung Kupang..Covered with jungle-like mangrove trees..Sometimes if you're lucky, a group of monkey , the lesser adjutant stork (burung botak or Leptoptilos javanicus), burung bangau or mudskipper could be spotted. They usually looking for food near the shore.

 Second link bridge.last two row of pillar belong to Singapore.

After approximately 25 minutes on the boat, finally we arrived at the area of seagrass..However the seagrass still submerged at high tide. (low tide at 6.30 p.m)

First seagrass spotted ..Enhalus acoroides which had the longest leaves compare to other species of seagrass at the area..

Seagrass bed during high tide (actually during transition time from high to low tide)

Enhalus acoroides

Enhalus acoroides (EA) merupakan salah satu daripada spesies rumput laut yang dikatakan mempunyai saiz daun paling panjang. Taburannya merangkumi kawasan-kawasan tropika Indo-Pacific.

Di Malaysia species Enhalus ini boleh dijumpai di kawasan muara sungai berbakau (contoh di muara Sungai Pulai, Johor), pulau (Pulau Manukan, Sabah, ), teluk (Teluk Buih, Mersing) dan paling banyak adalah di 'Tanjung Kupang-Merambong seagrass bed'. Tempat lain contohnya Indonesia, EA boleh ditemui di Pantai Kuta, Bali. Jepun juga memiliki taburan EA yang banyak di kawasan perairan mereka.

Gambar 1: Taburan EA di muara Sungai Pulai.Tompokan gelap itu adalah EA yang tumbuh secara berkumpulan..Berdasarkan gambar di atas, sebelah kanan adalah Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas dan kiri adalah kawasan bakau (ketika ini masih terdapat pokok bakau bersebelahan Tanjung Bin Power Plant)..


Gambar 2: Secara 'landscape view' ia adalah seperti di atas. Sila bayang dan cantumkan Gambar 2 dan 3 di mana pada sebelah kiri gambar 2 terletaknya sebuah 'power plant'.


Gambar 3: Tanjung Bin Power Plant..


Kembali kepada cerita EA, saya paparkan gambar EA di muara Sungai Pulai ini secara lebih dekat.


Gambar 4: EA di muara Sungai Pulai..daun nya sudah bertukar dari warna hijau menjadi coklat (hampir mirip air laut di kawasan ini)tidak sehijau daun EA di Pulau Manukan, Sabah.


Gambar 5: Setompok EA ditemui di Pulau Manukan, Sabah..(kawasan yang bebas dari pencemaran)



*Nota kaki: Gambar untuk kawasan lain seperti yang nyatakan di perenggan pertama akan ditunjukkan di lain masa..


Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Hydrocharitales
Family: Hydrocharitaceae
Species: Enhalus acoroides
Common name: Tape seagrass

Info tambahan: Sekumpulan penyelidik daripada UiTM melaporkan bahawa EA mempunyai sifat anti-kanser yang mampu membunuh 50% HeLa cells dan membantutkan pertumbuhan bakteria yang diuji.



Rujukan:

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/plants/seagrass/enhalus.htm
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/173331/0
http://ijuuitm.blogspot.com/

Orang Asli Mah Meri

At the entrance of Perkampungan Orang Asli Suku Kaum Mah Meri.

Penduduk yang saya jumpa kebanyakkannya terlibat dalam industri seni ukiran dan kraftangan. anyaman daripada daun nipah dijadikan penanda buku (they manage to make 10 per day), sampul telefon (it takes 2 weeks to finish) and bakul etc. Tempahan datang daripada persendirian, jabatan hal ehwal orang asli dan mereka turut membuka gerai di pameran tertentu di sekitar kuala lumpur, negeri sembilan dan melaka.

Satu Daerah Satu Industri

Hasil anyaman


One of the workshop..a lot of faces..


Owner of the workshop in action!!
with his favorite mask.:)


p/s: they hope the mangrove area near their village will not wipe out by the development since source of nipah (main ingredient for anyaman) was not easy to get nowadays. PLEASE SAVE THE MANGROVE for the sake of the Mah Meri survival.

aquatic life at Tanjung Kupang- Merambong shoal

Protoreastar nodosus aka 'Patrick'...

sebenarnya gambar ni di ambil di Pulau Merambong..tapi kat seagrass bed pun banyak sea star ni..emm....where its mouth, eye etc? according to Wikipedia, bintik2 hitam pada badan dia adalah untuk menakutkan musuh excluding manusia kot, sebab nampak macam tajam, tapi bila disentuh, keras tapi xtajam. and its look interesting because of nice colour combination..subhanallah..at this moment, i do not much about this unique creature only got info from internet..may be could be one of research subject in future (if they still exist)..*mood:worried for development that may wipe out this species from our shore..*


this photo taken among seagrass at Tanjung Kupang seagrass bed..the seagrass surround the sea star was Enhalus acoroides (have long leaves compared to other species of seagrass, about 92-140 cm long)






Holothuria leucospilota,

berbentuk selinder, warna hitam dan bila dipegang, lembut dan licin..bila dipicit (bukan picit kuat, tekan kulit dia sikit je) dia akan keluarkan air dari mulut (rasanye la)..pancutan air tu ada rasa macam ada pasir...byk dijumpai di sekitar batu karang dan rumput laut..tp mostly near coral area just like the picture..
one type of sea cucumber (gamat) but do have any medical value (according to my source).. but some people harvested them for food (delicacy type of seafood i guest)..