It is a monitoring programme of Knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodusus) initiated by Chee Kong and me. It all started when I was sending CK photos of P. nodusus whenever I find any on my field trips, knowing that he was doing a study on them. One fine day, we just logged on MSN and discuss about them. That's it - STAR TRACKERS was borned.
For more information of what STAR TRACKERS is about, visit here.
First two monitoring sessions at Cyrene Reef were a success! Being able to identify them as individuals, we can easily monitor their population and growth over time! Look here and here for records of individual mug shots. I have personally named C0022 (Photo above) as 'White Chip', as the knobs are of an unusual white instead of black, reminding me of white chocolate chips. C0020 and C0025 are also easily recognisable - the former with only 5 central knobs and the latter with so many knobs, enough to form almost a circle around its central disc! =D
Just two trips alone, the results are shocking! Total of 62 individuals were found! This means there are at least 62 Knobblies living on Cyrene Reef itself, and definitely much more out there! Play your part in this programme by sending in your sightings, and watch the numbers grow!!
Go Star Troopers!
Acknowledgement: Special thanks to Ria for allowing us to leech on her trips to conduct Star Tracking. Also thanks to all those who helped us locate the Knobblies, plant the flags, and eventually collect the flags back.
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