Captivated By A Snail!

Yes, there were dragonflies everywhere too but this snail certainly had me in a spell for quite a while!

A very handsome snail indeed..... if I may say so.

Even as I stood over it and watched, it went creeping and crawling along on its muscular foot, minding its own business.  I suppose it could sense there is no danger in my presence and so it did not withdraw into its shell, thus giving me lots of opportunities to observe it.

And then I looked at its eyes at the tips of those long tentacles and started wondering...
What kind of vision would a snail have? 
How does it perceive the world around it?
Won't you be curious too?

Those eyes seem to be independent of each other and at times, the tentacles would be pointing in opposite directions.

Snails are rather fascinating creatures, wouldn't you agree?

Another one of nature's beautiful creations.

Snails

At The Beach

It looked like a nice morning for a walk on the beach... so that was where I went.  After all, Cenang Beach is barely 5 minutes away from home.

And as I had thought, it was perfect!  At this early hour, apart from a few joggers, I had almost the whole beach all to myself. 

Nice!

 

 

The view looking out to sea was great too!

 

 

The sea was quite flat and calm.  With a mild breeze blowing, the marker line and flag put out by the various watersports centres bobbed and swayed lightly on the water...

 

 

...while the outgoing tide had left streaks of its whispers on the beach.

 

 

As the run rose higher, its rays were reflected off the Mat Chinchang range in the background towards the north, giving an almost idyllic feel to the whole place.

 

 

The low tide was perfect for observing shore creatures and the shore came to live when the crabs and snails came out to feed.

If you stay still enough and long enough, you will see these sand crabs venturing out from their burrows.

 

 

Meantime, these tiny Sand Bubbler Crabs (Scopira sp.) feed on detritus from the sand and in the process form tiny sand balls that they leave in trails around their burrows.

 

 

The snails also make their own patterned trails as they glide along on the shore's glassy surface.

 

 

Several dead jellyfishes had also been washed up onto the beach.  Here's one of them.

 

 

Apart from all that, I had an unexpected visit from both a dragonfly and a damselfly.  Here's the Ischnura senegalensis perched on a seashell.

 

 

And this Brachythemis contaminata that kept flying around me in circles and then stopping occasionally to perch and bask in the sun.

 

 

But, within the hour, the skies had become overcast, engulfing the peaks of Mat Chinchang as the rain moved in...

 

 

 

Water, Water, Water... Everywhere!

There has been so much rain in Langkawi the last few days. 

And then, there is the spring high tides with the new moon, so water level is not receding much as yet.  Many creatures have seek higher ground to escape the rising waters.  Although there was a short respite this morning, it is raining again now. 

Soon, this snail might have to think about a swim...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But he is not alone.  Those ants are in the same dilemma...

 

 

And there are still more stranded snails...

 

 

These crickets are sharing a leaf with a spider while they wait...

 

 

And even the crab is staying out of the water...

 

 

It does look like it will be quite a long, long wait.

And, I do hope the sun will show its face tomorrow...