wild shores of singapore

Clammy evening at Changi

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

There's lots to see even though the tide is not very low! Today I visited a narrow band of seagrasses, sandy and rocky shores at Changi.

There were lots of clams, and other creatures too!

The Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis) here are lush and green!

I noticed piles of small dead clams washed up on the shore.

Most of them I could not identify!

Other clam shells included: Fan clams (Family Pinnidae), many tiny Nest mussels (Musculista senhousia), some jingle shell clams (Family Anomiidae), a baby razor clam (Family Solenidae) and a young window pane shell (Placuna sp.).

I also saw many living scallops (Family Pectinidae)! Most of them were stuck to hard surfaces.

Other living clams seen included a Large cockle (Family Cardiidae) and Big brown mactra clam (Mactra mera).

There are more shells stuck on other shells! On this shell occupied by a hermit crab, there were two other snails (that look like clams). On the outside, a pointy tipped Slipper snail (Family Calyptraeidae) and on the inside, flat slipper snails.

I saw this empty shell. I have no idea what it is.

Empty shells of course important to hermit crabs. And there were many on the shore.

I took a closer look at large Window pane shells that washed up. All kinds of animals have settled on their shells. Including other shelled animals, and egg capsules of snails.

Under one Window pane shell, there were lots of brittle stars!

Indeed, Changi is a great place to see echinoderms. Even though the tide is not very low, there were many Black sea urchins (Temnopleurus sp.) washed up. Some of them were still alive carrying bits of shells and debris, many with a worm curled around the mouth. There were also skeletons of dead sea urchins.

I saw one washed up Ball sea cucumber (Phyllophorus sp.), a Pink warty sea cucumbers (Cercodemas anceps) while a Purple sea cucumber was stuck to a rock.

I even saw one small Plain sand stars (Astropecten sp.).

There were also two Common sea pens (Pteroides sp.). Both of them were full of Painted porcelain crabs (Porcellanella picta)!

The sandy shore is fringed by a lacy spray of sand balls made by busy Sand bubbler crabs (Scopimera sp.).

There are also patches of tubeworm tubes.

I also had a quick look at the rocky area nearby. And saw this. Is this a Lunar New Year orange tossed away? No, it's a sponge! I call it the Rambutan sponge (Tethya robusta) because they are prickly and colourful. I don't know how it got 'sliced' open like this. Cut by a fishing line?

Here's a closer look at the sponge. There were lots of these sponges on the rocks. They are often anchored to the surface with stringy tissues that look like melted cheese. Tiny blobs may appear at the tips of the filaments. These are buds that drop off to develop into new Rambutan sponges.

There were also other kinds of sponges including patches of Rainbow sponge (Suberites sp.) and some Black antler sponge (Haliclona sp.).

More sponges in deeper water!

Sadly, many of the large oysters (Family Ostreidae) growing on the rocks have been pried open.

The white empty shells of oysters dot the large boulders.

At Changi Creek, bumboats pass by on the way back from Ubin and several fishermen work the shore with cast nets.

On the shore, there were scatterings of small fishes. Abandoned by fishermen?

A big purple branching sponge (Callyspongia sp.) has washed up.

Large ships pass near Changi through the shipping channel between Pulau Ubin and Changi which leads to massive shipyards are Sembawang in Singapore, and Pasir Gudang port in Johor.

Despite these pressures, Changi is still very much alive! I haven't been here since Jul 2011! During a much lower tide before dawn, when lots more can be seen. But even during a moderate low tide during daylight, there's so much to see!

Lush reefs of Sisters Island with surprise crab

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:32:00 +0000

What a pretty crab! I've not seen one like this before! And Kok Sheng found a basket star too!

A small team surveyed Sisters Island yesterday. It was relief to see that the reefs seemed fine.

The crab had pretty blue markings on the underside!

Here's a closer look at the the crab. It has dark eyes with white spots, and its pincer tips are crossed like scissors. There are blue spots near the mouth and on the pincers too. It looks like some kind of Swimming crab (Family Portunidae).

How wonderful to see this beautiful basket star (Family Euryalidae) which Kok Sheng found. We rarely see this animal on our shores. This is only the second time we've seen one on Sisters Island since Chay Hoon found a basket star here in 2007.

A closer look at the basket star. It has a tiny star-shaped thing on the upper side (upper left photo). The mouth in on the underside (upper right photo). I also noticed conical transparent things on the ends of the small curly branching arms. I have no idea what they are. The animal was producing a lot of slime!

Even though I'm half blind, I managed to see this Tiger-tail seahorse (Hippocampus comes)! It was quite lively and hard to shoot.

The only nudibranch I saw was this Phyllidiella pustulosa which is commonly seen on many of our reefs. Chay Hoon found two Bornella sp.

My main concern was to see how the corals are doing here since our last trip in Oct 2011. Although there is still a massive bloom of Sargassum seaweed (Sargassum sp.) on Sisters Island, the water is clear and the tide surprisingly lower than predicted. So we could carefully survey the island to see how the corals there are doing.

The first thing I noticed was lots of white spots on the rocks near the edge of the reef. These were pink coralline algae that had turned white. Coralline algae acts somewhat like a pink cement, encrusting dead corals on a reef. Oh dear. Is this something to worry about?

A closer look at the 'rocks' and it seems most of them are actually dead corals encrusted with coralline algae. Lots of long Sargassum seaweed are attached to the 'rocks'. Did the seaweed lift up the 'rocks'? Is that how so many 'rocks' build up on the reef flat?

It was good to see that many of the large hard corals were nice and brown and unbleached. Hurray!

Sisters Island has among some of the best reefs that are easily accessed by the public. With a wide variety of hard corals, including many that are not commonly seen.

The huge colony of Brain anchor coral (Euphyllia ancora) is still there. Although the centre portion of the colony is dead, the edges seem very much alive.

Here's a closer look at the U-shaped tips on the tentacles that distinguish this family of corals.

I also came across three small colonies of Acropora corals (Acropora sp.).

There were several medium to large Brain corals (Family Mussidae).

There were small clusters of Branching montipora corals (Montipora sp.).

I saw many colonies of the pretty Carnation coral (Pectinia sp.). This coral seems to be doing very well on Sisters Island. The coral has a delicate fluted skeleton which is hidden under the fleshy tissues.

I also saw several Ridged plate corals (Merulina sp.), which also seems to do well here.

I came across a small half-dead colony of Lettuce coral (Pavona sp.).

The gatherings of Circular mushroom corals (Family Fungiidae) are still there and they all look happy and unbleached. These corals grow unattached to a hard surface!

I also came across a small Bracket mushroom coral (Family Fungiidae) which grows attached to a hard surface.

The more common coral species were also abundant. There were many colonies of Favid corals (Family Faviidae) of all sizes. I saw several Tiny-ringed corals (Cyphastrea sp.). The colony with bumps looks unusual.

There were many Pore corals (Porites sp.) of all sizes. Most of them seemed healthy although I saw a few that were rather pale.

I saw a few small Flowery disk corals (Turbinaria sp.) and all of them were rather pale. There was also one nice delicate looking Thin disk coral (Turbinaria sp.).

I saw a few Crinkled sandpaper coral (Psammocora sp.), and one colony of Galaxy coral (Galaxea sp.). There were some small Anemone corals (Goniopora sp.) colonies, but I didn't manage to get to the big colony in the middle of the lagoon due to the Sargassum bloom. I also didn't see any Cauliflower corals (Pocillopora sp.).

I also saw a variety of healthy, small colonies of Leathery soft corals (Family Alcyoniidae).

I came across an enormous cluster of these Ridged corallimorphs which I don't often encounter.

The more commonly seen Carpet corallimorphs were also seen here and there.

I came across this large sea anemone wedged among the rocks. I'm not sure what it is. Could be the Bubble tip anemone (Entacmea quadricolor) as a few of the tentacles had a white band. Later on, we also saw one large Haddon's carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni) on the sandy shore.

We left soon after sunset so we didn't see too many fishes. And we were very relieved NOT to find any driftnets on the island, unlike on our last trip here in Oct 2011.

Sisters Island lies next to major international shipping lanes in the Singapore Straits. Accidents can result in oil spills, such as the oil spill earlier this month near Pulau Senang and Pulau Pawai. Some container ships like this one, pass alarmingly close to Sisters Island.

There was even a container ship that crashed into and got stuck on a rock near the Sisters Islands in 2009. Here's a photo of this ship in the distance, between the two Sisters Islands.
The two Sisters Islands are in the foreground with the ship in between the two islands.
There are indeed many things that can harm the reefs on the Sisters Islands. Thankfully, so far, they seem alright.

Hantu health check with shrimp suprise!

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:45:00 +0000

A small team head out for a long overdue trip to Pulau Hantu despite the gloomy weather. Has this beautiful shore been affected by the Bukom fire of October 2011? And the oil spill near Pulau Senang and Pawai in January 2012?

It was a relief to see the shore seems normal. The large leathery soft corals (Family Alcyoniidae) on the shore opposite Pulau Bukom seemed alright. And Chay Hoon and Kok Sheng found some special sea creatures too!

The Sargassum seaweed (Sargassum sp.) 'bloom' over the reefs is massive! As a result, we couldn't explore the reef flat. While Russel and Kok Sheng explored the edges near the sea wall, I decided to spend time in the swimming lagoon.

Hantu has many lovely corals, and most of those I came across looked normal. Unlike our friends at the Hantu Bloggers who visit this reef every month, I haven't been to Hantu since June 2011, and haven't done a proper check since January 2012.

Some special corals seen include some Galaxy corals (Galaxea sp.) all were rather pale. Some Brain coral (Family Mussidae), Ridged plate coral (Merulina sp.), one tiny Acropora coral (Acropora sp.), a small Anchor corals (Family Euphyllidae) and some small Lettuce corals (Pectinia sp.). I also saw several healthy Cauliflower corals (Pocillopora sp.), which are usually the first to bleach.

I came across some Favid corals (Family Faviidae) that had odd yellowish patches. But they were not totally bleached.

But most of the Favid corals were colourful as they normally are.

And there were many small corals growing everywhere.

Even inside the lagoon, there are spots with lots of different kinds of hard and soft corals. Many of the flowery soft corals were a little pale, and the Asparagus flowery soft corals (Family Nephtheidae) were also rather pink. But I didn't see any that there bleaching.

Hantu is one of the places where we can see lots of Circular mushroom corals (Family Fungidae)!

Hantu is one of the few places where we can still see many Sunflower mushroom coral (Heliofungia actiniformis). The other location where this happens is Pulau Semakau.

I came across this large cluster of pretty green anemones. I don't know what they are!

There were lots of Giant carpet anemones (Stichodactyla gigantea) but alas, I didn't see any with 'Nemos'. The large Magnificent anemone (Heteractis magnifica) is still where it used to be.

And so is the Burrowing giant clam (Tridacna crocea)! Kok Sheng also saw another pretty giant clam on the outer reef.

On this trip, I focused on taking close ups of common marine life. Like this Zebra coral (Oulastrea crispata). I didn't realise that the polyps have such delicately spotted tentacles!

The only nudibranchs I saw was one Jorunna funebris and one Chromodoris lineolata. The rest saw lots of other nudibranchs in large numbers too!

Mangroves have settled naturally on the seawalls of Pulau Hantu. The trees look well. While inside the swimming lagoon are lots of hard corals, as well as nice long Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides). Elsewhere, there were still lots of Common sea stars (Archaster typicus), and a wide variety of healthy looking sponges.

The find of the day was a commensal shrimp in a red feather star! Chay Hoon found it! This is my first time seeing this tiny shrimp!

I took the opportunity to take a closer look at the super tiny feeding tentacles of the sea fan!

Koh Sheng found this little red sea cucumber that we are not familiar with. It has pretty yellow 'fluffy' feeding tentacles, that are very sticky. This looks like the sea cucumber we've seen at Pulau Semakau and Cyrene Reef. So it's good to finally get a closer look at it. Hopefully it can later be identified.

The sea cucumber has an obvious underside full of sticky tube feet.

Chay Hoon also found an Alicia sea anemone (Alicia sp.)! This looks like the one Andy found at Cyrene. Unfortunately, it refused to open up nicely. Sigh.

When we arrived, there were about 6 people fishing off the jetty with lines. As we walked to the end of the jetty, we saw bundled up driftnets next to a styrofoam box with fishes, crabs and clams.

Here's a closer look at their catch.

Two guys were standing on the reef edge fishing. When we approached, they headed back to the seawall. I had a quick friendly chat with one of them. He said they don't visit Hantu often. They usually fish off Seringat, where, he said "there isn't so much corals" and the fishing is better. He said they didn't catch much although they had been here all day. We saw some small fishes among their catch.

In the lagoon, there was an abandoned driftnet which has been there so long that it is already overgrown with sponges.

Pulau Hantu lies very close to Pulau Bukom! And yet there is still so much marine life here.

Fortunately we were spared heavy rain, although it mizzled a fair bit throughout the trip. As the sun set and the tide turned, the wind and rain picked up. Time to huddle up and wait for the boat while enjoying the many snacks shared by Andy and Russel, thank you!

Hopefully, Hantu will remain healthy until our next trip there. Tomorrow, a trip to Sisters Island!

Others who posted about this trip

Kok Sheng with lots more nudis, heart urchin, many more corals!
Russel with lovely corals, nudis and more!

Seagrass surprise on Cyrene!

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

For the first time, today I saw the fruit of Sickle seagrass! Amazing that despite all the years of seagrass work, neither Siti nor I have seen this before!

We also saw lots of other interesting marine life and got much work done!

Here's a closer look at the amazing little fruit of the Sickle seagrass (Thalassia hemprichii). It was only about 1cm tall and looks like a tiny version of the fruit of Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides)! Thanks to Siti's advice, I managed to gently slice it open to reveal the single large seed inside the fruit!

I was back on Cyrene Reef with Siti and her valiant team, for some serious seagrass work! When we first arrive, the tide is still a little high.

It's awesome to know that there are folks who can make time for this even though it's Lunar New Year Eve!

They have come to help Siti maintain her seagrass experiment on Cyrene. It's hard, back breaking work! But many hands make light work!

And today, Siti provides us with snazzy new spotty gloves! Thumbs up say Maxine!

Meanwhile, I got a break from scrapping and hauling and helped Jamie gather some growing shoots of Sickle seagrass. It's for her experiment in seagrasses too. It's hard work to find suitable shoots as there is too much seagrass on Cyrene!

I had a chance to walk by the big pool that used to be full of long Tape seagrass and teeming with all kinds of fishes including huge pipefishes. Alas, the pool is still empty and blue. I worry that the Tape seagrasses will never grow back here again. Sigh. But on a positive note, the Smooth ribbon seagrass (Cymodocea rotundata) seems to have expanded its coverage greatly!

After finishing our work, we had a quick look around. I brought them to the spot where there are plenty of Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus). Siti and I are amazed to learn that Maxine has never seen one of these before! Well, hopefully the huge numbers of them on Cyrene will make it up to her.

Along the way we came across a Carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) with an anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) separated from it, as the tide was very low. While I was on Cyrene, I only saw the big fat female shrimp and totally missed her male partner.

Until I got home and took a closer look at the photo! Isn't he amazingly camouflaged!

I also came across a nice Egg white moon snail (Polinices albumen), which so far I only encounter regularly on Cyrene.

The White sea urchins (Salmacis sp) population boom seems to be over. I saw fewer sea urchins today, and some were clearly dying. This one is already losing its spines and being eaten by hermit crabs.

I saw one large Olive snail (Oliva miniacea) burrowing in the sand.

I also came across empty shells of two different kinds of Giant clams (Tridacna sp.)!

We had a safe trip back on the dinghy, and the water was so calm we could even take photos of one another.

Although we could see that it was pouring over the mainland, and hear scary thunder, we had fine weather over Cyrene. And enjoyed a lovely sunset!

There were two other boats that came very close to Cyrene while we were there. This one seemed to have fishermen.

This other boat came close but didn't stop.

As we left, we notice flaring over Jurong Island.

Here's Siti in the final dinghy trip back, with the petrochemical refineries on Pulau Bukom in the background. Cyrene lies in the middle of the industrial triangle and yet it has amazing marine life!

We had good weather, great company and got lots of good work done! Another day well spent on Cyrene! Let's hope our luck holds for the low spring tides over the next three days!

Lunar New Year always coincides with spring tides because both are influenced by the moon!

Reclamation at Jurong near Cyrene continues

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:44:00 +0000

The 24/7 reclamation and dredging at Ayer Merbau on Jurong Island (red portion on the left) means Cyrene will be surrounded on two sides by massive coastal works. The Jurong reclamation has been going on since Jul 2011 and will probably go on for many months to come.

Click on image for larger view.
Based on chart from PMN No. 99 of 2009

Cyrene (indicated in yellow) is already not far from the massive reclamation site (red portion on the right) for the new Pasir Panjang Container Terminal, which has been going on for years.

Here's what we saw of these projects on 6 Jan 2012 during the trip to check up on the Senang/Pawai oil spill.

This is a view of the Jurong reclamation. This is part of plans to reclaim 18 hectares off Ayer Merbau, starting with 7-8 ha in the south and another 5 ha in the north of the area. The land is intended to "accommodate new investors like soap and detergent makers at a new value-add petrochemicals corridor shaping up there, as well as other potential downstream parties". More about the reclamation at Jurong Island.

A view of the massive reclamation for the new Pasir Panjang Container Terminal, taken during the same trip.

Other reefs near the Jurong reclamation site include Pulau Hantu and the Terumbu Pempang series of submerged reefs nearby. See our previous trips to Terumbu Pempang Darat, Terumbu Pempang Tengah and Terumbu Pempang Laut.
The Pasir Panjang Container Terminal reclamation, meanwhile is close to natural shores at Labrador and Sentosa.

Reclamation at Jurong Island
from Port Marine Notice No. 05 of 2012 dated 16 Jan 2012

This is a revision of Port Marine Notice No. 83 of 2011. The working period has been extended.

With effect from 16 Jan 12 to 15 Jul 12. 24 hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. Off Jurong Island (see attached chartlet):

The work will entail the removal of existing rocks, dredging and reclamation works in the working area. Shore protection works will be carried out by crane barges and dredger. Soil investigation works will also be carried out in the working area. For general enquiries, please contact Capt Choong Yew Weng, project co-coordinator at Tel: 9129 1145, (email: ywchoong@live.com).

19 Jan (Thu): Free screening of ‘Sharkwater’

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Find out more about sharks! During this pre-lunar new year period, NUS PEACE (People Ending Animal Cruelty & Exploitation) and Project: FIN have organised this free film screening. They will also conduct a roadshow including sampling of mock shark's fin soup to show that the same soup can be made using alternatives.

Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.

More on the Sharkwater website

The event is free but online pre registration is required.

NUS PEACE (People Ending Animal Cruelty & Exploitation), an animal welfare student group, has teamed up with Project: FIN to bring to everyone the screening of Sharkwater. As a prelude to the upcoming Lunar New Year festivities, Project: FIN, a marine conservation non-profit group, typically steps up education efforts in our best attempts to curb the cruel practice of consuming shark's fin. As part of the roadshow, we intend to conduct samplings of mock shark's fin soup to students to emphasize the fact that shark fins have no taste, and that the same soup can be made using alternatives. So do come down to know more, get involved and take a stand in this glorious New Year!

Booth on the issue will be up all day 18 Jan (Wed) and 19 Jan (Thu) at the NUS Central Library Walkway.

Time: Movie screening at 2-4pm and 6.30-8.30pm
Venue: NUS Central Library Theatrette map
Website: http://blog.nus.edu.sg/nuspeace/2012/01/06/project-fin-movie-screening-roadshow/
Contact: nus.peace@gmail.com

At Sembawang seeking anemones

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:19:00 +0000

Sembawang Park has a sandy beach beyond the seawall. It's a great place for kids, kite flying and other beach activities.

My mission was to look for some specific sea anemones. Although the tide wasn't very low, there's lots to explore here!

There's a large sand bar to the east of the Park. Some but not a lot of rubbish. Sea anemones are found on the sand bar and in pools there.

There are some anemones on this smooth slope facing the waves! Amazing how the tiny anemones can hang in there among the waves.

We came across these tiny anemones on this outer slope. They look like the tiny branched tentacle anemones I saw at Kranji.

In the sandy pool higher up near the mid-water mark were many mangrove anemones with petal-shaped mouths. They only came out after sunset!

Also abundant on this shore are tiny sea anemones that hitch a ride on snails!

Here's a closer look at the tiny snail-hitching anemone.

These are the burrowing anemones that we needed to take a closer look at. Although they are quite abundant on this shore and elsewhere, they have yet to be identified. I've compiled photos of anemones that look like these as Striped bead anemones. But there could be more than one species among all these similar looking animals!

Here's what's going on beneath the sand! Burrowing anemones can really stretch out! The knobbly bits help the anemone grip the surrounding sand.

I saw many other animals too. In the pools, I came across a live Mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda). It was a small one with a short tail.

After the sun set, lots of little Sand stars (Astropecten sp.) came out of the sand!

The artificial rock walls are full of life! Here's a bunch of Drills (Family Muricidae) laying egg capsules. The yellow egg capsules turn purple when the tiny eggs hatch.

As usual, there were lots of Banded bead anemones (Anthopleura sp.) on the lower portions of the rock walls.

Higher up on the walls were many pretty little Striped bead anemones (Diadumene lineata), often tucked into empty 'shells' of dead barnacles.

In the dark, lots and lots of Purple climber crabs (Metopograpsus sp.) came out to forage on the sea wall! They didn't seem to run away from us.

The sea slaters (Ligia sp.) were also rather sedate. Usually scuttling away rapidly, they were so slow that I could even take a photo of them with Small Sneaky Cam.

In the dark, lots of Lined nerite snails (Nerita articulata) were busy on the seawalls, crawling around and waving their long slender tentacles.

I only saw one Onch slug (Family Onchidiidae). Quite strange as we usually see lots of these slugs on our other shores.

Various sponges encrust hard surfaces lower down the shore.

Sembawang beach lies right next to Sembawang shipyards: a 86-hectare site handling tankers, bulk carriers, container and cargo vessels, chemical tankers, LNG carriers and navy ships. It also lies across from heavy industrial areas in Johor.

I haven't been to Sembawang beach since 2008! Read my post on that trip for more about Sembawang beach, plans for reclaiming it and other issues.

Changi is full of seahares!

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:00:00 +0000

The tide is not very low, but it's still possible to have a glimpse of one of the many nice stretches of seagrasses along Changi.

There are also sandy and rocky areas to explore. During this trip, the seahares are in season!

There's lots of fresh green growths of Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis) with big leaves here. I haven't been here since August 2011.

There's an explosion of Hairy seahares (Bursatella leachii) on the shores! They look like blobs when out of water, but 'fluff' up when submerged. Many of those seen had orangey 'hairs', which I notice seems to appear only at Changi. Dotting the seagrasses everywhere were coils of pale orange egg strings, possibly laid by the seahares.

What a nice surprise! A lovely flatworm Pseudobiceros gratus that is not uncommonly seen on our shores. It swims with delicate ruffles of its flat body.

There were lots of swimming anemones (Boloceroides mcmurrichi)! Many of them were very dark, almost black.

I saw several carpet anemones (Stichodactyla sp.). Some were tiny, others were small. All were healthy and unbleached.

I saw one medium-sized Biscuit star (Goniodiscaster scaber), and after the sun set, the Sand stars (Astropecten sp.) came out!

There were several little clumps of Ball soft corals (Family Nephtheidae). There were also several Cerianthids (Order Ceriantharia) aka peacock anemones.

I saw a few Thorny sea cucumber (Colochirus quadrangularis) and also some Pink warty sea cucumbers (Cercodemas anceps).

There were all kinds of sponges growing among the seagrasses. In particular, there were many of these with white straw-like tubes. I looked at one that had been unearthed and it looks like the straws grow up from a flat base that is buried.

Here's some of the other colourful sponges I saw among the seagrasses.

The rocky area had a wider variety of sponges in all kinds of shapes and colours.

This smooth shiny patch looks like an oil spill but it's probably a sponge. A closer look underwater and yes, there are some pores in the patch.

Among the seagrasses are thickets of slender tubeworm tubes!

A flock of Mynas were happily foraging on the seagrass meadows!

Near the low waterline was a carpet of Nest mussels (Musculista senhousia). After the massive flooding at Chek Jawa in 2007 that led to mass deaths there, mats of these mussels were also seen at Chek Jawa.

I am always worried during the monsoon season since the mass fish deaths at Pasir Ris in Dec 2009. Fortunately, I only saw two dead fishes on the shore on this trip. Possibly discards from fishermen?

There was a small group out on the shore fishing with a cast net. One fisherman was on a rock. While at the carpark, I saw a large group of fishermen leaving (I go out at low tide, they work at high tide). There was also one woman collecting snails in a bucket.

Someone had turned over the huge rocks on the shore and didn't turn them back. This means the delicate animals growing on the underside will probably die.

A little mangrove seedling has settled on the seagrass meadow! Last year around Feb, lots of mangrove seedlings started washing up on Changi. I'm keeping a look out for this year's seedling bonanza. It doesn't seem to have started yet.

We have amazing shores which are easily accessible. Let's appreciate them gently.

Day of Snails at Cyrene with Shell volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:16:00 +0000

Back on Cyrene with yet another enthusiastic team from Shell and NParks!

And today, we saw some special snails, thanks to our sharp eyed visitors! Including the Fig snail!

The first snail we find is the Black lipped conch (Strombus urceus). While other snails creep slowly on a broad foot, this snail hops! It sticks its knife-like 'door' attached to a muscular foot into the sand and uses it like a pole-vaulter. It has large eyes, probably because it has to see where it is going.

Like yesterday, we also saw many Grey bonnet snails (Phalium glaucum) today. This one buried in the sand was eating a Cake sand dollar (Arachnoides placenta).

Most of the Bonnet snails we saw were buried, only one was cruising above ground. We saw more of these snails yesterday.

Vivek found my favourite Find of the Day!

It's a Fig snail (Ficus variegata)! I rarely see this snail and it's the first time I've seen it on Cyrene. Even though I've been visiting this shore so many times for a long while.

Here's what the snail looks like when we put it in some water. So far, we've only seen this snail in Changi and Changi East, while Liana spotted it at East Coast Park. It is not confirmed what they feed on. But there are suggestions that they eat sea urchins and other echninoderms, though there have been no actual observations of them doing so.

Another special mollusc: the visitors also spotted this octopus. I've never seen one with such large 'eyes'. Are they real eyes or just spots that look like eyes? Wow!

A slug, which is also a mollusc! The Leaf slug (Elysia ornata) does indeed look like seaweed and is often overlooked! Some Elysia slugs are solar powered! They suck the juices out of seaweeds but don't digest the algae's chloroplasts (the part that contains chlorophyll). These chloroplasts continue to carry out photosynthesis inside the slug and provide the slug with extra nutrients.

We also saw other exciting stuff. Azlin found a large Filefish (Family Monacanthidae) that was just drifting along pretending to be a leaf.

Nearby, was a pair of Synaptid sea cucumbers in two different colours! They are often mistaken for worms!

We revisited the Carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) with its pair of anemone shrimps (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) that we saw yesterday. This is mama shrimp who is larger and has larger and more white spots.

This innocuous looking bunch of polyps are zoanthids or colonial anemones (Order Zoanthidea). They can contain palytoxin which is among the most potent natural marine toxins. So it's important not to touch unfamiliar marine life.

We then hurry over to the reef edge where large Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus) can often be seen in large numbers.

I couldn't resist taking an underwater shot of a white Knobbly sea star.

We also saw a purple flowery soft coral (Family Nephtheidae) with a large long black sea cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota) hiding under it.

As we were looking at the soft coral, a huge long scary worm slithered out of the rock crevice! It's the Giant reefworm which has the lovely scientific name of Eunice aphroditois.

Nearby was a Giant carpet anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea). These anemones usual host Clown anemonefishes. But today, I couldn't find any in this one.

On the rocky area, we saw our final special snail of the day: the Giant top shell snail (Trochus niloticus) which is now rarely seen on our shores.

Other snaily sightings included many sand collars laid by moon snails, and an Oval moon snail (Polinices mammila). We also saw other interesting animals including Common sea stars (Archaster typicus), White sea urchins (Salmacis sp), Flower crabs (Portunus pelagicus), a hairy crab (Family Pilumnidae). Also of course, lots of seagrasses and various kinds of seaweeds.

Unlike yesterday, we enjoyed a cool and dry day. But just as the sun was about to set, the weather finally caught up with us. In pelting rain, we hurried back to the safety of the big boat. The dinghy is already waiting for us on shore.

Here's the first batch making it back in high waves in the rain. Behind them, a huge container ship making its way past Pasir Panjang Container Terminals. Cyrene lies in the middle of the industrial triangle and yet it has amazing marine life!

Although soaked to the skin, everyone was in high spirits and stayed out on the windy bow on the way home! We had a safe trip as usual, thanks to Alex and his crew of Summit Marine.

Thanks to Azlin from NParks for organising the series of trips. And to the wonderful team of from Shell and NParks for finding so many interesting animals and putting up with my very lame jokes! It's been great for me to have a chance to share one of my favourite shores with so many people!

More about Cyrene Reef.

Prickly day at Cyrene with Shell volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:50:00 +0000

I'm back on Cyrene with another enthusiastic group of Shell volunteers!

Thanks to their sporting spirit, despite the wet start, we had fun! And saw lots of stuff, especially animals with prickles!

Hurray, the tide is as low as predicted! I was worried because during the last low spring tide cycle, the tide was higher than predicted, which makes it difficult to work on a submerged reef. We make quick and safe landing as usual, thanks to Alex and his crew of Summit Marine.

As we walk away from the landing point, a huge cruise ship passes by this major shipping lane next to Cyrene Reef. Although Cyrene lies in the middle of the industrial triangle it has amazing marine life! Alas, it starts to rain heavily just as we are assembled on the sand bar!

But we are quickly distracted by the many amazing creatures found right at our feet. There are lots of Common sea stars (Archaster typicus)!

We take a closer look at some tiny parasitic Ulimid snails (Family Eulimidae) that were found on one of the Common sea stars. These snails stick their proboscis through the body wall of the sea star and suck on the host body fluids. Eew.

There were also lots of Cake sand dollar (Arachnoides placenta), which are flat disks with tiny prickles. These sand dollars are eaten by Grey bonnet snails (Phalium glaucum). Usually, these snails are buried in the sand and only come out at night. But we saw lots and lots of them during this trip. Perhaps due to the rainy weather?

Here's one Bonnet snail eating a sand dollar while buried under the sand! We had gently scraped away the sand to look at it, then carefully buried it again.

Elsewhere in the sand bar, we spot these buried snails by the long worm-like white siphon that sticks up above the surface!

There were lots and lots of White sea urchins (Salmacis sp). Not only in the seagrass meadows, but also on the sandy areas. These prickly little balls were camouflaged by their habit of 'carrying' bits of debris. This sea urchin is more common on our northern shores like Chek Jawa and seldom seen on our southern shores. Indeed, I consider Cyrene the Chek Jawa of the South.

These prickly animals use their spines to move, and they tickle!

Many of them had a banded 'worm' around the mouth, which is found on the underside of the sea urchin. I still haven't figured out what the worm is.

Azlin found another prickly little thing which he thought at first was a Sea almond seed. It's tiny and very prickly. It's a heart urchin (Lovenia sp.)!

After taking a look at it, we put it on the sand and watched as it burrowed away rapidly. We rarely see these animals above ground!

Ah, another prickly creature. This one is the Thorny sea urchin (Prionocidaris sp.) also called the Pencil sea urchin because its spines are thick and spiny.

We also saw a small sandy fish hiding in the sand. I think it's a Bartail flathead (Platycephalus indicus), which I've not seen on Cyrene yet.

Oh! A tiny octopus!

One of the sharp eyed visitors spots a blue Flower crab (Portunus pelagicus). It took a while before we noticed the smaller brown crab in front of it. It's probably a pair of crabs about to mate! We also saw many small flower crabs among the seagrasses.

More sharp-eyed spotting, this time a very long red ribbon worm (Phylum Nemertea)! These worms are fierce predators and I seldom see them during daylight.

Carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) usually have a pair of anemone shrimps (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) living in it. The female is larger with more white spots.

We also saw pretty Cerianthids (Order Ceriantharia), also called Peacock anemones because of their colourful variety. But these are not true sea anemones.

Besides seagrass meadows and sandy shores, Cyrene also has short stretches of rocky shores!

It took me a while, but we finally found the patch where many of the Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus) gather together. Alas, by then the tide was starting to come in and the sun was setting.

Other creatures we saw include: Fan shell clams (Family Pinnidae), Black lipped conch (Strombus urceus) a snail that hops, Stone crab (Myomenippe hardwickii), Chocolate sponges (Spheciospongia cf. vagabunda), sand collars laid by moon snails, different kinds of hermit crabs. Also of course, lots of seagrasses and various kinds of seaweeds.

Fortunately, the rain cleared earlier on so we had a mostly dry trip! But tides move on and so we have to leave eventually. Cyrene is vast and is impossible to explore completely in one trip. And we keep seeing new things everytime we visit!

Thanks to Azlin for organising the trip, the wonderful team of Shell volunteers for finding so many interesting animals and putting up with my very lame jokes, and of course Alex for taking us there and back safely.

I look forward to another trip to Cyrene with the Shell volunteers later today!

More about Cyrene Reef.

Signs of dugongs at Chek Jawa

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Today, I saw many signs of what seems to be dugong feeding trails on Chek Jawa!

I was out with determined TeamSeagrass volunteers who monitored despite the rain. I also did a quick check to see if Chek Jawa has been affected by recent flooding in Johor.

After the monitoring, I had a quick look around to see if there were any signs of ill health due to the recent flooding in Johor and heavy rains in Singapore. In 2007, Chek Jawa suffered mass deaths following heavy flooding in Johor. In fact, we observed mass deaths during the first ever TeamSeagrass monitoring which was held at Chek Jawa in Jan 2007!

Lots of Carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) both in the water and on the sand bar. Most of them looked normal, although some were 'squished' up probably due to the rain. I didn't come across any that were 'bleaching' or bloated, which is what happened in 2007.

I came across the usual assortment of creatures. Lots of Striped hermit crabs (Clibanarius infraspinatus), many sand collars which are the egg mass of moon snails (Family Naticidae), one lovely egg case of the Noble volutes (Cymbiola nobilis) although I didn't see any of these snails. I also saw several sponges growing in the seagrass meadows, as well as many orange ascidians. I also saw a few cerianthid aka peacock anemone.

There were many swimming crabs (Family Portunidae) among the seagrasses. They can be quite fierce!

There were also many other egg strings among the seagrasses. I think the one on the left are laid by some kind of slug (though I didn't see any today), and the one on the right is laid by Gong-gong snails (Strombus turturella).

I only saw a few Thorny sea cucumbers (Colochirus quadrangularis), there are usually a lot more of these. I was glad to see several Garlic sea cucumbers (Holothuria scabra) which is believed to play an important role in seagrass health. I didn't come across any Ball sea cucumbers (Phyllophorus sp.) today.

There were also many Cake sand dollars (Arachnoides placenta). But I didn't see any sea stars.

I also came across a thick swarm of what looks like slender shrimps. They were very hard for Small Sneaky Cam to photograph.

There were many different kinds of shorebirds feeding on the seagrass meadows today. These migratory birds need to feed on mudflats and shores like Chek Jawa to fuel their long distance flights.

In the distance at the surf, were the usual cluster of Terns which are seabirds that feed at sea but rest on the shore. Among them, two large Great billed herons.

It was heartening to see several long narrow furrows in the seagrass meadows which are probably dugong feeding trails!

Here's another series of dugong feeding trails.

These trails are at the same area where Dr Dan first spotted what seems to be a dugong at high tide from the Jejawi Tower. I do hope these are signs that dugongs have recently visited Chek Jawa!

The seagrasses meadows seem to be doing well. Here's a glimpse of the wide variety of seagrass species that can be found at Chek Jawa.

I am particularly impressed by the extensive growths of Smooth ribbon seagrass (Cymodocea rotundata). As far as I've seen, this is the largest patch of this kind of seagrass in Singapore. Smaller patches have so far only been seen at Cyrene Reef and at Tanah Merah.

Seagrasses commonly seen at Chek Jawa include Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis), Needle seagrass (Halodule sp.), Fern seagrass (Halophila spinulosa) and I was glad to see some small patches of the rare Beccari's seagrass (Halophila beccarii). There's an article about Singapore and this rare seagrass in the latest issue of Seagrass Watch.

The Goh family who are joining TeamSeagrass for the first time spotted this jellyfish. They suspect it's a box jellyfish which can give painful stings and can be a danger to swimmers. Alas, this is the best photo that feebly Sneaky Cam can take.

As usual, I am on the look out for abandoned driftnets. The only ones I came across have been on the shore for such a long time that animals such as sponges are growing on them. We leave these on the shore as they are no longer a serious threat to marine life.

On the way back, I have a quick look and the Critically Endangered Delek air (Memecylon edule), a rare coastal tree, is fruiting!

The mangroves look fine too. Chek Jawa is now easy to explore from the boardwalk. The mangroves are particularly fascinating. For a fun time, join the monthly Naked Hermit Crabs free public walks aimed especially at families.

As we were rushing back to avoid the incoming storm, I bumped into this group who were very keen to learn more about Chek Jawa. They had Andy take a group photo of them. Sadly we spoke only briefly as the storm caught up with us.

I'm glad to see that Chek Jawa so far seems to have escaped another mass death situation this monsoon season.

Checking up on the oil spill near Pulau Pawai

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:33:00 +0000

How has the oil spill on 4 Jan affected shores in the area? Thanks to Jeffrey Low, I was invited to join the NParks National Biodiversity Centre's survey of the area to check on the oil spill situation.

We surveyed a wide area on this trip and here's what we saw.

We started on a long loop around the Southern Islands. This is Pulau Salu, among our few undeveloped islands. It has a nice reef flat and there are several submerged reefs nearby too. Here's what Jeffrey and Chay Hoon shared from their dives at Salu.

Next to Salu is Pulau Sudong, one of the three islands within the Life Firing Range and unsurprisingly, there were jets flying overhead the island.

We were distracted for a while by their flying maneuvers!

The Sudong Anchorage nearby is designated for 'explosive' vessels. There were two LNG carriers and many other large vessels anchored there.

Next, the intriguing Pulau Pawai which does not have seawalls built around it and much natural shores and mangroves.

Here's a view of the Pulau Pawai from Google Earth, see the huge extent of the surrounding reefs and submerged reefs nearby. As well as the natural mangroves and coastal forest areas.

Next to Pulau Pawai is another relatively undeveloped island Pulau Senang. Although the centre part of the island is scarred by life-firing exercises, it too is surrounded by wide reefs, and natural coastal vegetation.

To the south of Pulau Senang, are tiny Pulau Biola and Raffles Lighthouse, the southernmost point of Singapore. An MPA vessel was at this location making sure everything was ok.

Here's a closer look at it. This is apparently the vessel used to spray the dispersants on oil spills. They are red and named 'Api Api'. I've often seen several of them berthed near West Coast Pier and wondered about their function.

Here is the vessel with Pulau Senang and Pulau Pawai in the background.

Jeff points out some places near Raffles Lighthouse where we had a closer look at the water quality. Raffles Lighthouse has among our best reefs. Here's what Jeff and Chay Hoon shared from their dives there. Jeff's photos also include some sightings at Pulau Biola nearby.

We spent a bit of time here scrutinising the water and the shores nearby. Jim spots a sea turtle! As usual, this creature is at the surface only briefly so no one got a photo of it.

The water looks clear and we could hardly see any slick.

We had a look at the seawalls on Raffles Lighthouse, they seemed normal.

A closer look at the seawalls, no signs of black tar or oil.

Circling around to the front of this picturesque lighthouse, we had a closer look (through the zoom lens) of the shore line in the sandy bay there.

Seems clear of oil slicks and tar so far. The upper tideline seems normal.

The seawalls on this side of the Lighthouse also seems clear.

Just off Raffles Lighthouse is the tiny and lush Pulau Biola.

The natural rocks on Biola looks clear. This tiny island is draped with lush growths of the Critically Endangered Pelir musang (Fagraea auriculata). This rare plant is found in only two other locations: Lazarus Island and Pulau Tekukor.

We then head towards Raffles Reserve Anchorage where the stricken vessel has been anchored.

Wow, it looks like it was rammed on the side. With damage to containers and the side of the ship.

There were lots of vessels nearby including one labelled "Pollution Control".

Here's a row of the various vessels next to the big ship. Behind it was another 'Api Api'.

The ship was encircled with boom, which seems to have been drawn up close to it. Perhaps the leak has stopped?

Here's more high-res photos of the stricken vessel.

We then head off to the waters near Pulau Semakau and the Semakau Landfill. There is a fish farm located in the area, which is said to be the largest fish farm in Singapore. I wonder how they have been impacted not only by the oil spill, but also the dispersant introduced to deal with the spill. It must be a blow to the farm, coming so close to Lunar New Year when they must surely be expecting to sell a lot of fish locally.

Here's a view of the natural shores of Pulau Semakau draped with mangroves and ringed by reefs. The Semakau intertidal is regularly monitored by TeamSeagrass, so we should be able to track any impact through that effort. The wooded area on the horizon is Pulau Hantu. The volunteers of the Hantu Bloggers dive there regularly and they will be checking up on this shore on the next dive.

The brown ring around Pulau Semakau is NOT oil! It's lush growths of Sargassum seaweed (Sargassum sp.) which is in season now.

A look at the seawalls of the Semakau Landfill, no obvious signs of spill.

Jeff then directs us to have a quick check on the Sisters Islands, where some of our best reefs are found. The water seems clear.

We also had a quick look at the marvellous natural rocky shore on St. John's Island.

A special tree on this coast is the rare Nyireh (Xylocarpus rumphii). I've not seen this tree from the sea. How magnificent the mother tree looks! Oil spills will not only affect marine life but also rare trees such as these. Jeff and the volunteers of the Blue Water Volunteers conduct regular surveys of our reefs, including those we visited today, so they will be able to continue to monitor any impacts.

On the way home, I had a chance to take a closer look at the massive reclamation for the new Pasir Panjang Container Terminal. Those walls and piles of sand are enormous!

This reclamation site is close to the natural shores of Sentosa, the wooded area on the horizon behind the pile of sand.

Earlier, on the way out, I noticed reclamation going on at Jurong Island.

There are many issues that can impact our shores. Everyone who loves our shores need to work together to learn about and protect them.

For this documentation trip, the rest brought alarmingly long lenses. Just my bad luck that my favourite Big Cam is in the hospital for three weeks having major injuries repaired. Fortunately, standby Big Cam works! Even though I haven't used her for years. Hurray!

After working hard on documenting, we head back to the cabin to enjoy some snacks. Oh dear, we have had a little accident too. Someone sat on the snacks.

Sivasothi had earlier initiated a plan for volunteer mobilisation during an oil spill. This is based on our experience during the May 2010 oil spill, to be better prepared for the next one. Here's Siva briefing on the plan last year.

Today's collaborative survey following the 4 Jan 2012 oil spill is a good result of Siva's plan! Thanks to Liang Jim and Jeffrey Low for inviting Siva and me on this survey. And it was great to catch up with Collin and Hui Ping too.

We'll need to keep a closer eye on the situation just to be sure, but it's a relief to see that there doesn't seem to be major impact so far.

Easrlier posts following the May 2010 oil spill:

Oil spill near Pulau Pawai, Pulau Senang 4 Jan 12

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:03:00 +0000

Yesterday evening, a collision between a container and a Very Large Crude Carrier resulted in a spill of 5 metric tonnes of marine fuel oil.

Click on image for larger view.

Dispersants were used "to break up patches of oil sighted in the vicinity of Pulau Pawai, Pulau Senang and Raffles Reserved Anchorage."

Photo from AsiaOne, 5 Jan 12

Photo of the VLCC on gCaptain

MPA just released this information about the collision.

From the MPA website

Minor oil spill following collision between Kota Tenaga and SEEB in the Strait of Singapore
MPA Press Release 5 Jan 12;

At about 2100hrs on 04 Jan 2012 (Singapore time), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received a report that a Singapore-registered containership, Kota Tenaga and a Malta-registered VLCC, SEEB had collided at about 2.7km south of Pulau Sebarok.

The master of Kota Tenaga reported that about 5 metric tonnes of marine fuel oil had spilled into the sea. An inter-agency effort, coordinated by MPA, was immediately activated to contain and clean up the oil spill. The spillage of oil from Kota Tenaga was contained and Kota Tenaga was moved to Raffles Reserved Anchorage. An oil boom was laid around the vessel as a precaution. There is no report of injury to crew members.

A total of 12 craft was activated to monitor and clean up the oil spill. Non-toxic and biodegradable oil spill dispersants were used to break up patches of oil sighted in the vicinity of Pulau Pawai, Pulau Senang and Raffles Reserved Anchorage.

MPA continues to monitor the situation closely and will respond to any sighting of oil patches.

Traffic in the port and the Strait of Singapore remains unaffected.

MPA is investigating the cause of the collision.

ISSUED BY THE MARITIME AND PORT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE (MPA)

For clarification, please contact:
Ms Evelyn Lim
MPA media hotline: (65) 8366-2294
Email: Evelyn_Lim@mpa.gov.sg

More media articles on wildsingapore news.

What impact to our marine life?
Pulau Pawai and Pulau Senang have great mangroves and marine life as access to them is restricted. They are part of the Life Firing Range Islands. Just to the south of Pulau Senang are Raffles Lighthouse and Pulau Biola which have among our best reefs. There are also large stretches of seagrass meadows and reefs on Pulau Semakau, as well as the submerged reefs nearby Beting Bemban Besar and Terumbu Bemban.

See also NParks' survey of the oil spill area.

Sadly, since the massive oil spill in May 2010, I've already accumulated many posts about oil spills. Here's some of them.

Buy native mangrove plants in Singapore!

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:13:00 +0000

Where can I buy Singapore's very own mangrove plants? Look no further than Uvaria Tide!

A vast array of mangrove trees and plants, including very rare ones are on sale in Singapore! As well as native aquatic and other plants! These don't need to be planted in seawater and can do well in your garden or pond!

After years of experimenting and refining growing techniques, and much labour of love, the good folks at Uvaria Tide including Boo Chih Min and JC Chua are now able to offer lots of native plants for sale! These are taken from plants IN Singapore, and thus these baby plants help preserve the genetic stock of Singapore's own mangrove biodiversity. No reason now to buy mangroves from Malaysia or Thailand! These come from different genetic stock and may mess up our native mangrove stock which are already under so much pressure.

Uvaria Tide's stocks of local native plants include the world's rarest mangrove tree, what Dr Yong dubbed the 'Panda of the Mangroves'. So far, I know Singapore has FOUR of these rare Bakau mata buaya (Bruguiera hainesii). Incredibly, Uvaria Tide has propagated seedlings from these mother trees and these baby 'Pandas' are now for sale!

Another very rare tree is the Pisang-pisang (Kandelia candel). The last known plant on the mainland was recently lost, but new ones found on our more remote Northern shores. And these have been raised to literally new heights and are for sale!

The Catalogue of Mangrove Plants gives us a glimpse of the other hardworking people behind this incredible effort to make our mangrove plants available for everyone.

See how tall these rare mangrove plants have grown!

There is also a catalogue of other native plants

And a catalogue of aquatic plants too.

Visit the Uvaria Tide facebook page to find out more fascinating aspects about finding, growing and protecting Singapore's native mangrove species. One of these is the story of the very rare Api-api jambu (Avicennia marina).

Can mangrove plants be grown successfully in my garden? Don't they need seawater?
Yes, mangrove plants can do well in a typical garden. They don't need seawater! Uvaria Tide recommends these plants for your garden and pond.

Plants for your garden
Among plants recommended for a typical garden is Nyireh bunga (Xylocarpus granatum). Also called the Mangrove Cannon-ball tree, it has impressive bowling ball sized fruits, pretty camo-pattern peeling bark and delicate flowers!

Uvaria Tide also recommends Nyireh (Xylocarpus rumphii) which is Critically Endangered. As far as I know, there are less than 10 of these trees in the wild in Singapore! This tree has smaller fruits and lovely almost heart-shaped leaves.

Other plants recommended for the garden are these with colourful flowers and interesting foliage: Teruntum merah (Lumnitzera littorea) with bright red flowers and glossy green leaves, and Dungun (Heritiera littoralis) with velvety pink flowers and metallic leaves (rather like Durian leaves). Both are Endangered.

Plants for your pond
If you have a pond, you might consider some of these recommendations by Uvaria Tide. Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) has gorgeous flowers that bloom at night with starry fruits. This tree is Critically Endangered with only a handfull of mother trees in the wild.

Thought to be extinct until a mother tree was discovered at Pulau Tekong, the awesome Tumu Berau (Bruguiera sexangula) has lovely yellow flowers that develop into the typical intriguing 'fruits' of the mangroves. It is Critically Endangered.

Other trees and plants recommended for the garden pond include: Bakau putih (Bruguiera cylindrica), Tumu (Bruguiera gymnorhiza), Teruntum merah (Lumnitzera littorea) and Gedabu (Sonneratia ovata).

Uvaria Tide provides consultancy for mangrove and forest restoration, use of native plants in urban landscapes and forested areas and other specialty issues. They also conduct floristic surveys and can advise on plant propagation issues. Besides mangroves, they are also working on aquatic plants, native species of Singapore and biodiesel plants.

Visit Uvaria Tide on facebook

You can also contact them
Boo Chih Min uvaria@hotmail.com
Chua Jit Chern cjcspark@live.com

Your support for Uvaria Tide will help them continue their good work in this rather thankless but important task of protecting Singapore's genetic stock of native plants!

New Mega Marine Lab Session dates for sign up: Jan-Jul 2012

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:46:00 +0000

Your help is needed in the laboratory to sort out what has been found in the Mega Marine Surveys! You do not need to have any training to join these sessions, there will be staff to guide you in the labs.

As Dr Tan Koh Siang showed during a Dialogue Session, we often have to take a much closer look to identify what have been found. So far, only 10% of our finds have been sorted out! Volunteers are needed to sort out invertebrates, fishes and tiny creatures.

Here's more about the lab sessions from an extract of Jonathan's email. His full email is on the Mega Marine Survey yahoo groups (accessible to registered volunteers).

The following lab sessions are available for sign ups. In the lab sessions, we will be working in the comfort of air conditioned labs either at Tropical Marine Science Institute's facilities at St John's Island or National University of Singapore's Kent Ridge Campus. You do not need to have any training to join us in these sessions, there will be staff to guide you in the labs. If you would like to take a close up look at the animals collected in our surveys, or if you wish to have a feel of what it feels like to be working in a lab environment, do join us for these sessions.

If you are interested in taking part in any of the sessions, please email jonathan_ngiam@nparks.gov.sg, with the session you would like to attend, as well as your full name and mobile number.

Date: 9 January 2012 (Monday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 5

Date: 25 January 2012 (Wednesday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island

Meeting time: 8.45am
No. of volunteers: 3

Date: 26 January 2012 (Thursday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 3

Date: 27 January 2012 (Friday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 3

Date: 15 February 2012 (Wednesday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 3

Date: 16 February 2012 (Thursday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 3

Date: 17 February 2012 (Friday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 3

Date: 20 February 2012 (Monday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 5

Date: 23 February 2012 (Thursday)
Time: 8.45am - 6.30pm
Location: St John's Island
No. of volunteers: 3

Date: 31 March 2012 (Saturday)
Time: 2pm - 6pm
Location: Blk S2S, National University of Singapore

Meeting time: 1.45pm
No. of volunteers: 5

Date: 12 April 2012 (Thursday)
Time: 2pm - 6pm
Location: Blk S2S, National University of Singapore

Meeting time: 1.45pm
No. of volunteers: 5

To join the Mega Marine Survey, register your interest in this form and you'll be invited to join the mailing list to receive updates on the Survey and sign up for Survey activities.

Also check out the FAQs for more about the Survey.

Berlayar Creek Boardwalk is open!

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:41:00 +0000

Early this morning, the new boardwalk along Berlayar Creek was opened! Starting from the Labrador MRT station, the boardwalk leads along the mangroves of the Creek towards the sea.

The boardwalk was built by URA and the opening organised by them with a large contingent from the local constituency. NParks supported the event by putting up a little display of mangrove specimens at the Boardwalk. It was a big hit!

Raem shared more about the many fascinating plants that can be found in Singapore's mangroves. In fact, he was the one who gathered all these fresh specimens early in the morning specially for this event.

The favourite specimen was a huge (and heavy) bunch of Nipah palm fruits. This is where we get 'attap-chee' from!

Wei Ling shares more about the pretty pink flowers of the Sea poison that becomes huge green squarish fruits!

In the water, Wei Ling spotted some halfbeaks and several schools of mullets. I also noticed that some strange mangrove plants have been replanted in the area. I do hope they were taken from native stock?

Wei Ling set up binos so the visitors could have a closer look at the trees and wildlife.We heard lots of birds of all kinds and saw a majestic sea eagle flying overhead as we ended the day. But it was disturbing so see so many people carrying balloons which were probably given out at the start of the trail.

When balloons pop and fall into the sea, they can look very much like jellyfish, which are the food of sea turtles. I took the opportunity to tell those carrying balloons not to let them go. I shared how sea turtles are unable to vomit out the plastic. If the plastic does not come out the other end of the sea turtle, it blocks up the digestive system. The food inside the sea turtle then starts to rot, releasing gases which causes the sea turtle float. The result is called "floating syndrome". The sea turtle then can't dive to eat, or to escape from predators, or get away from fast moving boats. More about how balloons and soft plastics kill sea turtles, slowly and painfully.

An exploded ballon looks very much like a jellyfish!
This was seen at Cyrene Reef.

The completed boardwalk provides stunning views of the wooded hill Bukit Cermin, and the spectacular buildings behind it. As well as a view of the last natural shores of Sentosa which lies just opposite. In fact, the mangroves at Berlayar Creek probably help contribute to the health and diversity of the shores on Sentosa!

After the walk, the families headed out for games and fun at Labrador Park.

Raem told me more about these series of sculptures in the garden that I have walked by so often. He designed it so that the sculpture is completed when some one fills in the missing link! How delightful!

Read more about the boardwalk and download a DIY Trail-Guide on the NParks website.

Berlayar Creek is a narrow tidal stream next to Labrador Nature Reserve and Keppel Golf Club. The stream is flanked by among the last mangroves on the Western mainland, and flows onto natural rocky shores, sandy shores, some seagrasses and a bit of reefy shores at the deeper edges! There are crabs, snails, sea anemones, sponges and more. Here's more about what I had seen here in the past.In fact, the shores are so rich that volunteers of the Leafmonkey Workshop conducted the finale of the Guides of Singapore shores workshops with a field trip to Berlayar Creek to practice what we had learned. One of the most exciting mangrove trees here are the Bakau pasir (Rhizophora stylosa) which is listed as vulnerable. There are several of these trees along Berlayar Creek. According to Dr John Yong "most importantly, botanically speaking for Singapore, Tanjung Berlayar is the only place on Singapore mainland to have at least 10 trees of Rhizophora stylosa."
This shore is so nice that is used by Real Biologists like Karenne Tun and Beverly Goh in their teaching effort. I had met them with some teachers from NIE who are keen to learn more about how to conduct field work for their students.
In May 2010, I had also joined a kayaking trip up Berlayar Creek! It was a tranquil and certainly non-destructive way to closerly explore the mangroves!It was with trepidation that I learnt of plans to build the boardwalk. Information released suggested a slim boardwalk that doesn't impact the existing mangroves. Earlier media reports on the boardwalk assured that "construction work would be carried out carefully to ensure that the ecosystem would not be affected". The 960m Berlayer Creek Mangrove Trail is touted as an "'Eco-Educational' mangrove trail starts with a lushly landscaped Entrance Plaza at the open area surrounding the future Labrador Park MRT Station."

However, in Mar 2011 I saw an astonishing extent of large steel girders have been placed very close to one another along the entire boardwalk route.

The entire structure was large enough to support several three large cranes, plus lots of other equipment.

In July 2011 I was astounded at the progress of the construction at Berlayar Creek for the boardwalk. The humungous steel girders pounded into the shore seems to only be to allow the huge machinery to construct a much narrower boardwalk!

Here's a closer look at the wide, huge, rusting steel girder structure supporting heavy machinery, and the more slender grey structure that looks like the boardwalk itself. Having seen boardwalks being sensitively constructed on shores like Chek Jawa and Sungei Buloh, I'm quite surprised at the massive scale of the work on this boardwalk. I'm not sure how the shores coped with this construction as I have yet to visit it since the construction began in Mar 11.

Another heartbreaking issue on this shore is excessive and destructive fishing activities.In the past, we have seen people stringing driftnets right across the stream.

What is disturbing about this is that the driftnets often come loose and are abandoned. These nets are made of non-biodegradable plastic and continue to trap and kill animals until they are removed.

Volunteers did a massive cleanup of abandoned driftnets in Nov 07 and Dec 07. Volunteers did another clean up in Aug 2010. Our work on the issue of abandoned driftnets and traps have since 2011 been consolidated under Project Driftnet. I'm not sure how the boardwalk will affect this sort of destructive behaviour.

The shore is also often strewn with golf balls that escape from the nearby Keppel Golf Club.
Here's the big bag of golf balls I picked up from the shore during just one trip. Others also picked up more balls!

The completion of the boardwalk means more opportunities for ordinary people to interact with the mangroves and other seashore life at Berlayar Creek. A great chance to raise awareness! But also many other challenges. If you would like to make a difference, do contact NParks at Labrador Nature Reserve. They will always appreciate volunteer assistance and ideas to create positive influences through the new boardwalk!

Thanks to Yuet Hsin for inviting me to the event, and Raem and Wei Ling for a great morning in the mangroves. It was great also to catch up with so many friends afterwards!

More about flora and fauna seen on Berlayar on previous trips:

Finale of the Guides of Singapore Shores work shop in Aug 10
More mangrove flora and fauna seen in Mar 09.
More rocky shore creatures and big trees at Bukit Cermin seen in Mar 09.
More reefy creatures seen during a low tide seen in Apr 09.
Quick look at Berlayar shore in Jan 09.
Canoeing up Berlayar mangroves in May 10.

Sea slugs help humans get smarter!

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:40:00 +0000

Studying sea slugs, scientists may someday be able to design ways for humans to improve long-term memory!

The Spotted sea hare (Aplysia oculifera)
is seasonally common on our shores.

Scientists have been studying the brain of Aplysia since the 1960s, and the animals have revealed many secrets of learning and memory in humans. The sea slug's central nervous system is relatively simple, with only 10,000 neurons, compared with the approximately 100 billion found in humans. Moreover, Aplysia neurons are large and easily accessible.

Sea Slug Offers Clues to Improving Long-Term Memory
Joseph Castro LiveScience.com Yahoo News 31 Dec 11;

Using sea slugs as models, scientists someday may be able to design learning protocols that improve long-term memory formation in humans, a new study suggests.

The researchers used information about biochemical pathways in the brain of the sea slug Aplysia to design a computer model that identified the times when the mollusk’s brain is primed for learning. They tested the model by submitting the animals to a series of training sessions, involving electric shocks, and found that Aplysia experienced a significant increase in memory formation when the sessions were conducted during the peak periods predicted by the model.

The proof-of-principle study may someday help scientists discover ways to improve human memory, the researchers said.

"This is very impressive," David Glanzman, a neurobiologist at the University of California Los Angeles, said of the study, in which he was not involved. "If someone had asked me ahead of time, 'Are you going to be able to improve learning if you model these two pathways?' I would have predicted no."

A simple brain

Scientists have been studying the brain of Aplysia since the 1960s, and the animals have revealed many secrets of learning and memory in humans. The sea slug's central nervous system is relatively simple, with only 10,000 neurons, compared with the approximately 100 billion found in humans, explained the study lead author John Bryne, a neurobiologist at the University of Texas. Moreover, Aplysia's neurons are large and easily accessible.

"You can work out its neural circuitry and behavior, and then you can train the animal and look for changes that are associated with learning," Bryne told LiveScience.

Learning in Aplysia takes the form of what scientists call sensitization. When researchers poke the animal or give it an electric shock, the sea slug will pull in its siphons, which are funnel-like appendages. An untrained slug will retract its siphons for only a few seconds, but as the animal learns that its environment is dangerous, it will hold in its appendages for longer times. [Tales of 10 Clever Animals]

Periodically poking the slug causes apparent changes in its neurons, allowing the animal to form a memory that lasts for more than a week (a considerable time for animals that live only a year).

In the 1980s, researchers discovered that training Aplysia with five pulses, one administered every 20 minutes, effectively helped the animals produce long-term sensitization memories. Since then, scientists have learned that the activation of two proteins is critical for the sea slug to develop these memories.

Creating a model

Bryne and his colleagues wondered if they could come up with a better learning protocol to stimulate memory formation, by entering into a computer simulation their information on the biochemical pathways that activate these two proteins.

"We told the computer, 'Run simulations with these five training trials, but try every different permutation of the intervals between the trials to find ones that maximize the reactions,'" Bryne said.

The computer determined that trials (or electrical pulses) given at intervals of 10, 10, 5 and 30 minutes would optimize the biochemical reactions.

When the researchers tested this enhanced protocol with live sea slugs, they found that the animals still remembered the shock after five days; the slugs didn't remember the shock when it was administered at standard 20-minute intervals.

They also tested their protocol in cultured cells. They removed the sensory neurons and motor neurons — which control reflexes — from slugs' brains and allowed the cells to re-establish connections in a cell culture. They replaced shock with serotonin, a neurotransmitter that facilitates connections between the two types of neurons during reflexes.

The researchers found that serotonin pulses given with both protocols produced long-term changes in the strength of the connections between neurons, but the enhanced protocol resulted in connections that were stronger and lasted longer.

Proof of principle

"I think it's a very exciting study," said Samuel Schacher, a neurobiologist at Columbia University, who was not involved in the new research. "But whether or not this can be taken advantage of in people, at least from a neurobiological point of view, is an open question." The Aplysia brain has been heavily studied, he said, but scientists have a much less complete understanding of how particular neural systems in human, and other mammalian, brains work. [10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain]

Schacher said the study "will be something that will encourage lots of research and approaches down the road," and perhaps its principles can be applied to humans in 10 years.

Bryne stresses that the study is a proof of the principle that scientists can come up with a better learning protocol if they have sufficient information about the biochemical reactions in the brain.

"We currently use drugs to improve memory, but drugs have undesirable side effects," he said. "This shows that there may be an alternative way to enhance memory that can potentially be taken to the classroom situation."

The study was published online Dec. 25 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

New Mega Marine Survey dates for sign up: Jan-Jun 2012

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:16:00 +0000

Join the Mega Marine Survey to find out more about Singapore's mudflats at Seletar, Sungei Cina, Pasir Ris and Changi Creek!

Get muddy, have fun and make a difference for our marine biodiversity! Jonathan also says that apart from these sessions, there will be more which will be announced in the following weeks. These will include surveys on offshore islands such as Pulau Semakau and St. John's Island and also indoor lab sessions where you will take a close up look at the marine animals collected.

Latest dates available for sign up:

8 January 2012 (Sunday)
3.30pm – 6pm
Seletar

21 January 2012 (Saturday)
2.30pm – 5pm
Sungei Cina

21 February 2012 (Tuesday)
3.30pm – 6pm
Sungei Api Api (Pasir Ris Park)

31 March 2012 (Saturday)
8.30am - 11am
Punggol

12 April 2012 (Thursday)
7.30am – 10am
Changi Creek

11 May 2012 (Friday)
7.30am – 10am
Pasir Ris Park (Coast)

More details on the Mega Marine Survey mailing list, accessible only to registered volunteers.

To join the Survey, register your interest in this form and you'll be invited to join the mailing list to receive updates on the Survey and sign up for Survey activities.

Also check out the FAQs for more about the Survey.

2012: International Year of ?

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:21:00 +0000

As International Year of the Forest 2011 winds down, what will be the focus in 2012? The UN has designated 2012 International Year of Cooperatives and International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. While no specific biodiversity aspect will be highlighted in 2012 as a "UN International Year of", 22 May is International Day of Biological Diversity and in 2012, the focus is on Marine Biodiversity!

Lack of awareness is a key issue, the press release designating this theme highlights. And more about how you CAN make a difference for our wild shores!

"Challenges facing marine biodiversity are unprecedented. Life in the oceans is under serious threats. Continuously increasing human impacts in coastal areas have destroyed over 65% of seagrass and wetland habitat, degraded water quality and accelerated species invasions. It is estimated that the world has effectively lost 19% of the original area of coral reefs and 35% are seriously threatened with loss within the next decades. During the last two decades, 20% percent or 3.6 million ha of global mangrove cover have been lost. Roughly 80% of the world’s marine fish stocks are fully exploited or overexploited.

These challenges are unknown to the public at large."

This marine biodiversity theme will contribute to the Rio + 20 meeting. It will also complement global activities such as the World Ocean Summit to be held in Singapore in February 2012.

In addition, 2011-2020 has been designated UN Decade of Biodiversity! More about this on the Celebrating Singapore's Biodiversity blog.

The Decade of Biodiversity have five strategic goals and 20 ambitious yet achievable targets. Collectively known as the Aichi Targets, the aim is to inspire broad-based action in support of biodiversity over this decade (2011-2020). Towards these three objectives: conservation of biodiversity; sustainable use of biodiversity; fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

Here's the official Decade of Biodiversity video clip with more about the issues and what is being done. There is hope yet!

You CAN make a difference for Singapore's marine biodiversity!

EXPLORE our wild shores and see our marine biodiversity for yourself. Bring your friends and family. There are plenty of guided walks and other activities that highlight our wildlife and wild places.

Dive our wild reefs at Pulau Hantu with the Hantu Bloggers!

FREE family tours at Chek Jawa by the Naked Hermit Crabs.

EXPRESS share your thoughts, experiences and photos in a blog, facebook, flickr and other social networking sites. More about how to share your sightings!

Drawing shared by a visitor in the Naked Hermit Crabs guestbook

ACT volunteer for our wild places. Here's some current opportunities, with updates on the wildsingapore news blog. Some ongoing key efforts for marine biodiversity include the Mega Marine Survey, TeamSeagrass, International Coastal Cleanup Singapore and ReefFriends underwater reef surveys.

TeamSeagrass at Pulau Semakau!

So make a difference for our wild shores in 2012!

Mission anemone at Pasir Ris

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:52:00 +0000

I'm on a mission at Pasir Ris to take a closer look at some curious anemones, but also had a chance to have a quick look at the shore here.

There's a bloom of Sea lettuce seaweed (Ulva sp.), normal for this time of the year. Large areas are covered in mats of Nest mussels (Musculista senhousia).

Here a closer look at the tiny mussels. These tiny mussels build communal 'nests' with their byssus threads incorporating sediments, bits of broken shells and other debris. Large areas can be covered in such 'nests', pockmarked with little slits, each housing one mussel. After the massive flooding at Chek Jawa in 2007 that led to mass deaths there, mats of these mussels were also seen at Chek Jawa. Fortunately, yesterday I didn't see signs of mass deaths at Pasir Ris, although it has been a very wet monsoon season.

When the sun set, the stars came out. Sand stars (Astropecten sp.)! There were lots of them.

There were lots of pink Ribbon worms (Phylum Nemertea) on the sand. Some were very long, but others like this one with a black head were shorter. It took me a while before I realised I was shooting its butt instead of its head!

Here's a closer look at the head of the worm.

I came across a lively Razor clam (Family Solenidae) that was moving about on the surface with its large muscular foot. Wow, see how the base of the foot forms a kind of triangular wedge. This is probably how the clam manages to dig rapidly into the sand. Using the wedge to get a grip, then contracting to pull the smooth shell into the sand. The tube at the other end of the shell is its siphon.

Abundant on the shore were Tiger moon snails (Natica tigrina). I saw about twenty of them! I've never seen so many before on one trip.

My main mission was to take a closer look at these commonly seen burrowing anemones. Often seen in silty sandy areas, I've grouped all similar anemone here. But are they all the same? Dr Daphne Fautin, world authority in sea anemones, is kindly looking into these beasts and would like to know what they look like when alive. In particular their oral disk and body column.

Here's one that has pink tentacles. But structurally, it looks similar to the rest.

Another one that looks similar.

This one was tiny and stuck to plastic litter. I forgot to take a photo of its body column when I was in the field.

This one looks slightly different, but not much more.

When I took a closer look at it, there was a miniature sea anemone with it! Is the anemone a brooder and did it just spit out a 'baby'? I have no idea.

This one had black tentacles. But otherwise looks very similar.

There were other anemones on the shore too. Tiny anemones had settled on little snails. Here's one whelk (Family Nassaridae) with at least seven little anemones on its shell! Despite its burden, the snail was moving rapidly!

Here's another buried whelk with only its long worm-like siphon sticking out of the sediment, with at least one anemone stuck on its shell.

I also saw one very small Mangrove anemone with petals around its mouth.

There's so much more to learn about our shores!

Fun new sightings at Tanah Merah

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 02:38:00 +0000

A little fat pufferfish was my favourite find during a relaxing trip to Tanah Merah yesterday. Other first time sightings for this shore include a shrimp goby, a box crab and a strange moon snail.

Tired of being played out by higher-than-predicted tides over four consecutive days, we diverted our field trip to Tanah Merah. This shore is easy to explore even at rather high tides, though we have to brave the horrendous sand flies and scary stonefishes here.

So far, I've only seen the Yellow-eyed pufferfish (Arothron immaculatus) near reefs, so it was a nice surprise to see it on Tanah Merah. Another special fishy find was made by Derick, Eddy's friend. It's a Slender lined shrimp-goby (Cryptocentrus leptocephalus) and its partner snapping shrimp! The water was very murky! So it's great that he managed to spot them! It's our first sighting of this fish on Tanah Merah.

Marcus found this rather mouldy box crab! It's our first box crab sighting on Tanah Merah. I think it's the Reef box crab (Calappa hepatica).

I saw this strange little moon snail that I don't recall seeing. The shell pattern doesn't look like that of the Pink moon snail (Natica zonalis), or any of the other moon snails I've seen. I waited but the snail wouldn't come out of its shell. I wonder what it is!

I saw many more of these little shells, but all were of dead snails, although many had little hermit crabs in them.

Since I've already done the monthly post-oil spill survey of this shore very recently, I decided to just have fun exploring it randomly. Starting with a closer look at the seagrasses here. The patches of Smooth ribbon seagrass (Cymodocea rotundata) have grown huge!

As usual, there were several Haddon's carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni) in the seagrass patch and some had fat Five-spot anemone shrimps (Periclimenes brevicarpalis).

I noticed a little snapping shrimp (Alpheus sp.) burrowing among the seagrasses.

There were lots and lots of Bazillion snails (Batillaria zonalis) on the shore. But this bunch on the seagrass seems to be foraging outward in a circle. Hmm...I have no idea what is going on.

Most of the hermit crabs I saw were orange Striped hermit crabs (Clibanarius infraspinatus).

After patiently hunching over the sand for a long time, I finally managed a shot of the little animal that is the Dubious nerite (Clithon oualaniensis). Their pretty shells often distract from the animal itself. They all have cute pajama striped bodies, like many of their other nerite relatives.

As on our recent trips here, we saw a large Discodoris boholiensis nudibranch. James also found a small Gymnodoris nudibranch.

There were several patches of Button zoanthids or colonial anemones (Zoanthus sp.) on the shore. One patch was bright blue! With many little hermit crabs nestled among the polyps.

Eddy spotted this huge cuttlefish (Family Sepiidae)!

On the rocks was this neat row of egg capsules with the tiny eggs visible in them. It was probably laid by the Spiral melongena snail (Pugilina cochlidium).

How nice to see several little Peachia anemones (Peachia sp.) dotting the sandy shores today. The rest of the team also saw some huge Frilly sea anemones (Phymanthus sp.).

We bumped into Eddy who had brought his friends to see this shore! How nice! They found some great creatures, and we shared some of what we found too. Andy found a very well camouflaged Hollow-cheeked stonefish (Synanceia horrida) and showed them how difficult it is to spot it, and thus why we need to be careful on this shore.

I didn't manage to photograph the stonefish that Andy found, but here's a slide show of some that I have seen on Tanah Merah. These fishes are ABUNDANT on Tanah Merah and superbly camouflaged.

Oh dear, some parts of the Smooth ribbon seagrasses (Cymodocea rotundata) had bleaching bases. But the Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) in the middle of the lagoon seems alright with long leaf blades and long female flowers. The patch of Sickle seagrass (Thalassia hemprichii) also seemed larger although the leaf blades were still chomped.

Alas, there is still lots of sheen on the shore. The water was very murky near the rocks.

Brown stains of crude still gather among the seagrasses and elsewhere on the shore. More about the oil spill on this blog and on the Oil spill facebook page.

We also came across this small fishing contraption on the shore. Nothing was caught in the trap. There were about 10 other people on the shore fishing or gathering marine life. One man had a large bag of snails, I could hear the snails rattling like marbles.

On the way home, after a nice sunset, we have a quick look at the bugs and beasts hiding among the undergrowth. What a surprise to see so many little baby lizards clinging on with four feet on the tippy tips of long grass blades! I guess this is a rather safe spot for them to have an evening snooze.

Finally, a rain-free and low-as-predicted tide! Tanah Merah seldom fails to surprise me and I'm quite optimistic that it will recover fully from the massive oil spill that hit it more than a year ago.

More about the oil spill on this blog and on the Oil spill facebook page.

Posts by others about this trip

James with lots of close ups, a nudibranch and bugs and critters in the undergrowth.
Andy with video clip of the huge cuttlefish.

Terumbu Semakau with scary anemone and scarce seagrasses

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 02:52:00 +0000

This scary looking anemone is seldom seen, but I suspect has a nasty sting! So it was with much trepidation that I tried to photograph it in murky water. Trying to get a good shot without getting too close!

Sadly, the seagrasses here seem almost gone! Terumbu Semakau had lush meadows on our previous trips, probably the best growths after Cyrene Reef.

Here's another look at the Haekel's anemone (Actinostephanus haekeli). Those I've seen in the past were all black. My first time seeing one expanded that had brownish tentacles.

The tide was higher than predicted again! But this didn't stop us from landing on the reef. Another problem was a massive bloom of Sargassum seaweed (Sargassum sp.), normal for this time of the year. It makes it tricky to walk through as we don't want to kill marine life or step on Mr Stonefish! On the plus side, it didn't rain!

Fortunately, the Sargassum zone is limited to the edges of the reef, and we could walk more safely beyond it. But the water is rather murky, so it was a challenge to take photos even underwater. The strong breeze rippled the water so it was impossible to shoot from above water. Sigh.

The reef is vast and as the tide finally fell a little, we can see the extent of it. Here with Pulau Jong on the left (and a tiny shore explorer in our orange life vest) and Semakau Landfill on the right.

Terumbu Semakau is a submerged reef that lies just off the Semakau Landfill and some parts of the original Pulau Semakau.
The reef lies near Pulau Bukom, on the horizon. And yet, it has lots of marine life!

I couldn't go to the reef edge where most of the spectacular corals grow, but in the shallower middle of the reef, there were some small colonies, mostly Favid corals (Family Faviidae). With a few Pore corals (Porites sp.). Most of them were not bleached.

There were still some very large colonies of hard corals here. I'm relieved to see these made it through the coral bleaching that badly affected the corals here in 2010.

I saw two small colonies of this Acropora corals (Acropora sp.).

This is what I saw of these corals on our first trip to Terumbu Semakau in May 2010. There were lots more of the corals, the water was clear even though we also arrived at high tide.

I was quite shocked to see how little seagrass there was on Terumbu Semakau. The Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) were all short and cropped. I saw several small patches like this. There were a few patches with sparse but long blades, mostly in the Sargassum zone.

I came across a small patch of Serrated ribbon seagrass (Cymodocea serrulata). I saw several patches of Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis). I didn't come across any Noodle seagrass (Syringodium isoetifolium) which we have seen here in the past.

The seagrass meadows were already sparse when we visited in March 2011. At that time, most of the Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) were short and 'chopped'. But all the previously recorded species were seen: including the rare Noodle seagrass (Syringodium isoetifolium), Serrated ribbon seagrass (Cymodocea serrulata) and lots of Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis). .

Here's what the seagrass meadows looked like when we visited in June 2010.
And the lush growths seen on our first visit to Terumbu Semakau in May 2010. TeamSeagrass monitors seagrass health on nearby Pulau Semakau and similar habitats like Cyrene Reef. Hopefully, this data will help us better understand what is happening to seagrasses on all our shores.
Even in the high murky water, I could still see interesting marine life. Here's a little Spotted top shell snail (Trochus maculatus). It was clinging fiercely to the rock. Perhaps laying eggs?

I came across a half shell of what seems to be a Hammer oyster (Malleus sp.). Interesting internal structure!

All of us encountered small Noble volutes (Cymbiola nobilis). I saw two of them (about 8cm long).

This sponge had slits all over it. From Swee Cheng's Guide to Sponges of Singapore, think it's the Spongia sponge which has a close relationship with clams (Vulsella sp.) that lives only in sponges. The slits are the opening of the clam's shell while the little holes are part of the sponge structure.

I took a closer look at this Prickly yellow sponge (Pseudoceratina purpurea) and realised it too may have clams embedded in the branches. Some of the bumps were flattish with a slit around the edges. When I touched them, the slits closed up!

There were all kinds of different colourful sponges on the reef too!

The only nudibranch I saw was the common Jorunna funebris. Even Chay Hoon couldn't find any special nudis. The tide was just too high. But Russel spotted some squids! And James got good shots of a flatworm possibly eating an ascidian.

I saw a few individuals of some common marine life such as leathery soft corals (Family Alcyoniidae), flowery soft corals (Family Nephtheidae), Frilly sea anemones (Phymanthus sp.), two Giant sea anemones (Stichodactyla gigantea). I saw several Hairy crabs (Family Pilumnidae), a Red egg crab (Atergatis integerrimus), many swimming crabs (Family Portunidae). Also one fan worm (Family Sabellidae).

Common encrusting animals like zoanthids (Order Zoanthidae) and ascidians give a touch of colour on coral rubble.

As we wandered in the high water, Andy headed right to the reef edge to try to remove a long stick that seems to be used to lay out driftnets. Near him was a sampan with some people. On our trip here in June 2011, we did come across a very long driftnet laid across the reef. Driftnets not only kill fish but also rip up corals and other immobile marine life. Fortunately, on this trip, we didn't see any nets. There was one old broken fish trap which we flattened.

The reef was rather quiet today. It was hard to do a thorough check in the high murky water. Hopefully all is well in the deeper waters. We can only hope for the best, and go back to check on the reef some other time.

Others who posted about this trip

James with flatworm possibly eating an ascidian!

Special anemone at Labrador

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:41:00 +0000

My first sighting on Labrador of this pretty sea anemone! Previously only recorded for St. John's Island for a long time, we saw it at Sentosa and now Labrador!

We were at Labrador to monitor seagrasses there as part of TeamSeagrass. We explored the shore as we waited for the tide to fall.

The pink-spotted Bead anemone (Anthopleura buddemeieri) is a rather quirky anemone that is found very high on a natural rocky shore. Unfortunately, in Singapore such habitats are rare, and thus the anemone is not often encountered. In fact, I only found one of these anemones on our trip today. The rocky shore is very much alive with other creatures, mainly molluscs and snails of all kinds! Marcus and Andy saw lots of other creatures too.

There are many fast moving Sea slaters (Ligia sp.) on the shore. Although they are sometimes called Sea cockroaches, they are not true insects and are crustacea like crabs and shrimps! Among them are some true insects of the shore. These are Shore crickets (Family Gryllidae)! My first time paying attention to them on Labrador!

I took the opportunity to take a closer look at some common seaweeds. This pretty lacy seaweed is tiny! Each 'frond' is less than 0.5cm. They coat the rocks near the high water mark on natural rocky shores like Labrador and Sentosa. I haven't quite figured out what it is yet.

Coin seaweeds (Halimeda sp.) looks like a series of coins joined together. Each coin-like segment is hard as it is impregnated with calcium carbonate. The portions between the segments are not calcified, so the bunch of segments is rather flexible. The calcium carbonate released from dead Halimeda seaweeds are said to make major contributions to sand in some areas such as the Bahamas and the Great Barrier Reef!

Here's a closer look at Neomeris sp. The seaweed is actually made up of tiny branches packed tightly around a central stalk to form the cylindrical shape, somewhat like the bristles on a bottlebrush. The base to middle portion of the 'stem' is white and calcified while the upper ends are bright green, and often fuzzy at the tips. The green tiny branches at the tip are younger.

Pom pom red seaweed is a ball-shaped cluster of many thin, cylindrical 'stems' that are densely branched. The 'stems' are hard and thus the seaweed feels crunchy when stepped upon (try to NOT to step on them). Colours range from pinkish and lilac to deep magenta and purple. This one seems to have a pale rounded 'cap' at the tip of the 'stem'.

In the rain, the water gushing down onto the shore through a pipe was more obvious.

The water flowing through the pipe seems quite clear and it obviously comes from the natural hillside as there were lots of forest flowers in the water flow.

There is a large sandy strip under the water outfall. I'm not sure how the water flow affects seagrasses growing on the shore. Possibly there are good effects as nutrient flows from the forest are probably natural.

There were several dead corals washed up on the shore. I notice this often also at Sentosa.

I saw a large dead coral washed up quite high on the shore.

Alas, we also came across some nets that washed ashore. This bunch was entangled in a branch.

The net sure looked much larger after we wrestled it free. The volume of the pile was 38cm x 30cm x 12cm.

The net seems rather new. There were two kinds of fibres in this net. A woven fibre with a mesh size of about 13cm, and a monofilament plastic kind with a mesh size of about 4cm. This data will go toward the Project Driftnet effort.

There were also bits of nets stuck high up on plants growing on the natural cliffs.

There was also another net badly entangled among the roots of a fallen tree.

But the rest of the shore was quite clean of floating plastic and debris.

Alas, the tide today did not fall as low as predicted. We were expecting a 0.2m tide but seems we got a 0.3 or 0.4m tide instead. I've been told that in wet weather, there are barometric effects that mess up the tidal predictions.

The water was also rather murky. Not surprising, given the constant rain throughout the day and during our trip. We saw a flood of brown water near the mainland on our way home from Cyrene yesterday.

The only seagrasses I saw were bits washed up on the shore. Hopefully this means there's still some seagrasses in deeper water.

We had to abandon the effort to monitor the seagrasses as the tide wasn't obliging. For years, next to Labrador, there has been massive reclamation, dredging and other coastal works for the new Pasir Panjang Container Terminal which includes underwater blasting. Monitoring the seagrasses at Labrador will help give an indication of the health of the shore.

Thanks to Marcus and Andy for coming today all prepared to monitor and hauling out the nets, and to Yuet Hsin and Ben for supporting our effort. I'm so sorry we couldn't get the primary job done. Hopefully the tides will be kinder to us in the future.

Others who posted about this trip

Marcus Ng with more rocky shore sightings.

Wet at Cyrene with flooding at sea

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:38:00 +0000

It's fun and enjoyable to join Siti in her seagrass field trips! We get to enjoy complimentary drinks on a lovely boat, leaving from a very posh marina. In great company too!

The plan was to show what a great trip we have when we are out helping Siti. But ...

It started to rain. Very heavily. We could barely see the port just a short distance away from where the boat was anchored off Cyrene.

As we were waiting for the rain to let up, we watched in horror as a boat roared at full speed TOWARD the reef! We were all getting ready to rescue passengers when at the last moment, the boat turned sharply away and all was well again.

Finally, the rain eased up after the last of us put on his special, custom-made poncho. We know that the weather usually eases up when everyone puts on their ponchos. So we headed out for the reef.

The tide was a tad high as we sloshed towards Siti's seagrass experiment in the middle of the reef. It was still raining. We could hardly see the huge vessels passing by the reef.

Aha, finally, a stretch of sand bar and Siti's experimental frames are in the distance.

As soon as we arrived we got started on cleaning the frames of the growths of barnacles that rapidly grow on them. We have kept on our life vests as they keep us nice and warm!

While we scrape, Siti and Nor Aishah take seagrass readings in the frame.

Then it was time to reattach the shading screens on the frames. Cable ties do the job perfectly! Many of us have recently become aware of the importance of cable ties. As elsewhere, cable ties are a critical part of Siti's project!

Wet and soggy, covered with barnacle bits, we head back home. Along the way we meet some of the amazing marine life on Cyrene. Lots of huge Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus) as usual.

Also many Cake sand dollars (Arachnoides placenta), Common sea stars (Archaster typicus) many in mating position, lots of White sea urchins (Salmacis sp), some baby Knobbly sea stars and I saw one Egg white moon snail (Polinices albumen) burrowing in the sand.

So you see, despite the horrible weather, we DO have a great time out with Siti! It's even more fun when it's sunny!

Just as we approached the marina, we noticed a huge swathe of brown water, in stark contrast to the blue water elsewhere.

The brown water covered a large area near the shore, even to the natural shores at Sentosa.

Did the brown stuff come from the massive reclamation for the new Pasir Panjang Container Terminal?

The water got browner as we arrived at the marina which is tucked away from the sea. How did the brown water get into the marina? Or...

More likely the brown water came mainly from the mainland during the downpour. That's why it's more concentrated in the marina? We asked Alex, who is wise about these things, and he said yes, when it rains, this happens. Oh dear!

Sedimentation is really bad for marine life as it clogs up delicate feeding and breathing parts, and blocks out the sunlight which many animals depend on, especially animals that harbour symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) which make food from sunlight and share the food with their animal hosts. These include corals.

I didn't realise that a downpour can result in such a flood of sedimentation in our coastal waters!

Tuas quickly

noreply@blogger.com (ria tan) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:58:00 +0000

The tide is not very low, but we're out to check up on the Tuas shore with Sheryl. She leads TeamSeagrass monitoring at Tuas with volunteers at Merck, whose property fronts the shore.

I took the opportunity to get a closer look at some creatures commonly seen on this shore.

Sea fans are quite commonly found at Tuas. Here's a closer look a the lovely little polyps on a sea fan that is shaped like a candelabra. Wah, I can see the insides of the nearly transparent polyps. And see how they can retract completely into the common tissue.

Another abundant creature at Tuas are flowery soft corals (Family Nephtheidae). These are colonies of tiny polyps that emerge from a shared common tissue. The tissues are reinforced with tiny spikes of calcium carbonate. These spikes may form a 'basket' around the polyps. Alas, the polyps had their branched tentacles tucked into the body column. The polyps, however, can't retract completely into the common tissue. They merely curl up into bumps.

Tiny brittle stars infest these soft corals! They are quite small and fast moving.

I also took a closer look at a Ball flowery soft coral. Alas, the polyps refused to open up to show their tentacles.

Inside the ball flowery soft coral was a pair of pretty brittle stars.

Also a pair of white snapping shrimps! They are very shy and hard to photograph.

We checked with Sheryl about the very long driftnet that we saw when we were last at Tuas. When the Merck volunteers returned to remove the rest of it, it was already gone. Hopefully the fisherman had removed it.

More trips coming up as the last low spring tides of the year approach!