Second chance for Singapore to save its rare species

Chay Hoon shares some of her thoughts about our precious wildlife in this Straits Times article today.

Second chance for Singapore to save its rare species
The rediscovery of 'extinct' wildlife serves to motivate nature enthusiasts
Kimberly Spykerman, Straits Times 22 Aug 08;
full article also on the wildsingapore news blog.

WHEN it comes to wildlife native to these shores, it seems people here just do not know enough, grumbles Miss Toh Chay Hoon, a 31-year-old nature enthusiast.

In her spare time, the accountant does her bit to introduce people to the flora and fauna here by leading nature walks on offshore islands such as Pulau Ubin and Pulau Semakau.

She recalled an incident at Changi Beach last year, when a beach-goer found a threatened species of marine snail commonly known as the Bailer Snail, so named because its large shell is said to have been used to bail out water from leaky boats.
She said with dismay: 'He was going to take it home and cook it - even after I told him it was an endangered species! People have to learn to appreciate animals in their natural environment.'

People here are not aware of the rich variety of animals and plants in these parts, largely 'because because they don't get out there and explore', she said.

And given that some animals native to these shores have staged a 'comeback' in recent years, nature enthusiasts like her believe it is time Singaporeans sat up and took notice of the creatures that share their environment.

Miss Toh, for one, is always on the lookout for a great find.

In June last year, she thrilled the local scientific community by spotting the multi-armed starfish called the Basket Star while on a pre-dawn trip to the coral reefs off Sisters Islands.

A relative of the common Sea Star, it had not been seen in waters here since 1896. Its distinguishing feature is the basket-like shape formed by its many arms.
Miss Toh said of her find: 'I never expected to see a Basket Star. Till then, the only one I'd seen was a skeleton at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity.'

She left the fragile starfish where she found it, and came away with just memories and a few photographs.

A saltwater lake at the Southern Islands?

Here's some recent info and comments in the print media about our Southern islands ...

Lianhe Zaobao 14 Aug 08
translation from the colourful clouds blog

Extracts:

"我国南部岛屿四周海域日后可能建造巨型的人工咸水湖？
(Man-made seawater lake/lagoon may be constructed in waters around the southern islands?)

刚于上个月底卸下圣淘沙南部岛屿发展计划执行董事职务的李张秀虹，昨天接受本报专访时说，一旦这个人工咸水湖的构思得以落实，相信将能为南部岛屿注入独特风情，日后政府出售地段发展旅游胜地时，预料将能卖得更好的价钱。
("If the idea of the man-made seawater lake/lagoon can be implemented, it will inject a unique style to the southern islands. In addition, it may help fetch a better price if the Government sells the lots for tourism development in the future." Said Mrs Pamelia Lee, ex-managing director of Sentosa and southern island development project, in an interview with Zaobao.)

打从80年代就接手南部岛屿发展计划的李张秀虹（66岁）透露，她已征询过专业顾问的意见，在南部岛屿周围海域筑起堤围来形成一个巨大的咸水湖，技术上应该没有问题。
(Mrs Lee, who has been handling the southern island development project since the 80's said that she had consulted the views of professional consultants regarding the building of embankment to form a huge lake/lagoon. And technically speaking, it should not be a problem.)

这么一来，游人便可在被蔚蓝海洋包围着的湖水中，更安全地尽情享受各种水上活动，甚至可在湖畔建造诗情画意的船屋（Houseboat）。
(If such is a case, tourists will be able to enjoy various water sports activities surrounded in blue water safely. Picturesque Houseboats can also be built within the lake/lagoon.)
　　
她说：“如果建有咸水湖，岛上就能提供更多空间让游人划船和进行水上运动，也能建造船屋等。目前世界上有不少度假胜地设有咸水湖和船屋，但它们的规模和特色同我的概念不一样。”
(She said that the islands will be able to provide more space for tourists to do boating/other water sports as well as constructing houseboats if the lake/lagoon is built. She also mentioned that the lake and houseboats that she has in mind are very different from those currently found in other resorts in some parts of the world.)

据知，有关计划还需通过海事及港务管理局(MPA)的批准才能落实。
(It is understood that the plan needs the approval by Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore(MPA) in order for it be able to implement.)

Keep southern islands' natural and spiritual wealth
Letter from Malcolm Tan, Straits Times Forum 14 Aug 08;
also on the wildsingapore news blog

I REFER to yesterday's article, 'Southern islands at crossroads'. I read with alarm that the departure of Mrs Pamelia Lee as managing director of Sentosa Leisure Group (SLG) may jeopardise the eco-paradise potential of the southern islands. It is indeed sad to learn that Mrs Lee seems to be the 'lone voice' in SLG, fighting for the preservation of the natural heritage of the southern islands.

I have stayed on St John's Island and crossed to Lazarus Island many times, and my photos attest to the fact that the two islands have much natural and spiritual wealth to offer Singaporeans and foreigners that cannot be found elsewhere on the mainland. Amid our hectic urban schedules, my friends and I have always found our spiritual refuge on the two islands with their many naturally therapeutic highlights.

The seas around the two islands are amazingly clear at certain times of the year and support much marine fauna and flora that are rare on the mainland. Many of these can be seen clearly on an especially low tide. One of our last stretches of natural coastal rocky shores in Singapore is also found here, with plenty of intact seashells lying buried in the soft sand. There is even a stretch of naturally soft sand bar on Lazarus Island, where one can walk to an outlying rock without getting completely submerged, even at high tide.

Moreover, nowhere else in Singapore can one see as many as 18 Brahminy Kites soaring gracefully in the air, spotting for prey and even occasionally diving down to the sea to take fish out with a quick and well-timed swoop. Add to these, the spectacular 'red ball' sunset over the open sea and the occasional sighting of pink dolphins in the water and one can understand why these islands are so magical.

The many Singaporeans and foreigners I met on the islands all agreed the authorities should preserve them in their natural state for posterity. It would be sad indeed if these islands are converted into another casino or another rich man's exclusive playground. That would be the sad day when most ordinary Singaporeans like me cannot claim the southern islands are part of our homeland as we have no access to their natural beauty. When that happens, the authorities should not be surprised if some of us choose to seek 'greener pastures' elsewhere. For we would then have truly seen that this country is an elitist one, where only dollars and cents matter, despite all the recent hype about the importance of work-life balance, nature conservation and eco-tourism.

[update: Sentosa announces new shore attractions in 2009 and new master plan by end of the year. More on the wild shores of singapore blog]

Fate of the Southern Islands

Today's article about the fate of the Southern Islands suggested a review of plans and developments on Kusu, St John's, the Sisters Islands, Kias, Lazarus and Seringat ...

Southern islands at crossroads
Fate of eco-paradise in the balance after fervent champion's departure
Serene Goh, Straits Times 13 Aug 08;

THE vision of the southern islands as an eco-paradise hangs in the balance with the departure of their champion, Mrs Pamelia Lee.

Sentosa Leisure Group (SLG) announced last week that Mrs Lee would be 'stepping aside' as managing director of the six-island cluster after 17 years on the project.

Her last day was July 31. The group's management has yet to announce a successor, or if there would even be one.

Pundits and eco-enthusiasts have raised concerns about whether the next head will share Mrs Lee's passion for nature conservation.

Last year, The Straits Times reported rumours in the tourism industry of a possible third casino to be housed on the islands - Kusu, St John's, the Sisters Islands, Kias, Lazarus and Seringat - perhaps by 2016.

It was a move Mrs Lee opposed. She felt the unspoilt nature of the islands could be preserved while generating revenue through eco-getaways or boutique residences.

When asked, the 66-year-old tourism veteran shied from hints that a difference of opinion had led to her parting ways with the group.

SLG also declined to comment on this at its low-key farewell for Mrs Lee, and remained tight-lipped about plans for the Southern Islands.

It would only say: 'There is no change to how the development is being handled and we will provide an update at an appropriate time.'

Mrs Lee had led efforts to lay the islands' basic infrastructure for development, including reclamation works, island links as well as the construction of a submarine trench for power cables, all completed in 2006.

She told The Straits Times in an interview yesterday that she had hoped to place the project, finally, in the 'gentle hands' of a developer who would undertake construction that would 'fit, not fight' the green environment there, a counterpoint to Sentosa's playground for the masses.

New inhabitants might be happy to walk, ride bicycles and dwell in houses 'no taller than coconut trees', she said, 'or stop and watch a sunset or a hermit crab running on the sand'.

In December 2006, investors voiced concerns that it would be complicated to maintain the islands' pristine environments while generating maximum yields, Mrs Lee said then.

Then in April last year, the Southern Islands' development was put on ice, with little explanation from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The temples on Kusu and St John's swimming lagoons and trekking routes were left as existing attractions.

More than a year later, this delay has become the reason for Mrs Lee's departure.

With the islands' infrastructure completed, her work is done. Further developments of the islands can proceed only in tandem with a concrete plan from a developer.

The fate of the Southern Islands lies in the hands of SLG's new CEO Mike Barclay (Sentosa press release about Mike Barclay, PDF file). He takes over on Aug 25.

What were the developments to these southern islands?

Kias and Seringat used to be submerged reefs like Cyrene Reefs.

from the Southern Islands Development Guide Plan (DGP) 1996

These submerged reefs were buried and reclaimed to form Kias-Seringat through reclamation completed in 2000.Lazarus Island was connected to St. John's island by a causeway.

In 2000, the plan was to offer visitors a Mediterranean resort-like setting only 17 minutes away by ferry, patterned after Italy's renowned vacation spot, Capri. Details later revealed included plans for a five-star 290-room hilltop hotel, a three-star 170-room beachfront hotel, 70 waterfront homes and 1,700 units of housing. (from Various plans for Southern Islands, by Teh Jen Lee, The New Paper, 31 Mar 04)

When plans for the Integrated Resort on Sentosa was announced in 2004, "an MTI spokesman said these plans for the Southern Islands will be 'reviewed'". At that time, there was even talk of a road from Sentosa to the islands, or a causeway, like the one linking the mainland and Jurong Island. (from Road to link Sentosa to St. John's Island? by Teh Jen Lee, The New Paper, 31 Mar 04)

In 2004 it was announced: "Soon you may be able to sun-tan on a pristine new beach a short ferry ride away. Given that trash is often found on mainland beaches, you'll be glad to know that an 800-metre long beach on Pulau Seringat in the southern islands is almost complete." (Our newest man-made beach, by Teh Jen Lee The New Paper, 24 Sep 04)

Thousands of cubic metres of sand were imported from Indonesia to make the beach. The sand was checked for sandfly eggs so that visitors will be spared the insect's bites, which can be itchy. Another $120 million was spent to bring water, electricity, gas and telecommunication infrastructure from Sentosa to the islands. (from The newly redeveloped St John's and Lazarus islands have beautiful beaches and sparkling waters, by Teh Jen Lee The New Paper 2 Dec 06)

In 2006, massive landscaping was reported of the 1km reclaimed beach on Lazarus to simulate a natural environment so that it would look 'natural and wild'. 5,000 lorry-loads of soil measuring two storeys high when piled up were brought in by barges, an entire coconut plantation in Malaysia was bought, about 1, 000 trees was trucked and shipped to the island. To meet the 36 cubic metres of water needed every day to keep the plants growing, a 400-sq-m-wide pond was created to collect rainwater and ground water tapped. This was part of the $60 million worth of reclamation and infrastructure work on the southern islands of Pulau Seringat, Kias, St John's, Lazarus, Kusu and Sisters' islands. (from Lazarus beach makeover wins firm top landscaping award, by Tan Hui Yee The Straits Times 13 Dec 06)

In Dec 06, it was announced that Singapore Tourism Board (STB) may launch a request for concepts, possibly in the first quarter of 2007. One idea is to develop the islands into a 'premium resort', a getaway for the rich. Other ideas include eco-tourism and cultural tourism, and even possibly a third casino in Singapore, although it is not known if STB would consider offering a casino licence to any developer of the islands. (from The newly redeveloped St John's and Lazarus islands have beautiful beaches and sparkling waters, by Teh Jen Lee The New Paper 2 Dec 06)

More media articles

Investor feedback to plans for Southern Islands, Dec 06

• No new plans for Kusu temple despite resort move
  Ansley Ng, Today Online 1 Dec 06
• All powered up and ready for offers, Infrastructure in place, time is right to attract investors, Serene Goh, The Straits Times 1 Dec 06
• Targetting nature lovers and the well-heeled, The Straits Times 1 Dec 06
• Investors give positive feedback to the Southern Islands' development, May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 30 Nov 06

Playground of the rich, Nov 06

• Southern Islands may be next big tourist attraction, One plan being considered: Make them a getaway for the rich, Krist Boo, The Straits Times 29 Nov 06
• STB plans to develop Southern Islands into tourist attraction, Jeana Wong Channel NewsAsia 29 Nov 06
• Kusu: Playground of the rich? Tourism Board looks into ideas to develop S'pore's six southern islands to attract the super-rich, Ansley Ng, Today Online 29 Nov 06
• Southern Islands could be premium resort: STB, Super-exclusive haven for billionaires, location for third casino are some possibilities, Arthur Sim, The Business Times (Singapore) 29 Nov 06

Third casino? Jan 07

• Asia's mini-Monaco by 2015? STB to put out feelers for interest in developing the Southern Islands into an exclusive yet accessible resort, third IR unlikely, Tor Ching Li, Today Online 19 Jan 07
• Southern Islands home to third IR? Smaller, more luxurious resort will feature F&B, spa, health and beauty facilities
• By Arthur Sim, Business Times Singapore 18 Jan 07

[update: Sentosa announces new shore attractions in 2009 and new master plan by end of the year. More on the wild shores of singapore blog]

Wild Day at Reef Celebrations

Bright and early Saturday morning and the crowds started as soon as Reef Celebrations opened its doors.Here's an enthusiastic visitor who came by bicycle!
The colouring station was a hot favourite!Jun shares about Singapore's first coral nursery to the young visitor.Debby of the Hantu Bloggers shares with more young visitors about Pulau Hantu.More young visitors at the TeamSeagrass booth!

In fact, young visitors were a big part of the people who came to Reef Celebrations!They made themselves at home at Kok Sheng's talk about "Life and Death on Chek Jawa".

But everyone of all ages enjoyed the exhibits, like this one by the Toddycats.The talks were really well attended!Sijie and Chee Kong shared about our special Knobbly sea stars on Cyrene in their talk about "Wishing on a Star".During the talks, the kids asked the best questions! Here is Jeff explaining to the question by a child "How do you breathe underwater?". Collin brought the dive gear displayed at Jun's booth so that Jeff could show how it was done.
Shufen shared about our "Green, Mean, Photosynthesizing Machines", i.e., seagrasses.

We were very fortunate today to have YC to be our MC for the talks. He also brought his MP3 player to provide background music! Something we totally forgot about! Thanks YC.

Our Celebration Guestbook is a puzzle mainly so that we can scan in everyone's comments later (which will happen after we get some sleep).
And Marcus was among the most hardworking of photographers today.

Everyone is working very hard.Sijie is quickly polishing up his talk, while Andy had brought his laptop to download the phenomenal amount of filming he did today.Debby and Jeff are also busy working on their talks. Jeff seems to be having issues with his computer.Jeff takes the opportunity to learn from Siva about how to twitter. So now Jeff is no longer a dinosaur. He is now a twit!

With the large crowds of family groups, it was wonderful to have Vilma and friends of Cicada Tree Eco Place and the Raffles Institution people provide exciting programmes for the kids with the theme MAD for turtles (Make a Difference for turtles).There were all kinds of games to help kids understand the threats to sea turtles and what we can do to make a difference.
Story-telling about turtles by Vilma herself.Which was really captivating!Chay Hoon's pretty marine themed pebbles are big hit. Chai Joo, Vilma and Chee Kong hold some examples.
The colouring station was a BIG hit with the kids.

The wonderful drawings of marine life and nudibranchs drawn specially for IYOR by Chay Hoon are simply irresistable.Even the volunteers HAVE to have a hand at some.And who is responsible for the "fiery" nudi?The artists with their handiwork.Obviously very proud of it.Abby does a more muted version.

Before we packed up the booths, the volunteers went around to one another's booths. Something they didn't get to do during the day as they were busy with their own.The folks from the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation shared about their work. They are completing year fourteen of an ongoing expedition to map and monitor the world's coral reefs. To date, PCRF's research vessel is the only ship continually at sea studying coral reefs on a planetary basis.Kelly from the Underwater World Singapore explained their latest Young Marine Biologist Award launched as part of IYOR.

We were very fortunate to have Abigayle today to tell us more about the work of the Blue Water Volunteers.
Jun shared about the coral nursery and the intriguing coral exhibits.The Toddycats shared about their very popular exhibits! We finally got to have them all to ourselves.And we finally got a good look at the entire Adopt a Star booth without the crowds of people wanting to adopt them. Here is November sharing about the Stars.

And we had a good look at Debby's booth and she was in the middle of blogging about the event! How cool is that?!We posted the latest programme events on a whiteboard, that many people kept adding pictures to.In fact, the pictures morphed quite a bit throughout the day. See if you can spot the changes!

What a wild and wacky time we had at Reef Celebrations today!

More blog entries about the day!

• All the major happenings on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog
  
• Toddycats at the Celebrations on the Toddycats! blog
• Naked Hermit Crabs at work at the Celebrations on the adventures with the naked hermit crabs blog
• TeamSeagrass at the Celebrations on the teamseagrass blog
• Debby's on-the-spot blog about the event on the pulau hantu blog
• Samson's day at the Celebrations on the manta blog
• November's Starry Day on the leafmonkey blog
• LOTS of photos on Marcus' flickr set and the habitatnews flickr set and chimck's flickr set and Debby's flickr set and juanicths' flickr set

Wildfilms at Reef Celebrations, 9 Aug (Sat)

wildfilms is contributing to this effort with clips to be shown between talks, as well as photographs at some of the exhibits.

We'll also be there to share about our beloved shores, as we put on some of the many other marine hats that we wear. So please come! We'd love to meet you.

9 Aug (Sat): Reef Celebrations!

The marine community celebrates our nation’s priceless reefs this National Day with the Singapore launch of International Year of the Reef!

Everyone is invited!

With a slew of activities for all, come find out about Singapore's living shores and how you can make a difference for them.

A shore fun day for the entire family! Kids' games and activities so even the youngest ones (aged 4-8 years) can learn about our marine life and what we can do to help.

Be a Star! Adopt a unique Singapore star and learn more about Cyrene Reef, a major Knobbly Nursery.

Our reefs revealed! As volunteers share about our reefs and shores and the work they have been doing. A rare opportunity to meet ALL major marine groups active on our shores and find out how you too can make a difference.

Exciting exhibits! See Singapore’s living shores without getting your feet wet. Find out about the latest marine projects, and threats to and work done for our shores. Come see rarely seen specimens, including a baby dugong by the Toddycats!

Special talks throughout the day! Come find out if there are any reefs left in Singapore and about diving Singapore's wild reefs at Pulau Hantu. Learn more about our Knobbly sea stars; how is Chek Jawa doing after the mass deaths in 2007?; and about our wild and wacky seagrass meadows. Film clips about our amazing marine life will also be shown throughout the day.

More details on the Singapore Celebrates our Reefs blog

Time: 10am-5pm
Venue: Function Hall, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens (above Taman Serasi foodcourt), more about getting there.
Website: http://iyor08singapore.blogspot.com/
Contact: iyor08singapore@gmail.com

A wild day at the IYOR launch

Way before the launch begins (but AFTER a good lunch), a whole bunch of shore volunteers gathered to put together the IYOR launch.Jeff is obviously already feeling tired even before we begin.Soon we find out why. The panel frames are quite fiddly to put together. Meanwhile, Marcus is taking lots of (no doubt embarassing) 'behind the scenes' photos.
Siti, the Mistress of Ceremony was busy polishing up her script.

While there was a flurry of packing doorgifts, putting up exhibits and a million other things which I forgot to photograph.

In almost no time at all, the exhibits were up!Here's the Toddycats with the infamous baby dugong.Debby of the Hantu Bloggers is already hard at work even before the doors open.TeamSeagrass has an exhibit of live seagrasses!There's an exhibit about our first Coral Nursery.And the 100 Stars of Cyrene!
These 100 unique Singapore stars are up for adoption!
There's lot of fabulous goodies like stickers for visitors.Car decals and MORE stickers.
Even before we can begin, we have young visitors coming into the room to view the exhibits.
And leave heart-warming comments in the Celebration Guestbook.
Wildfilms is present to document the talks!
All too soon it was time to start welcoming the guests to the launch. Francis gives the welcome address, with massive documentation by seriously armed photographers.At all corners of the room!The room is totally packed out, with standing room only! Siva gives a very inspiring and insightful talk about the marine community (of people, that is).To the delight of the VIPs and audience.Prof Chou Loke Ming gives an equally thought-provoking talk about our reefs from way back in the past to now, and explored the future for our reefs.Meanwhile, at the back of the room, the Star Ladies are getting ready to present the 100 Stars of Cyrene for Prof Chou to name and thus launch IYOR.November introduces the Adopt a Star programme and conducts the launch ceremony.Then it was time for Francis to present tokens of appreciation to the VIPS. I bet it's the first time they received funky underpants in public!

Then the party really began as everyone enjoyed the exhibits, caught up with one another, queued up to adopt a star and generally had a great time!

The Reef Celebrations continue on 9 Aug (Sat)! Come to the Botanic Gardens for a day of MORE fun and celebrations of our reefs and shores. More details on the Singapore celebrates our reefs blog.

Cyrene Reefs with TeamSeagrass

Sunrise and we're back on Cyrene Reefs with TeamSeagrass!Michelle (in red) is back again, and today we are privileged to have Shobana (in green) of the Straits Times.Also with us is Sam the Straits Times photographer, who wasted no time in taking photos of Cyrene. As well as Weizhen, also with the Straits Times.

While the team set up the transect lines, I brought the Straits Times team for a quick look around.And we managed to see a little more of the 'Nemo' today. The False clown anemonefish (Amphiprion ocellaris) lives in this Giant sea anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea).

While Shobana and Weizhen find out from Siti more about monitoring seagrasses,Sam and I went around to have a look at the seagrass meadows.We saw the special moon snail with the colourful foot.A spotted black flatworm that I've not seen before.
And a placid Longhorned cowfish (Lactoria cornuta).

As we explored the shores further with the Straits Times team, we saw more stuff.The nudis put up a good show. With the black and white Jorunna funebris, and a pair of Glossodoris atromarginata.Lots of Dendrodoris denisoni were encountered today.And Andy found a Discodoris boholensis.Michelle and Nor Aishah found this Nepanthia sp. sea star.And of course, the seagrass meadows are just studded with lots of baby Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus).And how wonderful to come across 'Blondie', the strange almost-knobbly sea star. Is it a new record too? We won't know until the experts come to have a look at it.Here's a closer look at 'Blondie'.Shufen finds this sea star (on the left) that looks very much like Pentaceraster mammilatus that TeamSeagrass found in May and was confirmed as a first record for Singapore. It looks very different from the usual Knobbly sea star (on the right).And from the underside, the sea star looks even more like a Pentaceraster mammilatus!

Wow!

On the way back, we noticed a tall ship at the Marina.Yes indeed, it was the Rainbow Warrior!After we said goodbye to Melvin, a few of us headed to the ship to have a closer look.And some of us got to talk to the Captain.What a great day out! And as usual, Melvin not only brought us there and back safely, but also kept the bad weather at bay. It only started to rain after we got back!

Vyna shares more about the trip on her can you sea me blog

Semakau with TeamSeagrass

4am and we're out with the the fantastic TeamSeagrass folks for a pre-dawn trip to Pulau Semakau. This is a really special treat!
Those of us at the furthest site decided to wait for first light before laying out the tape. In the brief time, we explored the seagrass meadows and came across this very large sea anemone! It is probably Alicia sp., and Dr Daphne had earlier warned that these anemones sting powerfully. Indeed, it has all kinds of scary looking bumps on the body column. And the tentacles look like they mean business.

We had a very smooth monitoring session and finished at dawn! It was then time to explore the shores!Robin found this baby Knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodosus)! They are not as common at Pulau Semakau as they are on Cyrene Reef. So it's nice to see one. The tide was really low and the visibility was fabulous! Here's the Team out at the reef edge.

At the reef edge were some animals that we rarely encounter higher up on the intertidal zone.
Like this enormous barrel sponge!

There were so many special hard corals encountered, that a separate post has been done about them.
Another special encounter was this Ocellated sea cucumber (Stichopus ocellatus) wedged among corals and under seaweeds.And this Curryfish sea cucumber (Stichopus herrmani). It has a very hard body texture with tiny little black tube feet on the flat underside.

In the deeper waters among the corals were amazing creatures!
A bunch of squid were hanging about in the water! They didn't swim away even as I approached closer.The group comprised several slim squids.With one broader squid. What's going on? Could the fatter one be a female and the others males who trying to be friendly with her? Hmmm. This is the first time I've seen so many of them together.
There was a beautiful batfish swimming elegantly among the corals. Besides this slow swimming fish, there were faster colourful fishes zooming about. I couldn't shoot them in time and haven't any ideas what they were. The rest of the team saw many seahorses, Chay Hoon spotted the Black-tipped reef shark again, and many small Blue-spotted fantail stingrays (Taeniura lymma) were encountered. Fortunately, no one got stung!There are many Bulb-tentacled sea anemones (Entacmea quadricolor) on Pulau Semakau. I know the Tomato anemonefish (Amphiprion fernatus) lives in these sea anemones. So kept a look out for them. It seems there's a tiny Tomato anemonefish in this one. But all I could see was tiny flashes of orange.But in deeper water, there was a larger sea anemone with a very handsome Tomato anemonefish in it!It was as curious about me as I was about it. And kept having a look at me!As we explored the shores, we noticed large fish traps on the shore. In the background are the industrial installations on Pulau Bukom.There was a boatload of many fishermen busy since dawn.And another boat with one fisherman a little further away.As we were leaving, another boatload of fisherman drove up and dropped anchor on the reef.During the landtour for TeamSeagrass, we had a brief glimpse of the fishfarm located at Pulau Semakau right next to our first and only coral nursery located on Semakau. In the background is the enormous oil rig parked there for maintenance.

Let's hope these do not permanently harm the rich and living reefs on Pulau Semakau.

More shared about this Semakau trip:

• Video clip of dogfaced water snake on the sgbeachbum blog
• Other sightings and more about the landfill too on the can you sea me blog

Amazing corals of Pulau Semakau

Today, we saw some rare and special corals during the super low tide at Pulau Semakau.There were some Acropora coral (Acropora sp.). This beautiful branching coral is not often encountered.This pretty Pebble coral (Astreopora sp.) is sometimes seen on some of our reefs. It is in the same family as Acropora corals.
Carnation corals (Pectinia sp.) have lovely fluted patterns and come in lovely pastel shades. It is not often seen, especially large colonies.Merulina sp. forms pretty plate-shaped colonies with ridges. They can come in a variety of colours. It is only sometimes seen on our reefs.
This beautiful powder blue plate coral with little bumps is probably Echinopora sp. I have only seen this in large numbers on Raffles Lighthouse.A truly delightful encounter was this colony of Moon coral (Diploastrea heliopora). I've only seen this coral twice before, on Sisters Island and on Pulau Jong.

Although the mushroom coral Heliofungia actiniformis is quite commonly seen on Pulau Semakau, I would say they are rather rare on our shores. The only other place they are commonly encountered is Pulau Hantu. They used to be seen in numbers on Beting Bronok as well, but are now no longer seen there.This mushroom coral is a single large polyp. It has very long tentacles with white tips and is sometimes mistaken for a sea anemone.When the tentacles are retracted, however, the hard skeleton is more obvious. The slit-like mouth lies in the centre of the disk-shaped skeleton.The skeleton made up of radiating walls with rounded 'teeth'.While the adults are free living and lie unattached to a hard surface, the young mushroom corals start life stuck onto a hard surface. Here's three tiny baby mushroom corals that were seen today.

Although Pulau Semakau lies right next to our only landfill, it is rich in corals and marine life. It is up to us to ensure it remains this way. By reducing our waste, the landfill will last longer and there will be no need to expand it to affect this wonderful shore.

Living Reefs of St. John's Island

4am and we're off to St. John's Island! This well developed island still has some narrow natural reefs with a variety of hard corals. It's great to visit a reef at night as the animals seem more lively then.Hard corals are actually colonial animals, each colony made up of many individual polyps. At night, many hard coral polyps are fully extended, showing their beautiful tentacles.Here's a closer look at one of the polyps in this hard coral colony. Each polyp in a hard coral produces a hard skeleton. The different shapes and arrangement of these tiny skeletons produce the delightful patterns of hard corals.

Here's some of the kinds of hard corals we saw today.

Disk corals (Turbinaria sp.) are quite regularly encountered on our reefs. The colony is plate-like and generally forms disks.This particular kind of Turbinaria has large polyps with many long tentacles and the colony plate is rather thick.Another commonly seen colony has thinner disks and smaller polyps with fewer tentacles.Yet another kind has plates that hug the surface. While the colony may be quite large, the polyps are really tiny with few tentacles. This kind is generally only seen in good reefs.Pocillopora corals (Pocillopora sp.) are also regularly seen. The colony is branching, and the tiny polyps have white rounded tips.Branching Psammocora corals (Psammocora sp.) are also often seen. In these, the tentacles are short and pointed. Branching corals are like underwater trees, providing hiding places for all kinds of tiny animals such as this little crab.There are also Psammocora sp. that form boulder shaped colonies. This species is identified by the tiny petal-shaped holes in the skeleton.These holes are not so obvious when the tiny tentacles are extended.Here is another pretty coral that is sometimes seen on our reefs. I don't know what kind of hard coral this is.Brain corals (Family Mussidae) are also seen on good reefs. In these, the polyps create skeletons with meandering walls.Unlike most other hard corals, these mushroom corals (Family Fungidae) are solitary polyps. And adults lie unattached to the surface. There was a cluster of these beautiful animals in the middle of the reef.

This narrow reef also had some nice surprises.I seldom see this Hydnophora sp. hard coral. The colony has polyps that form conical skeletons.Another beautiful and rarely encountered hard coral is this plate-like Pachyseris sp. with elegant ridges in its skeleton.

There were also lots of large leathery soft corals on the shores. These are colonies too of tiny polyps. But the polyps share a leathery tissue instead of building hard skeletons.
Here's a view of the shore at sunrise with the city just a few minutes away.This leathery soft coral is one that I've seen sometimes. Today I took a real close look at them and noticed there were lots of tiny brittle stars on the soft coral!Including some that were a little larger.Indeed, a good reef with their soft and hard corals provides shelter and food for a vast variety of animals. Here's more about some of the reef creatures we saw today.

Fishes and more at St. John's Island

Today we saw lots of fishes at the reefs of St. John's. The water was teeming with little blue Tropical silversides (Atherinomorus duodecimalis). They kept disturbing the water surface making it difficult to photograph submerged creatures. And to make things even more difficult, they were attracted to my torch!
There were lots of Blue-spotted fantail rays (Taeniura lymma)! Of course, the little silversides just messed up the photos.Finally at sunrise, I managed a clear shot of this beautiful animal. There is a broad skin fold under the tail, that's why it is called the fantail ray. Like other rays, it has one or two venomous spines near the middle of the tail. The spines are used to protect itself and not to capture prey. As long as we are careful not to step on them, these fishes are harmless.
Hiding among the corals were several of these blue fishes. I don't know what they are, probably some sort of damselfish (Family Pomacentridae).This fish stuck its face into a crevice, probably thinking if it can't see me, I can't see it. I'm not really sure what it is, but it could be a Longspined scorpion fish (Paracentropogon longispinis).This Painted scorpionfish (Parascorpaena picta) was right out in the open but so well camouflaged that I almost missed seeing it.

Scorpionfishes have stout spines on the dorsal fins act like hypodermic needles, injecting venom that can be excruciating to humans. A scorpionfish uses its venom only for protection and not to catch or kill prey. The scorpionfish is not aggressive and prefers to hide or swim away, using its venom only as a last resort. The best way to avoid being stung is simply not to disturb or touch one.
This scorpionfish-lookalike was also seen. It is NOT a scorpionfish and belongs to the grouper family (Family Serranidae). It is the harmless False scorpionfish (Centrogenys vaigiensis). If you compare it with the Painted scorpionfish, the False scorpionfish has small eyes and nose flaps.Among the thickets of brown sargassum seaweed was this ball of Lined eeltail catfishes (Plotosus lineatus). This is another fish that should be left alone as they can sting.
This White-spotted rabbitfish (Siganus canaliculatus) can also sting if they are handled. Although the Stonefish (Synanceia horrida) was seen before in the past, we fortunately didn't encounter him today.

The reefs were also teeming with crabs, especially the Brown egg crabs (Atergatis floridus) and Red egg crabs (Atergatis intergerrimus), and colourful swimming crabs (Family Portunidae) of all kinds.
There were also lots of octopus out busy hunting.Another fascinating hunter of the shores at low tide is the Marine spider (Desis sp.). This one seemed to have caught something. These spiders hide in crevices at high tide and emerge at low tide to forage.

Besides the reef creatures, St. John's also has other intertidal habitats with interesting animals.The swimming lagoons of St. John's also has some Common sea stars (Archaster typicus). There were also lots of busy bulldozing moon snails (Polinices sp.) and lots of little gobies and snapping shrimps.St. John's is one of the few places where you can still see the beautiful lilac Land hermit crab (Coenobita cavipes). This one is using the shell of a land snail! They are only active at night and disappear into hiding places in the day.

St. John's also has a small patch of mangroves. But we didn't have to energy to explore further today.

Vyna shared about her crinoid and other sightings on her can you sea me blog

East Coast quickly

3.30am and we're on the East Coast eagerly awaiting a super low spring tide to see the wonderful seafans and other marine life that Kok Sheng saw in May.

It seems that this beach is also affected by the recent NEA announcement about poor water quality at Pasir Ris.We saw a similar sign when we visited this same beach in May, but at that time there was no detailed explanation for the closure.From media reports yesterday...

Based on a new international water quality guideline by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pasir Ris Beach has been identified as one where swimming would not be recommended. However, activities like canoeing and kayaking can continue.

The beach scored a fair grading because it contains an abnormal level of a type of bacteria traditionally found in human faeces and warm-blooded animals.

Accidentally consuming the water at the beach could cause gastro intestinal illnesses and conjunctivitis.

We decided to have a look at the beach anyway.

Alas! The entire shore was blanketed in a thick layer of cloying sediments.What looks like a thick plank was actually a very thick layer of sediment on a thin plank.But even in these conditions, the soft silty ground was covered with tiny little green sea anemones!As well as bigger sea anemones.Of various kinds.Some silty areas were blanketed with long red filaments.I have no idea what they are. Probably something to do with worms.

There were some really tiny echinoderms:One small sea urchin and one really tiny sea cucumber. We also saw some ball sea cucumbers stranded on the high shore.

In the brief 15 minutes we spent on the shore, I also saw one swimming crab.And lots of shrimps of various sizes.And we even managed to see a few very small sea fans!Sea fans are colonial animals.Each colony is made of up tiny white polyps that share a hard support structure.
Sea fan colonies are usually branching on one plane and thus resembles a fan. In this way, the polyps maximise the region in which they filter for food particles.

Many marine creatures in fact filter feed, that is, they feed by filtering the water for tiny food particles. These particles are comprise bits of dead, decaying plants and animals and yes, fecal material too. Bacteria are yummy as well to marine animals such as sponges; these suck a flow of water into their spongy bodies and filter out the tiniest titbits.

'Poor' water quality to humans might actually be a restaurant for some marine creatures.

So I wonder: is water quality affected by marinelife? Too few animals to process the water? Or too much muck in the water for natural processes to clean it up?

Kok Sheng shares more about the situation at the East Coast and sedimentation in general on his wonderful creations blog.

In any case, we quickly gave up on exploring the East Coast shore because the ground was very soft and full of anemones. We fled off to Changi to catch the remaining low tide.

Special snails and strange worms on Changi

4am and we're on Changi! How wonderful to see this thriving shore after having seen the one on the East Coast!

Here's some of the stuff I thought was special. This morning was the first time I saw a living murex snail! This is probably the Rare spined murex (Murex trapa) which is listed among Singapore's threatened animals.It has a long muscular foot, with the tear-drop shaped operculum attached to it which is the 'door' that seals the shell open when the animal retracts.The snail tucks the operculum upwards when it sticks its narrow foot into the soft ground. You can also see the very long eye 'tentacles' that the snail has.

Further along, I saw another living murex which had something clutched its narrow foot.A closer look reveals that its prey is some kind of clam.I'm not sure if the bluish colour is the colour of the clam shell or due to something that the murex shell was doing to the clam.

Just a few steps onto the shore and Chay Hoon spots this sea cucumber... no, wait ... sea anemone... err ... wat IS it?! It was only after we saw the spoon shaped thing on one end of this tubular animal in pajamas, that we realised it was a spoon worm or echiuran (Class Echiura, Phylum Annelida). A spoon worm has a spoon-thing, called a protomium, is found in front of the mouth. The protomium can extend up to 10 times its retracted length, in some species, reaching 2m long! In most, the protomium is used to gather edible bits from the surface.

Many live in U-shaped burrows in shallow water, others in rock or coral crevices. Apparently, echiurans may be important food for some fishes. In a study of Leopard sharks off California, large, meaty spoon worms were found to be their favourite food.

Here's a drawing of a burrowing echiuran called the Landlord worm found in the U.S. east coast (Taken from Barnes' Invertebrate Zoology). Apparently, its burrow is so comfy that tiny clams and crabs quickly settle in with the worm.

I wonder what our spoonworm does? Lots more to find out about our shores!

Here's some tubular stuff that look similar to the echiuran.A peacock anemone retracted into its tube on the lower left, and a long smooth sea cucumber diagonally across the photo.

Another strange worm-like thing was this one.Here's a closer look at the icky, stringy parts on the front of it.Is the smooth pink worm with the yellow hair things eating the segmented bristley worm?

The pink worm looks quite similar to something Marcus found yesterday, also at Changi.It was quite scary looking with lots of transparent strings and a coiling yellow portion.

These worms with strings might be terebellids (Family Terebellidae, Class Polychaeta, Phylum Annelida). These burrowing worms are also called spaghetti worms because the stringy long tentacles on their heads are all that is often seen above ground. Here's more about terebellids on the Polychaetes of Singapore website.

Changi is among the few places where you can be almost certain to see the fascinating black phoronid worms (Phylum Phoronida) that cluster around peacock anemones.This is the largest cluster of phoronid worms that I've seen so far. Kok Sheng spotted it and we both had to sneak up gently to them to avoid scaring them into retraction.I think these delicate spiral pink-and-black feathery worms are very elegant!

Seahorses are so commonly encountered on Changi that we have taken them for granted.Those seen on Changi are often bright orange or even reddish. We saw three seahorses today.Unfortunately, one of them seemed to have suffered some sort of laceration across the body.

The shore has much debris, abandoned fishing lines and even this very large abandoned drift net.In fact, Chay Hoon spent quite some time freeing a horseshoe crab that was trapped in an abandoned net. And she did it without scissors! She improvised and used a clam shell!

Hopefully there will be more love and care of these wonderful Changi shores. So that Changi does not suffer the fate of the shore that we abandoned at the East Coast this morning.

We also saw lots of special sea stars today. Here's more about those stars and other special encounters on Kok Sheng's wonderful creations blog.

Kiasi Krab revisited at Changi

We came across this beautiful sea anemone on Changi. Next to it, a cluster of tiny yellow yet-to-hatch snail egg capsules. These turn out to be attached to a shell occupied by a hermit! The hermit crab is really small because it can disappear completely into its shell. All I could see was the tip of a tiny leg. It refused to come out. It certainly is a lot smaller than the giant sea anemone on its shell.

So why should this hermit crab be so 'kiasi'*? and carry such a huge burden around.

Well, one of the theories is that the sea anemone protects the hermit crab from octopuses. And there were indeed many octopuses on the shores this morning! We saw at least 5 of them out and about in the small area where these hermit crabs are found.

While the sea anemone protects the hermit crab, it might in turn benefit by sharing the leftovers of the hermit crabs meals.

In fact, a hermit crab shell is a great place to stay on. And many other kinds of animals do so.
This hermit crab was found further away from the Octopus Zone and it didn't have anemones on its shell. But inside its shell it had several white Slipper snails (Crepidula sp.)Slipper snails are gastropods (not bivalves). Often the smaller male will settle on top of a larger female snail.

On the other side of the shell were other stuff. Circular things with holes, and just plain holes in the shells.I'm not really sure what these are.

On the other side of the shell was also a chiton!Chitons are molluscs (Class Polyplacophora) which have an armour of overlapping shelly plates over their bodies.

It's clear empty shells are needed by a wide range of animals.

This is something to think about when we want to remove a shell from the shore.

From The Coxford Singlish Dictionary on TalkingCock.com
*KIASI (kee-ah-see) Hokkien term literally meaning, "afraid of death". Used to admonish someone for being cowardly. "Raining only, cannot go out, meh? Why you so kiasi one?"