A Nemo on Hantu

Since Ria has already done such a great job blogging about our trip to Hantu, here's just one more photo to add to the collection...


Image quality isn't so great but at least two of us saw a nemo (clownfish) in an anemone that was still underwater. (it's the white spot in this photo...) My first time seeing one on our shores. Very exciting! =)

And here's a worm eel that was trying very hard to burrow and seek cover but had some trouble so I was able to snap some pictures of it.

It's a type of fish. Not a worm. Heh.

Accidentally Hantu

6am and we're off. We were originally planning to go to Cyrene but alas, there were boat problems so to Hantu we went instead. No it's not lightning striking the petrochemical plants. It's daybreak over Pulau Bukom which lies just opposite Pulau Hantu.Despite the proximity of major industrial installations, the shores of Hantu are very much alive. With these humungous soft corals which seem to keep multiplying!Each large soft coral, that remind me of fried eggs, is actually a colony of tiny polyps that look like miniature sea anemones with a body column topped by branching tentacles. The polyps live in a shared leathery tissue.

Pulau Hantu is also full of hard corals. They come in a variety of colours and shapes. Hard corals are also a colony of tiny polyps, but each polyp creates a tiny hard skeleton called a corallite. Each colony is made up of the joined up corallites of countless polyps.This is a pink plate-like Turbinaria sp. coral.A pretty green boulder-shaped coral with ring-shaped corallites. I don't know what kind of hard coral this is.A beautiful branching Acropora sp. coral. This kind of coral is rather rarely seen on our intertidal.
And a blue mushroom hard coral (Family Fungiidae). Unlike most other hard corals, most mushroom hard corals are a single polyp!Another mushroom hard coral, Heliofungia actiniformis. It is also a single large polyp with long tentacles ending in white rounded tips.

Just to make things confusing, there's the Blue coral (Heliopora coerulea). The coral isn't blue and it isn't a hard coral even though it has a hard skeleton. Their internal skeletons are blue, hence their common name. The blue colour is due to the iron salts that are incorporated into their skeletons. On the outside, they are usually brown because the thin layer of living tissue that covers the outer surface of the skeleton is brownish.The tiny polyps have eight tentacles with fine branches like other soft corals. Thus they are grouped with other soft corals. True hard coral polyps have smooth tentacles in multiples of six.

Blue corals are considered living relicts of fossil species known from more than 100 million years ago. Most other corals have an evolutionary age of only several hundred thousand years. Blue corals used to be dominant before the last Ice Age when the seas were warmer.

There are indeed a bewildering variety of hard and soft corals on our shores!And all kinds of other marine life crowd the shores of Pulau Hantu.
Pulau Hantu is a great place to see large sea anemones still common on our reefs. The Magnificent anemone (Heteractis magnifica) is in the photo on the right, and the Giant carpet anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea) is on the left. Both these anemones usually host clown anemonefishes and anemone shrimps. Unfortunately today, I didn't see any. Although Annabelle saw one anemonefish. I do hope this doesn't mean something negative is happening to the shores.

There were also lots of Phymanthus sea anemones with branching tentacles, and the odd star-shaped sea anemone that is NOT Condylactis.

But here's one sea anemone that I've not seen before.Could it be a Bulb-tipped sea anemone (Entacmea quadricolor) with 'deflated' tentacle tips?I don't really know.

A good reef is also a great place to find nudibranchs. And today, all the usual suspects were present.The phyllids are lumpy little nudibranchs without an external gill. The one in the left photo is Phyllidiella pustulosa and the one on the right is Phyllidiella nigra. These two nudibranchs are quite commonly encountered on our reefs. Nudibranchs are generally unpleasant or toxic to eat and advertise this with bright patterns or colours.Also commonly encountered is the frilly lemon yellow Glossodoris atromarginata, and the nudi-in-pajamas Chromodoris lineolata.

In fact, Glossodoris atromarginata was so abundant they were seen in groups, appearing rather sad and blob-like out of water during the low tide.I almost missed the Hairy crab (Family Pilumnidae) that was right on top of this Glossodoris atromarginata. Was it about to eat the nudi? The Hairy crab is known to eat toxic animals such as zoanthids. I didn't find out as the crab quickly scuttled away.

Here's a strange sign on the sea wall of Pulau Hantu.This is rather odd as Pulau Hantu is one of the favourite dive spots in Singapore with many exciting dives conducted by the Hantu Bloggers. And Pulau Hantu is the only site designated as a dive spot in the URA Draft Master Plan's Leisure Plan.

And just off Pulau Hantu, the humungous oil rig located off Pulau Semakau can be seen. Here's the MPA notice about the oil rig. Here it is in the distance with the seawall and reefs of Pulau Hantu in the foreground.On the way home, we take more photos of it. Here's indications of the locations of Pulau Semakau, Raffles Lighthouse (RLH) and Pulau Senang. Raffles Lighthouse and the Live Firing Islands of Sudong, Pawai and Senang have some of the last untouched reefs in Singapore. While Pulau Semakau has good natural shores. Let's hope this massive activity does not impact these nearby reefs. Here's a closer look at the oil rig.

On the way home, we have a faraway look at Cyrene Reef.It's a submerged reef so hardly anything sticks out.
Except the beacons to mark its location so ships can avoid it.

Let's hope we can go ahead with our plans to go to Cyrene tomorrow!

Andy shares a wonderful clip of an octopus he saw changing colours on the sgbeachbum blog

Shell is looking into a new petrochemicals facility

How big will the facility be? "to be economic, the new SMPO investment should ideally be as large as Shell Chemical's world-scale, US$500 million Ellba Eastern joint venture with Germany's BASF on Jurong Island".

Where in the world will it be located? "Singapore is being considered as the investment site, but has to compete with others in the Middle East and Asia".

If in Singapore where will it be located? "A factor favouring Singapore for the SMPO investment will be the availability of feedstocks like ethylene, propylene and benzene from Shell's new US$3 billion petrochemical cracker which is currently being built and scheduled to start operations in late 2009 or early 2010. Having an integrated manufacturing hub will be an advantage in the competitive SMPO market".

This cracker is probably the one on Pulau Bukom, which next to Pulau Hantu and near Cyrene Reefs.
What is the output of the facility? "Chemical intermediates used to make final products such as polystyrene containers and rubber soles."

Shell seeking JV partners for new plant
Singapore being considered for the SMPO facility
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 30 Jun 08;

SHELL Chemicals is talking to potential partners for a significant new styrene monomer/propylene oxide (SMPO) facility - expected to cost at least US$500 million - which could be built in Singapore, a senior executive told BT.

Its general manager for SMPO & derivatives, Fang Yea-Yee, said that the strong Asia-Pacific demand for SMPO - which are chemical intermediates used to make final products such as polystyrene containers and rubber soles - underpins the project.

'A lot of work is going on, and we are in discussions with possible joint venture partners,' he said, elaborating on news that first emerged last month of the planned SMPO investment.

Iain Lo, its vice-president, ventures and developments for the Asia Pacific/Middle East, had told BT in May that a 'decision is expected soon' on the project.

Singapore - one of Shell's main refining and petrochemical hubs - is being considered as the investment site, but has to compete with others in the Middle East and Asia.

While Mr Lo did not give project details, he indicated that to be economic, the new SMPO investment should ideally be as large as Shell Chemical's world-scale, US$500 million Ellba Eastern joint venture with Germany's BASF on Jurong Island.

Ellba has a production capacity of 250,000 tonnes of PO and 550,000 tonnes of SM.

Mr Fang declined to say which companies Shell Chemicals was trying to get aboard its latest SMPO project, and whether it was considering different joint venture partners depending on the site chosen.

A BASF spokesman contacted by BT earlier last week said that it was not in discussions with Shell at this point of time on the latest SMPO investment.

A factor favouring Singapore for the SMPO investment will be the availability of feedstocks like ethylene, propylene and benzene from Shell's new US$3 billion petrochemical cracker which is currently being built and scheduled to start operations in late 2009 or early 2010.

Having an integrated manufacturing hub will be an advantage in the competitive SMPO market, Mr Fang told a petrochemicals conference in Bangkok recently.

'Shell believes the strong growth in Asia-Pacific demand for both styrene and propylene oxide will continue to create attractive opportunities for new SMPO investments,' he said.

Overall, regional growth remains robust - especially with China remaining the major global growth engine for styrenics - and Shell sees this trend continuing for the long-term, he added.

full article also on the wildsingapore news blog

More about petrochemicals and our southern islands.

The sea bottom off Pulau Sudong is being measured

ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING AND ACOUSTIC EXPERIMENTS AT THE SELAT PAUH ANCHORAGE
from PORT MARINE NOTICE NO. 123 of 2008 dated 24 June 2008

26 Jun 2008 to 04 Jul 2008, 0800 to 1700 hours daily excluding Saturdays and Sundays at Selat Pauh Anchorage

There will be measurements of ocean water and sea-bottom properties by unmanned vehicles and surface craft. The unmanned craft will be operating in a 500m radius of the work boats. Acoustic communication tests will also be carried out in the working area. A safety boat will be in attendance during the entire period of experiment at the anchorage. Further enquiries relating to the project can be directed to Ms Regina Chan, the project coordinator, at Tel 9835 1615 or email: regina@smart.mit.edu

wildfilms note: this area is just off Pulau Hantu and the natural shores on Pulau Semakau.

This project continues in Sep 08. More on the wild shores of singapore blog.

Zoanthids of Pulau Hantu

5am and we're back on the shore with Dr James, this time at Pulau Hantu.We find more examples of the zoanthids we saw yesterday at Kusu Island.

There is Palythoa tuberculosa that looks like a rubber mat and coats rocks and rubble. This zoanthid can take on different forms. Some are smooth and unfragmented.
Others are highly fragmented and look almost like pomelo segments! Dr James confirmed that this zoanthid does sometimes purposely break off pieces that are washed away and eventually settle down to start a new colony. It is believed that they mostly reproduce asexually (by division or just expanding the colony). In fact, there are problems in understanding how zoanthids reproduce sexually.
They also come in different colours, some have tinges of other colours such as green.

These zoanthids include sand in their bodies and feel a bit rough to the touch. Dr James elaborated that the sand grains are actually incorporated into the body and not stuck on the outside. Different species of zoanthids may select different sizes of sand grains.

Dr James shares that not every colony of this zoanthid is toxic. Some may have the toxin and others may not. The toxin is being studied for applications in human medicine.

This is another Palythoa species, Palythoa mutuki. Unlike the rubber mat zoanthid, these have more distinct body columns.But they too have a shared base of tissue, as you can see from the close up in the photo on the right. When they are out of water, the tentacles are tucked into the body columm.When submerged, you can see the broad oral disc fringed by short tentacles.
The polyps may be closely packed against one another.And come in different colours. This clump was found near a mangrove tree!

This is a Zoanthus species, those we saw were mostly Zoanthus sansibaricus.These zoanthids don't include sand in their bodies so the surface is smooth to the touch.Here's a closer look at the much smaller polyps.The Zoanthus polyps are also embedded in a common tissue, although this is sometimes hidden by a layer of sand or sediments.

As we looked for zoanthids, we came across other marine life that resembled zoanthids.Zoanthids often crowded next to other kinds of marine life such as sponges, hard and soft corals. This Palythoa tuberculosa is growing next to a brown sponge that, at low tide, looks very much like the zoanthid colony.Here's a close up of the sponge on the left photo, and the zoanthid on the right photo.

The Goniopora hard coral also resembles zoanthids.Its polyps are also a circle of short tentacles on a long body column.But a closer look will reveal the hard skeleton (photo on the left).

Here is another ball of Goniopora hard coral.Another hard coral that looks like zoanthids at first glance is the Galaxea hard coral.A closer look will reveal the hard skeleton that form tall tubes.

And here's a hard coral that looks like Palythoa tuberculosa at first glance.A closer look reveal the hard skeleton that is in the shape of small mounds. The polyps emerge as tiny flowers in the centre of the hard mounds. This hard coral is probably Astreopora sp., a member of the Family Acroporidae.

In the silty sand, there are sometimes tiny sea anemones.That may be mistaken for zoanthids as they grow close to one another. But closer examination will show that they are not connected to one another like zoanthids are.

We also showed Dr James this intriguing colony of animals. I've seen it sometimes on our shores.It's not a zoanthid and Dr James thinks it might be a hydrozoan. Wow! There's really a lot more that we can learn about our common marine life.

As we looked for zoanthids, we also came across many amazing reef animals. Kok Sheng has shared all the spectacular finds on his wonderful creations blog. So I'm just going to highlight a few.

At first mistaken for a mantis shrimp, this creature is a Ghost shrimp (Glypturus sp.)It is very rarely spotted and Dr James says it's a "Hantu Shrimp". Wow, he also speaks Malay. I'm very impressed.

There were lots of fishes in the pools left behind on this very low tide. Including this very pretty filefish.I don't know what kind of filefish it is.

And along the reef edge were these spectacular balls of spines! Diadema sea urchins usually have all black spines. But this has white spines and some spines that are banded!Another one further down had long black spines but short pale spines!Wow, I wonder what they are?

We did quite a long circuit of Pulau Hantu as the tide was very low and long. Pulau Hantu's shores are magnificently alive although they are right next to the major industrial installations on Pulau Bukom and Pulau Busing.

Other blog entries about this trip
Zoanthid hunt at Hantu on Kok Sheng's wonderful creations blog.