Another low tide and yet more amazing discoveries are made on our shores! From fat frogfishes, sublime seahorses, a rare sea snail and unknown sea anemone, to encounters with a humungous number of baby Knobbly sea stars.Here's some of the adventures on our shores this past week.
Changi was much explored during this series of low tide. As usual, this long shore with a wide variety of habitats didn't fail to amaze. The frogfish was a surprise encounter as it's more commonly seen on our southern shores. It was large and as usual, had a rather unhappy expression.
Changi's shores are simply crowded with life, from seahorses to peacock anemones and wide variety of sea stars and sea cucumbers.
Kok Sheng came across this psychedelic Sea apple sea cucumber as well as other creatures.
A strange kind of sea anemone sitting on a blade of seagrass was also seen. It's identity is still unknown. There's so much more to learn about our shores!Before the low tides started, the Blue Water Volunteers did an underwater survey of Pulau Hantu. The visibility was an unbelievable 5-6m and besides lots of corals, the volunteers also encountered all kinds of fishes, nudibranchs and other marine life. But alas, the bloggers didn't bring cameras so there's no photos.
A small team had the pleasure of exploring Labrador with Prof Leo Tan. Labrador is very special to Prof as he succeeded in getting it declared a Nature Reserve (more about Prof Tan in today's ST article "Green Urbanites").
Although the Labrador shore has and will bear the brunt of massive reclamation works nearby, it is still alive.
A strange fish was seen, possibly a kind of moray eel.
As well as a living scallop! Which clapped its valves and jetted off.
Another special find was this rare snail, possibly Nerita polita, which is listed among Singapore's threatened animals.Andy has also uploaded a whole host of amazing videos of marine life on Labrador, from a red feather star to a snapping shrimp and its goby friend.
The torrential rain and fierce lightning display on Saturday morning didn't deter a small group of determined visitors and the Naked Hermit Crabs. They managed to do a quick walk on the fascinating natural shores of Sentosa during a lull in the wet weather.
The enthusiastic visitors were enthralled by corals and other special discoveries. Alas, these shores are likely to be impacted by ongoing works at the Sentosa IR nearby.July also shares about the importance of seagrasses and some of the marine life encountered during a public walk at Pulau Semakau during this low tide period. Pulau Semakau has one of the largest seagrass meadows that is accessible to the public.
A small team also visited Cyrene and saw lots of splendid marine life.
Sijie also shares more nudis, stars and other creatures seen on Cyrene. As well as a quick report of their observations of the Knobbly sea stars there."A total of 64 individuals were recorded on this trip alone. This is more than the previous two trips in May combined (62)! What's more interesting is that babies comprised more than 80% of the total number!Indeed, we have amazing shores and the jewel among them is Cyrene Reef.
After some comparison, out of the 64 seen, apparently almost all of them are new individuals (not recorded from previous trips in May)! This may jolly well bring the total number of Protoreaster nodusus population in Cyrene Reef to at least a whooping 120!!
This is definitely the largest population of P. nodusus you can find in Singapore. Be it seasonal or not, this proves that this safe heaven should be preserved for the sake of all its fauna, and for all our children to see. We should not be the ones to witness the demise of this wonderful patch of reef!"
Come and visit Cyrene with the working team, by simply joining the blogging contest!
More blog entries of trips this last low tide, by location
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