Seringat-Kias over 2 years with star surprise

This is a long overdue post of our trip to Seringat-Kias last month (Aug 2015) and also last year (Nov 2014) with lovely surprise of Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus).

The seagrasses are doing well on the reclaimed shores of Seringat-Kias when we visited last month. To top it up, there were several Knobbly sea stars! :D

Here are 3 more knobblies of different coloration found on the seagrasses of Seringat-Kias. These pretty stars only started appearing last year. Good to see them colonising our shores as it is a testament that marine life will come back as long as we leave them alone.

On the high shores, one can still find several Common sea stars (Archaster typicus).

There was this stretch of the sandy shore that has lots of these Remarkable sea cucumbers (Holothuria notabilis). These sea cucumbers that prefer sandy and silty sediments are also sometimes sighted on our northern shores.

It was good to see that the Fire's anemones (Actinodendron sp.) doing well. I came across 4 of at the lower shore.

There are several Oval moon snails (Polinices mammilla) that plough through the sand looking for prey. There was also an uncommon China moon snail (Natica onca).

We started of the moonlight survey by checking out an enclosed lagoon closer to Kias.

The diversity of marine life in the lagoon is not as fantastic. Nevertheless, one can still find some usual inhabitants such as goblies, shrimps, half beaks, peacock anemones, swimming crabs and also sea cucumbers on this shore.

The outlet of the huge lagoon is this stretch bound by two ends of the seawall. During low tide, the waters will flush out to the open sea. Interestingly, it directly faces the Central Business District with strategic view of the Tanjong Pagar Port, Marina Bay Sands and also the Singapore flyer. It serves a good reminder that our rich reefs are just at the doorstep of our city centre.

The outlet area is quite rocky and slightly reefy, thus explains for a different assemblage of organisms such as this Reef octopus.

I took a photo of the Pencil squid (Family Loliginidae) without realising it actually just captured a fish! That's probably the reason why it was not jittery when I approached closer to snap the photo.

Later on, I took another photo of another squid having a snack at its recently caught prey.

As the waters rush out of the outlet during low tide, it was difficult to observe what exactly lies beneath. Nevertheless, I managed to spot this Giant carpet anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea).

One of the reasons in survey this secluded stretch of Seringat-Kias was to check out whether are there lots of corals thriving on the berm outside the seawall. Alas, it did not turn out to be favourable though there are indeed sparse growth of hard and soft corals. The rocks on the berm were also extremely difficult to walk on, thus I only caught a glimpse.

Yet on another stretch of seawall closer to Lazarus Island, there seems to be good growth of hard and soft corals that colonised this reclaimed shore.

We actually visited Seringat and Lazarus last year in Nov 2014 though I didn't manage to blog about it. That was when we first saw one Knobbly sea star on the shore though the knobs were injured.

I was patient back them to put gather several of these pretty Dubious nerites (Clithon oualaniensis). These snails made me imagine how God could have used a fine-lined marker to draw intricate patterns on their shell.

Our survey of the natural reefs of Lazarus last year was pretty rewarding, with different types of slugs such as the Black phyllid nudibranch (Phyllidiella nigra), Ornate leaf slug (Elysia ornata) and the Bohol nudibranch (Discodoris boholiensis).

There were also several flatworms such as the Fine-lined flatworms, Persian carpet flatworm (Pseudobiceros bedfordi) and Brown striped flatworm (Pseudobiceros gratus).

An uncommon find would be this Strawberry cockle (Fragum unedo)! The strawberry cockle has red lines or beads on its shell.

There was also an unexpected find of the Fluted giant clam (Tridacna squamosa) at a relatively high elevation. Look like they can survive out of water for some time.

This large snail with shiny shell is known as the Arabian cowrie (Cypraea arabica). They are usually found on our reefs.

Photographing the Copperband butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus) requires lots of patience as it takes a long time to get a good angle since this fish moves and turns very quickly.

Back at the pontoon at Seringat-Kias, we would usually spend a good deal amount of time looking at what lies beneath. Lots of beautiful sea critters can be found, including sea fans and cave corals that tend to be found at the darker corners.