The Stars of Cyrene Reef

Just before the sun decides to peek over the horizon, the intrepid Team Seagrassers were already on the way to "nowhere" as shown in this photograph. We were not heading towards Pulau Bukom (where all the lights come from).


This well lit photograph was taken about half an hour later. Cyrene Reef "pops" put when the tide goes very low. This is a wonderful haven for marine life. I have been eagerly looking forward to revisit after the previous one which left me a deep impression.

We performed our great-yet-longsuffering seagrass transect which took a whooping 50 minutes because there are so many seagrasses at Cyrene Reef (which is a good thing too). I shall focus on the stars of Cyrene on this post, and will continue more the next time.


Cyrene is a place where you die-die can see juvenile knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodosus) among the lush seagrasses. Of course, that is only possible if the reef does not receive negative impacts from developments or spills.


And yes, all seagrasses were fortunate to find these charismatic stars as they are common in Cyrene. Here's another one that does not look red and is a bit flat. Read the teamseagrass post where they found very small baby knobblies.


As we had just completed our transect, I was looking for more juvenile knobbly sea stars where something red and quite small caught my attention. Wow! This is a first sighting, for me at least. This is a Nepanthia sp., probably Nepanthia belcheri as described in Dr Lane's Sea stars and echinoderms in Singapore BP guidebook.


In that reference, Dr Lane stated that the upper or aboral surface has distinctive cresentic shape of the aboral plates which, with their convex edges appearing to overlap distally, somewhat resembling fish scales. This is true for this particular sea star found today.


Furthermore, Dr Lane mentioned that the arms are almost cylindrical, but with a tapered underside, and they taper slightly to a blunt tip. Shown here is the underside of the beautiful sea star.


Here's comparing the Nepanthia sp. to the knobbly seastar. Big brother to little brother. We are one big family.


Ah huh. Caught in the act of pseudo-copulation are these common sea stars (Archaster typicus). Common sea stars mate with this unique way. The male, which is usually smaller, lies on top of the female, his arms alternating with hers. This is an act of pseudo-copulation because their reproductive organs do not actually have contact but merely release sperm and eggs simultaneously. This might increase the chances of external fertilisation.

Chay Hoon spotted something very very interesting. We all quickly named it as the knobbly-wannabe. It's size and the presence of knobs inspired us to give it such a nickname.

Chay Hoon also shared with us that this is a Red Tubercled Sea Star (Pentaceraster tuberculatus).

This species is distributed in the Indian Ocean/Red Sea and it inhabits sandy and muddy bottom areas. According to Clark & Rowe (1971), this species is also distributed in SE Arabia. Other places where this seastar can be found include Eastern Africa, Madagascar and Tanzania according to marinespecies.org.

It is possible that this is the first record of this sea star species or even genus in Singapore. Hoorrrray!

A closer look at this new sea star reveals white knobs where the circular parts resemble coral spawning in action. Errh, that requires a bit of wild imagination.

According to animal library, Pentaceraster tuberculatus "has a temperature range of 75 to 83°F (24 - 28°C). Grows to about 16 inches (40 cm) in the wild and consumes algae, anemones, gorgonians, soft corals, sponges, clams, urchins, tube worms, and even sleeping fish." Indeed, we can nicknamed this fellow as the evil brother of knobbly sea star since it eats so many animals. Haha.

A close up of the aboral surface of this great sighting.


And of course, how can we identify a sea star without taking the underside? It's underside is as attractive as its upper side, in my opinion. Look at the yellowish bumps and the pink tube feet. Wow!

Today's trip was really better than expected. Though I was out hunting for cushion sea stars (which I didn't find), I got more than I wanted to see. Being a sea star fanatic, I was estatic not only to witness one new seastar, but two! That leaves me all the more excited about Cyrene Reef.

More about the other non-starry, yet stunning marine life of Cyrene the next round. Watch out for it.

Reference:

Clark, A.M. & F.W.E. Rowe (1971). Monograph of Shallow-water Indo-West Pacific Echinoderms. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History): London.

Spiders that made a visit to my house

Two spiders have kindly taken the initiative to visit me. Which is a good thing as I hardly have time to go for field trips recently.


This is the first one. It is about 4-5mm in length which legs that are dotted in black.


Here's the same spider with a scale. This is probably a Common Tiny House Dweller (Oecobius sp. ). I won't be surprise if it is true because they are commonly found at walls of car porches or balconies according "A Guide to Common Singapore Spiders" by Joseph K. H. Koh.



My brother told me another spider "flew" into his room. This one looks cute, green in colour with some red spots.


This is probably a Green Crab Spider (Dieta virens). According to "A Guide to Common Singapore Spiders" by Joseph K. H. Koh., "Crab spiders move sideways, like crabs. The body is not as hairy as in most spiders. They are slow-moving spiders which do not actively hunt like Wolf Spiders. Instead, they remain stationary and await in ambush for some unsuspecting insects to land in front of them."

However this one does not move sideway and it moves quite fast. So is it still a green crab spider after all?

Anyway, thanks to Liana and Marcus for the above ids. If you are good with spiders, please help to confirm the ids ok? Thanks!

Review on Once Upon a Tree: The bigger picture

Juanhui, who is supposed to do reviews, is busy tonight and I'm being arrowed by her to do a simple review for this episode of Once Upon a Tree, Tides and Coastlines- Episode 4: The bigger picture.

What the show is all about in general from Arts Central Website:

"Once Upon a Tree - Tides and Coastlines builds upon the themes explored in the first season, and applies them to the waters that surround us. Join us as we explore the physical, ecological and cultural dimensions of the tides - and perhaps discover something about ourselves in the process."

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The episode starts off with with Professor Peter Ng sharing with the audience about what conservation is about. He compared conservation in a country that is well of with a third world country where attention definitely cannot be given to. There is no right or wrong in conservation. Also, nature is surprisingly resilient, especially for marine life because the sea is interconnected. However, nature takes time to grow so we should not try to destroy them. The first segment end off with a quote from John James Audubon, "A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children."

The second segment of the show is where cohost Sue-lyn brings someone out again to share Singapore's nature spot. This time we were treated to Mandai mangroves and mudflats. Of course, there is no better person to share about this place other than Sivasothi, the mangrove guru! Siva brings Sue-lyn to the mangroves first where they explore with crabs, mudcreepers and mangroves trees. These mangrove fauna and flora can provide humans with food and also wood for burning and building materials.

Photo of Mandai mudflat taken by Sivasothi, retrieved from Habitatnews flickr gallery

Soon, we were also brought nearer the shore, which is the mudflat of Mandai. Siva shares with Sue-Lyn and us that many of the birds on the shore are migratory birds and some come all the way from Russia. He also gave an analogy of the mudflat as a buffet table where hungry and tired birds can feast on. To prove this, Siva and Sue-Lyn started to dig into the mud that are stepping on and true enough many polychaete worms were found. The second segments ends off sharing with us the message of the importance of seeing the bigger picture (that this place also serve for birds from other parts of the world) in order to love nature and conserve it.

The last segment hosted by Dr Shawn Lum introduces to us on how many of our inventions are actually modelled after nature's ways, for example computer antivirus program from the immune system of living things. There was a part regarding the production of the mollusc shell producing the internal layer of mother of pearl that I'm not too sure on. But I remembered the narration saying something about the interaction of seawater and protein, and that it is done without damaging the environment and thus we as human should follow suit. Whatever pressures we put on of waters will lead on a downstream effect as waters as interconnected and it might led to consequences even at another country. Therefore responsibility is very important for us to ensure nature's survival.

In all, I thought this statement is meaningful, it says "how can we learn from nature and its way, if nature is no longer there for us to learn from."

More links

Ria's preview to Episode 4 of Once Upon a Tree on Wildfilms.

Mandai mangroves, Western Johor Straits, Singapore on the Mangroves of Singapore guidebook website.

Mandai Besar today and Mandai mangroves and mudflats featured on Arts Central on Otterman speaks where Siva personally shares a bit on his filming experience and also about the show.

Marine Biology class visit Mandai mangroves on The Biodiversity Crew @ NUS blog.

Habitatnews Flickr gallery of LSM4261 Marine Biology class visit Mandai mangroves, 13 Feb 2008

My first OJT at Semakau

Many posts have been done on various blogs on last Sunday's trip to Semakay landfill (please refer to bottom of this post for the links) so I think I'll focus more on those that others did not emphasize on their posts.

On Sunday afternoon, we all set off to Semakau and this was my first OJT with the Semakau guides. OJT stands On-the-Job training which is designed to allow volunteers to get their training in a flexible manner that suits the volunteer's schedule, as well as the schedule of the volunteer trainers. This was an opportunity for me to observe and learn how to conduct a fun and effective tour where I also will learn the route and the procedures for the walk.

This time, Juanhui is my "mentor" as I tagged along with her to guide "Mangroves" group. We had a group of friends from LTA. Yay.


At first, the sky really gloomy as mainland Singapore was raining and it seems that the rain is moving towards the south. When we disembark from the boat, the rain arrived too, and it was heavy. Thank God it moved as quickly away as it came.


We have with us Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Environment and Water Resources, and also his family. What a honour to have him join us to explore Semakau.


Dr. Yaacob and family and also a non-family member: Ron Yeo. More about Dr. Yaacob's interesting interaction and encounter that day on the Nature Scouter blog.

Soon we arrived! When we disembark from the boat, the rain arrived too, and it was heavy. Thank God it moved as quickly away as it came.


During the landfill tour, filled with weird jokes, my attention was diverted to something more interesting... Raffles Lighthouse (Pulau Satumu). This marks the southermost of Singapore's straits and it holds one of the best reefs intertidally and subtidally. Do note that this is not Pedra Branca as some may get confused with.


Beside Raffles Lighthouse is Pulau Biola, aka Violin island.


The best part of the whole Semakau trip arrived which is the intertidal tour. Before that, we have to taste some bitter before sweet. That will be to walk through a mosquito infested trail that was quite flooded due to the rain. Everyone was carefully threading to avoid stepping into the dirty puddles. The funniest thing is that when we came back at the end of the walk, everyone simply care less and walk on the puddles quickly. This is because they already got soaked enough during the intertidal trip, and also we all want to run away from the mosquitoes.


After some sharing on mangroves, creeper shells etc, its time to cross the glorious seagrass meadow of Semakau which Team Seagrass proudly monitors its health. It is important to cross through a line called the zone of death so that we do not destroy the other parts of the meadow by careless trampling.


I found this beautiful Pebble crab (Family Leucosiidae) along the way. These crabs tend to hide in small pools or along stream banks. They are slow-moving and tend to hide during the day. As such, they are rarely seen. Glad we saw it!

Like most leucosiids, they feed on small animals in the substrate,


The participants were quite excited to see so many common seastars which they can learn more about them and get to feel and touch them first hand. It is important not to leave them out of water too long.


Baby noble volutes and moon snail.


Juanhui sharing the wonders of our marine creatures with the participants :-)


This is actually my first time seeing Chromodoris lineolata nudibranch. How exciting even for a guide. Haha.


More about this charismatic nudibranch at the where discovery begins blog.

Flatworms are also plenty. This is one of them. Justin has done a great job sharing on how these hermaphrodites species will literally duel to be the male in the courtship.

Our reef is colourful with corals, blue sponges and zoathids.

A lame joke, this is not Fann Wong but fan worm. Haha. Beautiful isn't it.

We also encountered many sea cucumbers. Don't miss the cute photo of Dr Yaacob and his family with the three different sea cucumbers at the Nature Scouter blog.

This is a Gymnodoris nudibranch (Gymmodoris rublopabulosa).

Soon, sun sets and in this glorious landscape, we have to slowly walk back before darkness fall and tides retreat.

A visitor himself found something exciting along the way back. This is a black-lipped conch (Strombus urceus) that was leaping when its was discovered. Can you see from here its two eyes?

According to A guide to seashore life in Singapore,

"The local conch shells are characterised by a narrow, blade-like operculurn on their foot. The black-lipped conch (shell 3-5cm) is common in muddier substrates adjacent to reefs, being a detritivore and herbivore. They move in jerks, using their bladelike opercula to thrust them forward. In neighbouring countries, they are a popular seafood. A related species, S. canarium, which is white to yellowish in colour, with a thicker shell, is rare nowadays, but the dead shell can still be seen along the shores."

Great that we can still find them at Semakau.

In all, it was a great OJT trip where Juanhui and I shared with the participants of Semakau intertidal area. I enjoyed myself! Looking forward to the next guiding, which will be some time, after my exams in May.

More about Sunday's trip to Semakau on the raffles museum news blog and nature scouter blog with a separate post on critters seen.

Also on the discovery blog and manta blog and tidechaser blog and justin dive adventure blog

An afternoon at the ridge

Remember the last post I blogged about Semakau? The first photo features Pulau Jong. Here again is another view of Pulau Jong, from far.

Where were we this time? We spent the late afternoon at Kent Ridge, which is within our school. So what can you find in NUS?


Kent Ridge holds a secondary forest which is known as Adinandra belukar. Adinandra belukar is defined as a species-poor, anthropogenic heath forest dominated by tiup tiup.

Look at the dead tree on the right?


Look closer, there are birds resting.


Being a secondary forest, there will be remains of the rubber trees planted in the past. This photo shows the fruit of the rubber tree.


Alex was the plant expert around and he was collecting leaf specimens of plants he was unsure back to the lab so he can identify them and know Kent Ridge holds such flora.


Siyang was attracted to this ant harvesting nectar from the flowers. Alex shares this plant is at least from the genus mikania.


We had a few bird encounters too. This is a hill myna (Gracula religiosa). According to Chek Jawa online guide, Hill mynas eat mostly fruits, foraging for these high in the trees. They are particularly fond of figs. But they also snack on nectar, insects and small lizards. Hill mynas rarely land on the ground and prefer to stay in forested areas. They don't walk, and instead hop along branches.

Hill mynas can mimic other birds, and even whistle tunes and imiate humans. This makes them a favourite target for the caged bird trade.


Another bird we spotted was this drongo.


Another view of the beautiful drongo.


This is a Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis). According to Sungei Buloh online guide, Black-naped Orioles enjoy a wide menu of plants and animals. They are fond of fruit and berries, particularly figs. Black-naped Orioles rarely descend to the ground. They forage high in trees and usually say within the canopy. Nevertheless, they are not birds of the deep forest. Originally from coastal woodlands and mangroves, they have adapted to cultivated areas and parks and gardens.

Black-naped Orioles are not at risk and rank among the top 10 most common residents in Singapore. They have adjusted very well to humans and are found even in the city. They arrived in Singapore from Indonesia and became established in the 1920's-30's.


As we continued to explore the ridge...


Alex pointed out this tree...


and on top, there are creepers over the crown of that tree. Alex shares this is Entada spiralis. Click here to find out why it is called spiralis. The flowers shown here does not belong to the creeper. They belong to the tree (refer to previous photo) being covered by the creeper.


On yet another dead fall, we saw pigeon like birds. On a closer look, they are indeed pigeons. Rather, they are the uncommon pink neck green pigeons.


Also on the same dead fall was a pair of the hill myna.

Although common in Singapore in the past, the Hill mynahs are now considered rare residents and are listed as CITES II. Besides Pulau Ubin, these birds are also found in Pulau Tekong Besar, the central catchment forest and the Singapore Botanic Gardens.


A closer look at the pink neck green pigeon. Do note that only the males have the pink neck. Pink-necked Green Pigeons eat mainly fruits. Their colourful attire allows them to blend perfectly in the foliage of fruiting trees.


Towards the end of the trip, we found huge boulders with signs of marine evidences.


Look at the barnacles. They are evidences that someone took these huge boulders from the seashore up to the ridge. Looks like I can't run away from marine habitat. Haha.