Seagrass critters of Cyrene Reef

We are back at Cyrene Reef, one of our most favourite shores in Singapore!

Cyrene Reef is ringed by petrochemical plants on Jurong Island and Pulau Bukom. It is also right next to the container terminals on  Pasir Panjang. Cyrene Reef has one of the best seagrass meadows in Singapore and its seagrasses are home to lots of marine life!

Baby shark at Big Sister's Island

What a lovely surprise to stumble upon a baby Bamboo Shark (Chiloscyllium sp.), possibly the White-spotted Bamboo Shark (Chiloscyllium plagiosum) on our predawn survey at Big Sister's Island this morning! Yes we do have sharks in Singapore!

Here's a close-up underwater shot of the cute shark with white blotches on its black body. These sharks are nocturnal and will hunt for fish at night. Generally, sharks will not harm humans if they are left alone. As top predators, they play an important role in the health and balance of the marine ecosystem.

How's Beting Bronok over two years?

Beting Bronok (BB) is one of the few remaining Singapore's northern reefs. Unfortunately, with each year that we visit, the diversity and abundance of marine life seem to drop. Nevertheless, what still remains on this special shore is still very much better than most of the other northern shores.

This post consists of what we saw over a span of 2 years from my previous trip in July 2014 (which I didn't blog) and our latest survey in Aug 2015- which gives us a rough comparison of the health of the shore over the span of 1 year.

BB is a submerged reef off the north of Pulau Tekong that is only exposed at a good low spring tide. Just right across the channel (Eastern Johor Straits) would be Pengarang, Johor. The view from BB is simply picturesque as you don't feel you are in Singapore at all.

Eastern and Northern reefs of Pulau Semakau

This is an overdue post of our survey at the natural reefs of Semakau during the last low tide season. In fact, the team covered three different areas of Pulau Semakau though I only went for the eastern and northern shore (missing out the southern shore).

We do not often visit the Eastern reefs of Semakau until recently. This huge stretch of reefs facing Terumbu Semakau and close to Pulau Bukom is rich in hard corals, soft corals, anemones and other amazing marine life.

Back at Sekudu for coral rubble survey

We are back at Pulau Sekudu, off Pulau Ubin for our annual check of how the shore is doing. I focused mainly on the coral rubble which is only revealed at super low tide. Pulau Sekudu is currently out of bounds to the public and we are thankful to Nparks for giving us the permission to document the shore. 

One of the most delightful finds of all times would be the Knobbly sea stars that still exist at Pulau Sekudu. These stars are always so captivating.

Annual survey at Chek Jawa's coral rubble

Chek Jawa is a special place in many Singaporean's heart. We almost lost this shore to development more than 10 years ago and are heartened to know that it is still around today for many to enjoy and appreciate. For me, it is my first field site as I did my UROPs project in 2007 studying the mass mortality and recruitment of organisms.

Today, the shores of Chek Jawa are out of bounds to the public to prevent trampling and one needs to follow a guided walk to go down and see the richness of the marine habitat. Thanks to permission from Nparks, a group of us were able to do an annual survey of the coral rubble at Chek Jawa this morning.

Back at sea fan garden of Changi

I'm back at the sea fan garden of Changi after more than 2 years! How are the sea fans and the other marine critters doing on this shore?

I'm glad to revisit these colourful creatures that are only exposed at a super low spring tide. Some of them look really stunning amidst the murky waters of Changi.