We surveyed a stretch of shore that used to be lined with long stakes and large bags that appeared to be some attempt at erosion control. During the
Jan 2017 oil spill, the entire set up was badly covered in oil and remained so
12 months after the spill was cleaned up elsewhere.
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| Oil spill on this shore in Jan 2017. |
Today, we found the entire set up had been removed. But the shore seemed rather barren, although the eastern part of it is still lively.
In the past, many of the stakes have been uprooted from the high shore and littered all over the low shore. As the stakes move in the waves, they are probably also killing any seagrass or animals that attempt to settle there. A blog post by Jocelyne Sze on this setup in
2014 showed it was still okay. I observed it falling apart in
Apr 2015, again in
Aug 2016. This is what I saw on our last trip here in
Dec 2017.
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| Long stakes litter the shore in Dec 2017. |
Today, these have all been replaced with a seawall, and the stakes on the shore are no longer there. Our survey ended before sunrise, so this is the best photo I could take. But the shore in front of the seawall is rather barren and smells anoxic. With time, I hope the life we used to see there will return.
The area near the jetty had lush seagrasses and many different colourful animals had settled on the jetty legs. Including flowery soft corals, sponges and hydroids. Attracting flatworms and other animals that feed on and near them.
There were also many
Blue feather stars. Some on the jetty legs, others dispersed among the seagrasses.
There were lots of sea cucumbers!
Thorny and
Pink warty sea cucumbers remained the most abundant. As well as
Ball sea cucumbers. I saw two
Sea Apple sea cucumbers, a few
Beige sea cucumbers and one
Plasticky sea cucumber and one large
Garlic bread sea cucumber.
We saw one large
Cake sea star, one medium sized
Knobbly sea star and many
Biscuit sea stars. I didn't see any
Painted sand stars or
Plain sand stars.
There were some large
White sea urchins, many carrying all kinds of stuff. I also saw one small
Black sea urchin and the dead shell of a
Cake sand dollar, I couldn't find live ones.
A special anemone find was one small
Burgundy anemone, the first I've seen beyond Pasir Ris. I also came across one
Brown peachia, which was described from Singapore! There were also some common
Peachia anemones, a few
Swimming anemones and some
Haddon's carpet anemone. On the jetty legs, there were lots of
Lined bead anemones.
This shore is soft and silty, perfect for sea pens. I saw many
Sea pencils, some
Slender sea pens and
Flowery sea pens, and one
Spiky sea pen. But I didn't see any
cerianthids, although we saw many here with Dr Stampar on
May 2017.
I saw their eggs before I saw the large
Geographic sea hare! The rest of the team saw other interesting slugs too.
On the jetty legs there were cowries of all kinds. Including many
Wandering cowries, some
Miliaris cowries and one
Onyx cowrie. There were also many
Drills laying eggs.
I saw many enormous sand collars, egg masses laid by Moon snails. But only saw a few small ones like this
Calf moon snail and a
Pink moon snail.
I saw the bright tiny orange-and-black thing and thought it was a slug. But it turned out to be the siphon of a buried
Nobel volute!
There was one
Rafting crab on the jetty legs, and one
Maroon stone crab among the rocks. There were also some
Purple climbing crabs and many
Swimming crabs of all sizes and all kinds. On the seagrasses, there were many
Orange-striped hermit crabs.
Near the jetty, there were lush growths of clean seagrasses.
Fern seagrass,
Spoon seagrass (with large leaf blades) and
Needle seagrass (narrow leaf blades). But the seagrasses in the area in front of the new seawall appear to be gone. Hopefully, they will return.
I saw one fishing rod, and several patches of fishing nets already heavily covered in seaweeds. There were also trash that looked like they were tossed from people partying at the promenade, e.g., beer bottles and cans.
Let's hope this shore can recover to soon!
Photos by others on this trip
Dayna Cheah
Others on this trip: Dayna Cheah, Jonathan Tan, Yong Jen.
Yesterday was also a low spring tide and I was also at Changi with Prof Peter Ng's Masters students.
Able Yeo was also at Changi and documented these sightings
Dayna Cheah was at East Coast Park
Tan Yong Jen
Manfred Ong
