This vast sandy shore is a habitat that is now rare in Singapore (thus 'lost') and home to animals that we seldom see on our other shores. This reclaimed shore in Changi East was in the past, remote and difficult to reach; thus 'lost' in yet another sense. As development started in the area, it became strictly off limits without a permit. We surveyed with permission kindly arranged by NParks.
Today, I was delighted to see seagrasses AND dugong feeding trails on the northern corner of the vast shore.
Before sunrise, I started at the southern corner of the shore and again saw
dugong feeding trails in the seagrasses growing here. On the horizon, petrochemical flaring at Pengerang, Johor.
Here's a closer look at the feeding trail. Dugong feeding trails are formed when dugongs chomp up seagrasses including their roots, leaving a shallow meandering furrow of about equal width and depth.
Lush
Spoon seagrass (large leaves and small leaves) grew in patches, with sprinkles of
Needle seagrass. Kok Sheng saw a patch of
Tape seagrass with long leaves, and also patches of
Noodle seagrass.
I saw the usual animals commonly seen in our seagrass meadows:
Haddon's carpet anemones,
Orange-striped hermit crabs and lots of
Noble volutes (mostly small, but I did see one large one). It was nice to see a
Big-head seagrass octopus, which are common on other seagrassy areas in Changi.
Later on, I saw another Big-head seagrass octopus on a Grey bonnet snail. I'm not sure if it was eating the snail alive or already dead, or trying to use an empty shell.
Update: Dayna shared a photo showing that the octopus was using the shell to protect her eggs!
While the rest of the team survey the huge sandbars far out from the high shore, I surveyed the southern end of the shore which had a small sand bar. Predatory snails like moon snails are doing well here. There were many
Egg-white moon snails and
Oval moon snails - more easily distinguished by their underside. Other moon snails are easily identified by their distinctive upper shell or body markings: like
Ball moon snails,
Lined moon snail and
China moon snail.
Other predatory snails include lots of busy
Weasel olive snails and many
Fig snails which were often contorted upside down or raising up high from the sand. I don't know why. There were also a few
Gong gong snails buried in the sand. I saw one
Grey bonnet snail on the bigger sand bar.
What do these predatory snails feed on? Probably tiny snails like
Dubious nerites and
Button snails, which are abundant. As well as buried clams of all kinds.
Marcus saw a
snake-eel hiding in a burrow in the sand!
Cake sand dollars remain super abundant - these are eaten by Bonnet snails. It was nice to see the
Thick-edged sand dollars which are not common on our shores. There were also some
Remarkable sea cucumbers.
It was a little disturbing to see
Horse mussel beds on this shore. These mussels had taken over the shore at
Changi Carpark 7 since 2019. The mussel bed creates a different habitat though, for animals like sponges, the
Miliaris cowrie, Noble volute. As at Changi Carpark 7, there were also many large
Fan shell clams among the mussels.
Lots of 'pot holes' on the shore are probably created when stingrays forage for buried animals in the sand.
Surprisingly almost no litter washed up on the high shore. There was a lot during our survey on
Jul 2021.
I first returned to this shore for the first time in ten years in
Dec 2020. Recent trips were in
Jul 2021 and
Dec 2021. Previous trips to these shore were in
Nov 2011,
Oct 2011, quick visit in
Oct 2011,
Jan 2010, first trip in
Jan 2010. This shore is now strictly off limits without a permit. We surveyed with permission kindly arranged by NParks.
What is the future of this shore?According to the
Long-Term Plan Review, this shore is slated for massive reclamation as a "Reserved Site" (yellow). So it will eventually be lost again.
Photos by others on this surveyRichard KuahLoh Kok ShengMarcus NgVincent ChooChe Cheng NeoDayna Cheah
