30 May 2009

Sentosa with the Naked Hermit Crabs

A leisurely late morning start today, as I joined the Naked Hermit Crabs to help guide a group of visitors to Sentosa's last natural shore.
Although it is ringed by ships, industrial facilities and container ports, this last rocky cliff and reef is still very much alive! And a great place for families to safely explore what Ley Kun aptly calls "The Original Underwater World".

My group of visitors very gamely got their feet wet as we explored the seagrass meadows there.
As well as checked out the reef flat. We saw some baby hard corals as well as humungous grandmother corals too. As some corals grow very slowly, perhaps only 1cm a year, those that reach 1m may be our grandmothers!

In the water, Ivan spotted a baby Batfish (Platax sp.)! And we saw a tiny Pygmy squid (Idiosepius sp.), lots of swimming crabs, sponges and leathery soft corals too.

We had a quick look at the rocky shore.
Which had lots of snails of all kinds, as well as placid Onch slugs grazing on the meadows of tiny algae growing on the rocks.

Sam, Sijie and Evelyn had earlier been busy hunting seeking and had lots of finds to share.
From tiny fishes to huge crabs that we shouldn't eat.
And we had a chance to take a closer look at some snails too.

Alas, the weather suddenly turned ominous.
We had a quick last look at the finds made by the hunter seekers.
And a quick group photo before we rushed back to shelter. Just in time before the heavens opened up. Fortunately, there was no lightning. Nowadays, I am grateful for every injury-free trip.

More about the trip on the Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs blog.

After the trip, a few of us headed down to Nature's Niche's new outlet at Imbiah. I wanted to get my copy of Rudie Kuiter's new Seahorse book.
It's a great book with HUGE photos. And for Hippocampus kuda, all the photos are from Singapore! Yay! With photos by Marcus and me. Rudie Kuiter said he wanted photos from Singapore as the type locality for Hippocampus kuda was Singapore. It's good to know that there is international interest in our marine life. And that our photos of our shores are helping to show everyone that we have great shores.

Nature's Niche is located in Sentosa's Nature Discovery trail.
Which has quite interesting displays of nature at Sentosa.

But Sentosa's idea of conservation is very terrestrial. For example, highlighting the increase in greenery since before development.
At start of development.
And today.
But it is clear that Sentosa has lost vast amounts of marine habitats (coloured pink). From large areas of pink before development to mere dotted lines now.

While it is comforting to see that they included the shore where we conducted the walk on today.
They don't seem to have a good idea of their marine habitats. The above shore for example, is NOT a good example of a sandy shore.

While the sandy shore they illustrated in their display, is being reclaimed for the Sentosa Integrated Resort!

Indeed, the Naked Hermit Crabs conduct tours of this shore not just because it is our wonderful natural heritage, but also because it is under threat.
A large chunk of reefs under the cable car tower has already been reclaimed for the Sentosa Integrated Resort. The cranes and construction site of this massive project dominate the skyline on Sentosa.

Today, there's a report that the Sentosa IR might be facing problems. It's recruitment tour is cut short and it may face licence issues even as opening date nears (Sentosa IR cutting it a little too close? Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 30 May 09)

In addition, this shore is also very near the humungous project to extend the Pasir Panjang container terminals.
Other threats include a recent oil spill earlier this month (1 May) which fortunately did not have a major impact on the shore.

Besides the Naked Hermit Crabs' work on guiding, this shore is also monitored by TeamSeagrass. Yes, this shore has lots of seagrasses too!

We need to continue to monitor this last natural shore at Sentosa to make sure it survives so that more families can enjoy our own natural heritage.

You CAN make a difference!
Ongoing marine works near Sentosa
Other impacts
Previous trips to this shore
Other related posts
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29 May 2009

Lush seagrass meadows of Paris Ris

It's still low spring tide but not so early anymore. I thought I'd check out another part of the Pasir Ris shore.
In the first light of day, the receding tide reveals seagrass! Mostly very large and lush Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis).

There's also lots of Sea lettuce seaweed (Ulva sp.) on the shores. Which is not necessarily a bad sign.Seaweeds are a source of food for all kinds of animals. And they also shelter small animals. Such as the tiny octopus in the photo above. Can you see it? This is why it's important not to step on seaweeds.
Here's what it looked like when it slithered out onto the soft mud. It looks like the kind of octopus we often see on Changi.

Seagrasses too provide shelter for all kinds of animals. And we really shouldn't step on seagrasses as they grow from underground stems. Just like our land grasses. If they are trampled they take a long time to recover.
This little fish was half hidden in the seagrass. I have no idea what it might be. When I tried to take a closer look, it slipped away into the soft silty mud. It might be the Brown-stripe wrasse (Halichores bicolor).

Teeming with life, the seagrass meadows are good hunting grounds for predators like the Spearer mantis shrimp (Harpiosquilla sp.).
This mantis shrimp was quite small, but very energetic. There were of course, lots of hermit crabs large and little all over the shores.

There were LOTS of large Olive whelks (Nassarius olivaceus) roaming the shores today.
Many in groups. Even following one another like these ones above. I've not seen this before. They don't seem to be gathering to feed. Perhaps to mate?

Other whelks were also out and about.
These Common whelks (Nassarius livescens) each has a tiny sea anemone hitching a ride on their shells!

Some parts of the shores without seagrasses had clusters of Zoned horned shell snails (Batillaria zonalis). But not in the huge numbers that we saw at Tanah Merah.
The bare soft silty sand were dotted with tiny Plain sand stars (Astropecten sp.). These nocturnal animals were starting to bury themselves for the day.
And I saw some Ball sea cucumbers (Phyllophorus sp.) as well as a rather sad purple sea cucumber.

The shores here are very VERY soft! After I had to crawl out twice on my knees, I stayed on firmer ground and didn't explore the full extent of the meadows. But soft shores are a great place for burrowing animals.This strange animal is a Spotted fanworm (Family Sabellidae)! You can clearly see the segmented body of this worm, which has a feathery fan on its head. The fan is collapsed when the worm is out of water. Submerged, the fan spreads out to filter edible bits from the water. The worm lives in a tube and is usually found on our Northern soft shores like Changi and Chek Jawa.

Burrowing cnidarians are also plentiful on this shore. There were lots of peacock anemones with their accompanying Phoronid worms. As well as burrowing sea anemones.
And here's a rather shy Mangrove sea anemone about to retract into the ground. So far, I've only seen these sea anemones at Sungei Buloh, Kranji and Pasir Ris.

Is there a mangrove nearby?
Yes there was! It's a delightful mangrove, though with very soft ground.

Soft ground doesn't bother tiny snails like the Red berry snails (Sphaerassiminea miniata). There were countless numbers of these snails covering the mudflats.
Nearer the trees were these Chut-chut snails (Cerithidea obtusa), another snail typical of our mangroves. One Malay name for this snail is 'Mata merah' which means 'red eyes'. The living snail does indeed have red eyes! And some have red bodies too.
Next to it were some small snails. I have no idea what they are and didn't really notice them until I processed the photo.

Futher in under the mangrove trees where its cool and dark were these special Cat's ear mangrove helmet snail (Cassidula aurisfelis). These air breathing snails are found in the back mangroves and not on the open sea shores.
The snail with the black mouth had a much thinner shell 'lip'. Could it be a juvenile, or it is another species? Hmmm.

But the best finds in these mangroves were Bruguiera hainesii and Kandelia candel! Here's more about them.

I was so excited about the mangrove tree I didn't bother to take photos of some of the special crabs that I saw there too. Well, another time.

On the sea shore, I met a happy guy with a HUGE fish.
He had just removed it from the super long drift net placed right across the mouth of the stream leading out of the mangrove. He is looking forward to eating it with his family.
He said he doesn't place the net often as it's a lot of hard work. He laments the catch is not as good at it was before. In addition to this fish, he also caught a large catfish. I asked and he said, yes, a lot of crabs too.

Alas, drift nets can cause massive death to marinelife. Especially if they are abandoned. Siva just wrote about how he spent five hours removing 300 horseshoe crabs from a driftnet at Mandai. Even if not abandoned, driftnets indiscriminately catch all kinds of marinelife, most of which are not wanted by the fisherman.

As I headed home, the tide was really low and the full expanse of the vast seagrass meadows were stretched out in a curve all along Pasir Ris.
What a fabulous shore it is!
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Bruguiera hainesii and other surprises

Today I saw a gorgeous tall Bruguiera hainesii tree for the first time!
It was really tall, probably about 10m!

And it was flowering!
Although it was hard to get photos of the flowers as the tree was so tall.
The calyx is larger than those of Bruguiera cylindrica but smaller than those of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza. They are greenish with 10 lobes.

Fortunately, there were lots of fallen calyx on the ground. As well as a propagule!
The calyx lobes stand away from the popagule and doesn't clasp the propagule like in Bruguiera gymnorrhiza.

Although the tree is said to have large, corky, yellowish-brown lenticels, I didn't see any on this tree. Instead, the bark appears to have some light fissures.
The tree had buttress and knee roots. When buried, the knees look like bumps. Oops, I hope I wasn't photographing the wrong tree trunk!

Bruguiera hainesii is listed as 'Critically Endangered' on our Red List. I know there is effort to propagate and replant this beautiful mangrove tree. And I've seen a few small trees in Sungei Buloh. But it sure is wonderful to see a tall naturally growing tree!

Another special plant encountered was a small Kandelia candel bush! Also my first time seeing it.
It only had two branches with leaves!
But there was one branch that was flowering! This plant is not considered common anywhere. It occupies a narrow niche, typically in back mangroves or banks of tidal rivers. It is listed as 'Critically Endangered' on our Red List.

On the way back, I dropped by a part of Pasir Ris Park that I've not visited and was delighted to see replanting of some plants listed as 'Critically Endangered' on our Red List.

In a little pond in the middle of a manicured park were a whole bunch of what seems to be Sonneratia caseolaris!
These trees are very rare in the wild. It will be a magnificent sight to see these trees when they are fully grown!
Here's a closer look at the leaves of the trees.

Another 'Critically Endangered' seashore tree is Penaga laut (Callophyllum inophyllum).
There were a few young trees in the park, and one was already flowering.

Further in the boardwalk, I came across what seems to be the less commonly seen Xylocarpus mollucensis.
It has fissured rather than peeling bark, more pointed leaves and the fruits are smaller. It is listed as 'Endangered' on our Red List.

There was also this tree that seemed to have been planted next to the boardwalk within the tidal range.
It has pointed pneumatophores, rather thick small leaves and an odd shaped fruit. I have no idea what it might be!

There's so much more to discover about our mangroves!

References
  • Hsuan Keng, S.C. Chin and H. T. W. Tan. 1990, The Concise Flora of Singapore: Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons. Singapore University Press. 222 pp.
  • Davison, G.W. H. and P. K. L. Ng and Ho Hua Chew, 2008. The Singapore Red Data Book: Threatened plants and animals of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore). 285 pp.
  • Tomlinson, P. B., 1986. The Botany of Mangroves Cambridge University Press. USA. 419 pp.
  • Giesen, Wim and Stephan Wulffraat, Max Zieren and Liesbeth Scholten. 2006. Mangrove Guidebook for Southeast Asia (PDF online downloadable). RAP publication 2006/07 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Bangkok.
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5 Jun (Fri): Workshop for Nature Guides - Spiders

Come learn more about our eight-legged silk-spinning friends. And workshop ways to share about them with others. Marcus aka Budak of the Annotated Budak blog conducts the upcoming "Get Web with Singapore Spiders Workshop" by the Leafmonkey Workshop
One of Marcus Ng's many fabulous spider photos on his flickr.

What is the workshop about?
This workshop is an introduction to the spiders of Singapore. Learn how the ecology, food, sex and webs of spiders, as well as how to photograph them.

About the speaker
Marcus Ng is a writer by profession, a naturalist by interest and an avid nature photographer who wows fans with his vivid photographs of insects, spiders, birds and other wildlife. He authors the popular Annotated Budak blog. He is also an active nature volunteer with many groups, both terrestrial and marine, spanning his interests from forest ecology, peat swamps to inter-tidal reefs and mangroves.

More details of the event on the Leafmonkey Workshop

Time: 7 - 9.30pm
Venue: Civil Service College, 31 North Buona Vista Road [Map]
Website: http://leafmonkeyworkshop.blogspot.com/
Contact: leafmonkey@gmail.com
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Outreach officer at the Tropical Marine Science Institute

TMSI has announced a vacancy for an outreach officer to develop their public and schools educational programmes. They are looking for an individual with interest to develop field courses, workshops and academic activities for schools, environment managers and scientists.

Applications close 4 Jul 09.

Requirements:
  • Science/engineering degree with majors in marine science, biology, or environment science.
  • Strong interest in marine science and education
  • Good knowledge of Singapore marine biodiversity and environmental issues.
  • Knowledgeable of web page design and use of internet media
  • Must be able to swim
  • Some experience with organization of MICE or training workshops, and/or experience as a field guide for nature programs, will be useful
  • Out-going personality, good spoken and written communication skills
Job responsibilities include:
  • assist to organise and conduct field trips to the seashore
  • assist to organise and conduct public education activities at TMSI
  • assist to organize workshops and conferences
  • assist to host visitors of TMSI
  • assist with media communications and coordinate production of publicity materials
  • manage and update TMSI website and track publication records of researchers
  • assist with liaison and support to TMSI external collaborators
Salary will commensurate with qualifications and experience. The appointment
will be for one year and extendable depending on candidate's performance.

Interested candidates are invited to send in a detailed resume to:
Attn: Dr Serena Teo, Email: tmshr@nus.edu.sg

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
Deadline: 4 July 2009

From the eco-tax mailing list.

More about the Tropical Marine Science Institute
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27 May 2009

Chek Jawa intertidal walk dates for Jul-Sep 09 now online

A special shore with lots of history and a wide range of things to see and do, the morning low tide trips to Chek Jawa are now available for booking.
Chek Jawa is for the children
Bookings of these tours will only be available via internet booking from 1 Jun 09.

Dates of the public walks

Available for booking from 1st Jun 09
Available for booking from 1st Sep 09

How to book a tour?
According to the NParks website: "With effect from 1st June 2009, booking for guided tours will only be available via internet booking."

How does internet booking work?
Thanks to Adelle Wang for the explanations. This is how you make the booking.

Go to the NParks main page and look for the Chek Jawa walk on the date of your preference.
It may be hard to find the event on your own, so I've added the links for the dates on the above list of dates. Just click on the date you want. So far, only the dates in July are currently listed on the NParks website.

The page for the event should look something like this.
At the bottom of the page are a series of links labelled: "Email A Friend | PDA | Outlook | Print | Close This Window"
On the date that bookings are open (in this case it is on 1 Jun 09), a link labeled "Registration" will appear besides the link labeled "Email a Friend".

More details about the walk on the NParks website.

More links
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