Our last visit to this submerged reef was in
July 2016, at the height of mass coral bleaching. It was heartbreaking to see massive bleaching of hard corals and leathery soft corals
Today, it was a relief to see very little coral bleaching.
We saw cushion stars and sea turtles too!
Here's a video clip of some of the corals. This submerged reef lies close to industries on Jurong Island and Pulau Bukom. The leathery soft corals were not bleaching, and some were still very large.
The patch of
branching Montipora corals near the landing point seems alright. On our last trip in July 2016, they were also not bleaching.
There was also a patch of Acropora coral that seemed mostly alright.
Most of the
Merulinid corals (previously Family Faviidae) were alright, although some had pale patches.
But some of the
Pore corals large and small were rather pale.
I saw many
Flowery disk corals, about half were alright, the other half were pale. Also a few
Thin disk corals which were not bleaching.
I saw several
Anemone corals and they were not bleaching, although one small
Goniopora coral was rather pale.
Some special corals seen include
Castle coral,
boulder Sandpaper coral,
Pebble coral,
Trumpet coral. Also one
Circular mushroom coral and
Tongue mushroom coral, both rather pale.
There were many
Haddon's carpet anemones among the seagrass patches, some
Frilly sea anemones, a few
Giant carpet anemones and
Magnificent anemones. There was also a field of
Banded bead anemones. None of them were bleaching.
Russel showed us an area with three
Cushion stars! These sea stars have very short arms so they just look like lumps. It is only on their underside that you can see the five part symmetry of all sea stars. After gently having a look, we should gently turn it back again.
Among the interesting animals I saw was this colourful fish. Probably some kind of
wrasse?
I also came across the empty shell of a recently dead
Partridge sundial snail shell, which Chay Hoon also found here some time ago.
The situation in the seagrass meadows seemed similar to our last survey here in
July 2016. There were patches of
Spoon seagrasses in the middle of the reef, heavily covered with epiphytes. There were also small clumps of
Tape seagrasses with nice and long leaf blades (about 30cm).
There were patches of
Sickle seagrass.
There were patches of Spoon seagrass with large leaf blades, some were bleaching.
The
Sargassum bloom is over. But now, large parts of the rocky shore were covered in a bloom of
Hairy green seaweed.
Fortunately, we didn't come across any fish nets or fish traps. This fish trap is no longer functioning.
Nick and Shabdita are looking for
Fire anemones. We didn't find any at Terumbu Pempang Tengah and decided to stop for a while at nearby Terumbu Pempang Laut. Alas, no luck either. But while we waited for them on the boat, Russel and I saw sea turtles take a breath nearby! No photos as this happens too fast.
Thanks to Fong Chee Wai, President of the Nature Photographic Society of Singapore for joining us on our early morning trip today!
On the way home, we saw a boat parked very close to the reefs at Pulau Hantu. It looked like there were divers in the water nearby. I hope they are careful not to damage the reefs there.
Here's the location of the submerged reefs we visited today. 'Tengah' means 'middle' in Malay, while 'Laut' means 'seaward' and 'Darat' means 'landward'. These beautiful submerged reefs may be affected by reclamation in the future.
The
2030 Landuse Plan by the Ministry of National Development released in Jan 2013 shows plans for 'possible future reclamation' (in light blue surrounded by dotted lines) that may impact Terumbu Pempang Darat and Terumbu Pempang Tengah. More about the
possible impact of the 2030 Landuse Plan on our shores.
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| Click on image for larger view. |
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| Click on image for larger view. |
Let's hope these beautiful reefs will be spared this fate.
Posts by others on this trip
