These Changi shores were impacted seven months ago by the
300-tonne oil spill in the East Johor Strait, My last survey of this series of shores was in
Jun 2016, six months after the oil spill.
I saw many sponges of a wider variety on the rocky shores there, as well as sea fans and other colourful marine life. The seagrasses appear fine and I saw some of the usual animals. I also checked out Changi Creek, the mangroves up the Creek. I did not see any signs of massive oil spill impact.
Here's a video clip of the colourful living rocky shores of Changi Creek.
There were many sponges of various kinds all over the rocks at the very low water mark.
The most abundant sponge on the rocky shore remains the
Melted chocolate sponge.
I also saw many small to medium sized
sea fans growing below the super low water mark. The sea fans were mostly
Gnarled sea fans and
Candelabra sea fans. Abel noticed that on one washed up Candelabra sea fan there was a cluster of
squid eggs. The eggs looked like they had been chewed on. Oh dear.
There were many patches of
Zebra coral. And many small
Pink flowery soft corals, As well as a few tiny to small
Ball flowery soft corals, one with a
Ghost brittle star that we found find there.
I came across a small area with bleaching Zebra corals. But most of the Zebra corals I saw were alright.
Abel found a
Blue feather star, and I saw a few tiny
Blue-dotted flatworms. There were also several
Fan worms.
The rocks were still lively at the high water mark. Some had patches of
Little black nesting mussels. There were many
Drills and clusters of them were laying eggs. I saw some
Onch slugs. There were also many
Thumbs-up sea squirts and
Yellow clustered bead ascidians.
There were many
Banded bead anemones in one corner of the bay, and
Button zoanthids still dominated one corner of the bay. I saw one small
Tiger anemone.
The meadows were all
Spoon seagrass, mostly fresh and green. I did not see any bleaching seagrasses.
For the first time, I saw a small patch of
Needle seagrass.
The seagrass meadows were alive too. I saw more than 20 tiny to small
Haddon's carpet anemones. But I couldn't see any shrimps in them.
I saw a few
Flowery sea pens, and several
Cerianthids in the seagrass meadows with
Phoronid worms.
As usual, there were lots of sea cucumbers. The seagrasses were dotted with small
Warty pink sea cucumbers. I saw a few
Orange sea cucumbers and a few tiny
Thorny sea cucumbers. The sand bar was dotted with buried
Ball sea cucumbers. I saw one
Beige sea cucumber.
I saw a few small
Biscuit sea stars and Abel pointed out a small orange
Cake sea star.
There were small patches of filamentous hairy black stuff (
Cyanobacteria?) on seagrasses and rocks.
There were also large patches of
Gregarious tubeworms, forming a shaggy carpet on the low water mark. And some
Solitary tubeworms too. The presence of delicate burrowing animals suggest the ground is alright.
On the seawall, no sign of the little mangrove sapling growing there that was somewhat oiled. Oh dear.
This what it looked like in June when I last saw it in
Jun 2017.
Sadly, as usual, there remained a line of plastic litter along the mid-water mark. Many were coated in oil and this will remain a source of oil pollution until they are removed. Although this beach is cleaned everyday, only the high tide line is cleaned.
Alas, there are many abandoned fishing nets stuck on the sea wall and on the shores.
As well abandoned fishing lines on the seagrass meadows.
After the tide turned, I headed out to check Changi Creek itself. There are several large mangrove saplings growing near the seawall. The mudflats and seawall looks normal and I didn't see any signs of sheen. Although there is still the stain of oil on the drain wall. The boom across the drain has been removed. But the abandoned boom near the bridge is still there (!). There is some dead vegetation near the bridge.
I headed upstream to the mangroves at Changi Creek. The mangroves looked alright. No massive yellowing leaves or bare branches.
Most of the
Bakau kurap trees were producing propagules that were nice and long. I didn't see any propagules with odd colours.
I also saw some saplings under the big mangrove trees.
Abel spotted four
Blue-spotted mudskippers and a
Giant mudskippers. There were also many small fishes swimming in the Creek.
Some parts of the mud stream banks had
Leaf oysters that seemed alive.
I didn't visit Changi Beach near Carpark 3 this time. It's a relief to see the shores did not seem too badly affected by the oil spill so far.
Posts about the Jan 2017 Johor Strait oil spill
Survey on 10 Feb, one month after the oil spill
Other surveys and news posts
