Five species of seagrasses are taking over the artificial lagoon at Seringat-Kias!
The team also surveyed Lazarus Island where they saw giant clam, cone snails and more!
Seringat-Kias was created by reclaiming the submerged reefs of Seringat and Kias. One of the touted features on this island is the C-shaped 1km long artificial lagoon. Here's more about
what was done to create Seringat-Kias. There's marine life on the artificial shore as well as on the natural shores of Lazarus Island.
This tranquil spot is popular with the local boating community.
It was a lovely surprise to see wide swathes of seagrasses, some rarely seen in Singapore, have taken over this lagoon.
I saw large patches of
Smooth ribbon seagrass in the middle of the lagoon. And large patches of
Noodle seagrass too. Everywhere, there were patches of
Needle seagrass (narrow leaf blade) mixed with
Spoon seagrass (tiny leaf blade). On the southern side of the lagoon, there was a large patch of
Serrated ribbon seagrass. I didn't see any
Sickle seagrass which was seen growing in deeper water on our last survey in
Jan 2017.
It was alarming to see tiny pieces of Noodle seagrass, and clumps of Noodle seagrass washing up on the shore. Perhaps disturbed by boats?
Many parts of the shore near the low water mark was soft. With a layer of anoxic mud below, strong whiff of rotten eggs. Signs of a healthy seagrass meadow?
A mild bloom of
Sea lettuce green seaweed was washing up on the shore. But there were also a good variety of other seaweeds growing on the shore.
All these provide homes to a wide variety of animals. Mostly those associated with sandy shores and seagrass meadows.
There was also this pretty little
Spotted sea hare.
The rest of the team took the long trek to survey Lazarus Island, most of which are not affected by reclamation. They found all kinds of interesting creatures from giant clams to cone snails!
While waiting for them at the pontoon, Liz Lim and I had fun looking at the colourful marine life that had settled at the sides. I even saw an octopus!
Liz Lim took lots of great photos of the octopuses and other marine life there!
Alas, there is still a line of single-use water cups on this shore. But the situation is not as bad as what we saw in
Aug 2015.
A closer look. I suspect they come from the ferries that ply the waters.
On the way in, there was an odd looking cloud in the sky.
It turned out to be emissions from the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom.
Photos by others on this trip
Others on this trip: Jianlin Liu, Sirius Ng.
