Although it lies in the middle of
an industrial triangle and major shipping lanes, Cyrene has some of Singapore's best shores.
With lots of
Knobbly sea stars, dugong feeding trails, giant clam and other amazing sightings, Cyrene is one of our favourite shores. Alas, it was noticeably sandier today. Affected by nearby reclamation? And we also came across large fish traps.
Here's a glimpse at some of the interesting marine life I saw at Cyrene.
Today, Cyrene was noticeably sandier and the seagrasses rather more sparse than our last survey in
Aug 2018. But I still came across a few furrows that look like
dugong feeding trails.
The usual marine life was there, including some
Cake sand dollars. The tide was a little high to survey the reefier parts, but the corals on the higher shore seemed to be doing alright.
There were lots of
Common sea stars, some with locked arms in 'mating' position. But I saw one that was humped up on its arms. I'm not sure what is going on - perhaps about to release eggs or sperm?
The team spotted one large
Fluted giant clam. I saw one
Ramose murex snail and the rest of the team saw some too. I couldn't find the
Pentaceraster sea star today.
Many patches of
Sickle seagrass had badly burnt leaves.
Seems like mostly the blades exposed at low tide are burnt? I saw a similar situation in
Apr 2018.
I did not see any long
Tape seagrass. Only very short cropped ones.
There were some small patches with dense growths of
Halimeda seaweed, which are hard and incorporate calcium. I've seen this also on other shores impacted by heavy sedimentation like Tuas and Sentosa.
A large area on Jurong Island (Ayer Merbau Basin) near Cyrene is being reclaimed - area outlined in red in this map on the MPA website.
From Port Marine Notice
109 of 2018, these reclamation works have been going on since Jan 2018 and expected to be completed in May 2019. I had noticed the reclamation during our
Apr 2018 survey.
Thanks to
Nicholas Yeo for a closer look at the reclamation site on Jurong, taken from Cyrene Reef.
Neil also came across several huge fish traps (bubu). Nicholas shared this photo of one of the traps. Fortunately, we didn't come across any nets.
Let's hope Cyrene stays safe until we can visit again.
Photos by others on this trip
Nicholas Yeo
Chris Wong
Jianlin Liu
Gina Tan
Choo Yi Feng
Jesselyn Chua
Sunny Tan
Others on this trip: Neil Hutchinson, Andy.
