05 June 2019

Checking up on the reefs at Cyrene

Although it lies in the middle of an industrial triangle and major shipping lanes, Cyrene has some of Singapore's best shores.
Living shore of Cyrene
Today, I surveyed the reefier edge of Cyrene that is closer to Jurong Island. There are still some corals there and most seemed alright. Only a few were bleaching. I saw dugong feeding trails!

We arrived at first light!
Living shores of Cyrene, June 2019
Here's a quick video of some of the special views on Cyrene.
Living reefs of Cyrene, June 2019
I last surveyed this reefier part of the shore in Aug 2018. As usual, today, the corals I saw were mostly Pore corals and Merulinid corals of various kinds.Today, some of the Boulder pore corals were less dark, or were pink or very pale, though not yet full on bleaching.
Most of the Merulinid corals were alright, but some were pale or had pale patches, and a few Trumpet corals were really pale.
I saw some Small goniopora corals, one had a bleaching portion, another was oddly coloured, but the rest were alright. I saw a few Anemone corals that were alright.
I saw some Flowery disk corals and most were pale or oddly coloured, but none were outright bleaching.
I saw a few colonies of Branching montipora corals that were bright green, and some brown ones with white patches.
I saw a few Cauliflower corals and they were alright. In one, I spotted the tiny Red coral crab that lives in these corals and help protect it while getting shelter in return.
Red coral crab (Trapezia cymodoce)
There were a lot of Leathery soft corals. Most were small colonies.
Living shore of Cyrene
I saw a few Leathery soft corals that were very pale or looking ill. Most of the Asparagus flowery soft corals I saw were alright, although a few were rather oddly pastel coloured.
I saw one Leathery sea fan that had lots most of the flesh on the tips of its branches.
Leathery sea fan (Family Gorgoniidae)
I saw some zoanthids with pale patches, and a rather pale Frilly anemone. But corallimorphs and other sea anemones I saw seemed alright.
I'm  not really good at spotting critters and only saw common ones like the Ornate leaf slug, Cheesecake nudibranch and a large Red egg crab. Jahson saw a large Fluted giant clam!
I didn't really get a chance to look very closely at the seagrasses. But there were still many dugong feeding trails.
Possible dugong feeding trail in seagrass meadows, Cyrene Reef, June 2019
The big cluster of many Knobbly sea stars were no longer near our landing point. We only saw a handful today. But Richard saw many of them closer to the beacon.
Living shores of Cyrene, June 2019
The western side of Cyrene seems to have become sandier. In Jan 2019, I had already had suspicions that the ongoing reclamation at Jurong Island might be affecting Cyrene.
Reclamation at Jurong Island from Cyrene, June 2019
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.
Image from 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.
From Port Marine Notice 109 of 2018.
I also noticed a hole near the reef edge which might have been caused by a boat accidentally striking the reef at higher tide. Fortunately, today we didn't come across any fishing nets or traps on Cyrene.
Possible boat strike on Cyrene
Let's hope Cyrene can weather these impacts and remain safe until we return.

Photos by others on this trip

Richard Kuah



Teo Say Chong


Russel Low


Shawne Goh


Others on this trip: James, Jahson, Erik and Taylor.

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