This narrow sliver of intertidal at Changi Point is full of life!
I saw large sea stars, large anemones, lots of seagrasses and possibly some dugong feeding trails!
I missed surveying this shore last year due to COVID restrictions. My last survey here was in
Jun 2019. Compared to then, today the seagrasses were more lush and varied. I saw two short furrows that might be dugong feeding trails! The meadows were still mostly
Spoon seagrasses (large and small leaf blades) but
Needle seagrass (narrow and broad leaf blades) were more abundant, covering large areas on the north shore and at the Point. On our last survey, I saw a small patch of
Smooth ribbon seagrass where the pipes used to be are still there, first observed on the
Jun 2016 survey. Today, this seagrass species is growing over a larger area, about 10m x 10m. As on our last survey, I didn't come across
Fern seagrass.
Changi shores are rich in echinoderms. I saw a wider variety of sea stars today than my last survey here in
Jun 2019. The highlight was a large
Knobbly sea star! I also saw some small
Painted sand stars, a few
Biscuit stars (tiny to medium sized), and one small
Cake sea star. On our last survey in
Jun 2019, I saw more than 30 large
Eight-armed sand stars, today, I saw sevearl small ones. Not true sea stars, I saw some
brittle stars, and also one
Feather star.
There were also a good variety of sea cucumbers! The most abundant remained
Pink warty sea cucumbers - which photobombed all the other creatures. I also saw some
Thorny sea cucumbers, several large
Garlic sea cucumber, a few
Ball sea cucumbers, one
Orange sea cucumber, one
Beige sea cucumber and one
Plasticky sea cucumber. But I didn't see any
Sea apple sea cucumbers today.
At the Point, I saw large gatherings of many small
Black sea urchins, each 'carrying' pieces of shells and debris. I only saw a few large
White sea urchins on the northern shore.
As on my last survey here in
Jun 2019, the ground remains very firm and is no longer soft and silty. Nevertheless, there were still many burrowing anemones here. I saw several
Haddon's carpet anemones (most with many
Tiny carpet anemoneshrimps living on them). I saw a
Glass anemone, a
Pearly anemone and some
Striped sand anemones. It was good to see some
Tiger anemones and this shore is one of their few strongholds.
There were also many
Common cerianthids - which are NOT true anemones. I also saw various seapens:
Sea pencils,
Flowery sea pens and
Spiky sea pens. I also saw a few small
Ball flowery soft corals, and one tiny
sea fan. On the rocks facing the bumboat terminal, there were lots of
Zebra corals, but hardly any other lifeforms.
There were a lot of small
Horn-eyed ghost crabs scuttling at the highwater mark, just out of my torchlight reach. Shells provide habitat to all kinds of animals. I saw several
Fan clams large and small, loaded with small sea cucumbers clinging onto their shells. As well as many living
Window-pane shell clams. When the snail dies, a hermit crab moves in the shell continues to provide habitat. I saw one with a
Big hermit-hitching sea anemone and a small Black urchin on its shell. I also saw one
Hammer oyster. I saw a cluster of
eggs probably laid by a squid, one Geographic sea hare and several
Ornate leaf slugs.
There were a few fishermen on the shore today, with rod and line, probably waiting for the spring high tide. I also saw some about to start cast netting. They cheerfully replied when I said good morning to them. The tide window was short today, just about an hour. And although I enjoyed the full moon, the tide turned well before sunrise.
See Changi shores for yourself!More details on
Changi - an easy intertidal adventure for the family.
What is the future of Changi shores?Changi shores are precious because they
may be reclaimed in the
2013 landuse plan by the Ministry of National Development released in response to
2013 Population White Paper.
The blue outlined areas are "Possible Future Reclamation". The plans include a road link (black line) from the mainland jumping off at Punggol, crossing to Pulau Ubin through Chek Jawa to jump off to Pulau Tekong before circling back to the mainland on Changi East. Proposed reclamation (in yellow) will bury Pasir Ris shores, Pulau Sekudu and Chek Jawa as well as the Changi Beach shores from Carpark 6 to Carpark 7.
Others on this trip: Lewis, Radek.
