'Garden of sea fans' at Changi growing lush

A tiny team survey this 'reefy' part of Changi. It was a relief to see the 'garden' of sea fans are still present here and seem more lush than on our last survey in Apr 2025. 

Corals, anemones and other cnidarians seemed alright. And the team spot a variety of interesting marine life!

There were still many large healthy colonies of commonly seen sea fans like Candelabra sea fans and Skinny sea fans,  Gnarled sea fans mostly near the boardwalk at Changi Beach Club. Including one nice Asparagus sea fan. We didn't see many near the big rock in the east where we start our survey. Compared to our survey in Apr 25 when most of those on the higher shore were dead, today, we didn't see any recently dead colonies. I saw one ovulid, a snail that eats the sea fan, as well as many small hermit crabs. There were a few small colonies of Pink flowery soft corals, as well as various hydroids commonly seen on Changi.

Sponges were more abundant under the boardwalk at Changi Beach Club. Not a huge variety, but well-formed clumps. Many larger clumps of Purple branching sponge, and small ball-shaped clumps. Melted chocolate sponge still dominated - most seemed nice and shiny. There were also many bivalve shells under the boardwalk, not sure what happened.

Today Zebra corals continue to dominate the rocky areas, covering almost every hard surface at the low water mark. I saw a few Neat hexa coral but didn't see any Flowery disk coral which we saw on our last survey in Apr 2025. They seemed mostly alright. Changi shores are usually rich in echinoderms. We saw several 8-armed Luidia sea stars, a large Garlic bread sea cucumber, some Orange sea cucumbers, Blue feather stars and many Sponge synaptid sea cucumber. Lester spotted a pair of Coastal horseshoe crabs.

Along the eastern shore towards the boardwalk at Changi Beach Club, a narrow but lush band of Spoon seagrass with large leaf blades is growing. At the western most lagoon, there remained patches of Spoon seagrass. There were many Haddon's carpet anemones, some flowery sea pens and common ceriathigs, but no sea fans. Button zoanthids used to form large 'fields' at the western most part of this shore are returning among the seagrasses. The area under the jetty was almost clear of encrustations, similar to the situation in Apr 2025 and Jul 2024. 

The mangrove trees that have settled on the seawall there are growing well and are now quite tall. The small Johor fig treelet growing on a big rock nearby is still alright! There was a huge Johor fig in the lagoon that fell over in May 2021, possibly due to slope failure. By Apr 2025, there were few pieces of the dead tree left, today, even fewer. I had a closer look at the plants growing on the high shore and it seems there is Dugun (Heritiera littoralis) considered Endangered. It has fallen horizontally but was still alive. There was also a large shrub with bright white berries, I haven't figured out what it is.

There was large trash on the high shore. And I saw a large abandoned fish trap on the low shore. There was nothing in the trap. I made sure the 'door' to trap was open and facing up so if any animals were to be trapped they can escape.

Segments of the boardwalk over the water are often completely taken over by fishermen who lay fishing rods, traps and lines in dense numbers. This also happens on other boardwalks. Here's some letters from the public about the conflict between fishermen and others on the boardwalks at Berlayar Creek, Changi and Punggol. Read more about how coastal boardwalks can do more harm than good. Today, there was very little fishing activity on the boardwalk over the water. Perhaps the recent wet weather have discouraged this activity.

Yellow arrows point to lines in the water attached to traps.
These lines are placed on both sides of the boardwalk.

What is the fate of these shores?

There doesn't seem to be a change in 2013 plans to reclaim all of Pasir Ris, all of Changi from Carpark 1 to Carpark 7 and beyond, and reclaim Chek Jawa and Pulau Sekudu. These appear to remain in place in the Long-Term Plan Review. Including plans for a road link that starts at Pasir Ris, crosses to Pulau Ubin, right across Chek Jawa to Pulau Tekong, and back to the mainland at Changi East.

See Changi shores for yourself !

They are easy to get to, and enjoyed by many people. It remains rich in marine life. More details in "Changi - an easy intertidal adventure for the family". This reefy part of Changi needs a very low spring tide of zero to minus zero.