The entire Serapong surveyed!

One of the best reefs nearer the mainland is found on the undisturbed shore off Serapong Golf Course at Sentosa. These shores were impacted but clearly survived the mass coral bleaching and 400tonne Pasir Panjang oil spill in 2024 and the 23 tonne diesel leak opposite Sentosa Serapong in 2025.

Special thanks to Leanne from SDC, we got a second look this year to check up on the entire Serapong shore from the causeway bridge to the eastern beacon. In the dark as the tide started at 3am and ended before sunrise! I did the eastern stretch and the corals seem mostly okay. I will update later with the rest of the team's special finds and what they saw on the western stretch.

The area between the beacon and the sluice gate still has a patch of densely packed leathery soft coral colonies of various kinds. Pretty much like what I saw when we first started surveying the shore. The enormous leathery soft coral colony that we have been seeing since we first started surveying the shore is still there and seems fine. Some clusters of leathery soft corals were quite large too. Towards the Jetty, there were lots of Spiky flowery soft corals. And many large colonies of Asparagus flowery soft coral - although most seemed rather pinkish and not as purply as usual. I also saw 3 Leathery sea fans. The situation seems similar to our our last survey in Jul 2025.

A good variety of corals were still present. Most were boulder shaped, but there were also many large plate-forming corals all looking healthy without dead patches, as well as many tiny ones - which suggests recruitment on the shore.  I saw one large colony of Sandpaper corals which was mostly live and healthy - they are usually the first to bleach. There also a few colonies of special corals like Anchor corals, Boulder horn coral, tiny to small Circular mushroom corals. Although I saw many small healthy Cauliflower coral colonies sprinkled along the shore, I didn't come across fields of them as I did in the past. This is similar to our last survey in May 2025. 

Some of the animals seen include a Blue-lined hind spotted by Leanne. There were also 'Nemos' in Giant carpet anemones. Theresa found the Fluted giant clam (nearly 40cm long) and it was fine, although covered with soft corals. As usual, the most abundant echinoderm on the shore remains Red feather stars which hang onto corals at the reef edge. There was also one Brown feather star. Although they are rivaled by the many Diadema sea urchins throughout the reef edge, I saw one with very short spines. The cluster of Magnificent anemones seems to have fewer individuals. Today, it was great to see some medium-sized to large healthy Barrel sponges, including some really small ones - these suffered badly during the mass dying at Serapong in 2018. The situation seems similar to our our last survey in Jul 2025.

There were still many large (2m x 2m) living healthy colonies of Anemone corals, from the reef edge to quite close to the seawall. The large (6m long) cluster of Ridged montipora corals near the Jetty were still there, mostly healthy, only a few with bleaching tips. They are still festooned with lots of Red feather stars. Although the 'field' of Branching montipora corals near the sluice gate was no longer there, I saw a large patch (5m x 5m) from the low water mark to the seawall. Seems to be an improvement for these corals since our last survey in May 2025. Alas, I couldn't see any colonies of Acropora corals near the beacon or opposite the sluice gate. The water was very murky, so maybe I just missed them.

Boulder pore corals are still abundant on the shore, with many large colonies from the reef edge to the seawall. Most were nice and brown with no or hardly any dead patches. But I saw some small ones that were bleaching, and with recently dying tissues (blue-grey and smells bad). Not sure what is going on.

I only saw a tiny cluster of Sickle seagrass at the usual place near the beacon among the leathery soft coral patches. Perhaps the soft corals are overwhelming them? It is a little disconcerting that it's June and the Sargassum hasn't totally died out on Serapong. There are still many 'bushy' patches on the low shore. Not sure what is going on.

What is the fate of Serapong shores?

The Greater Sentosa Master Plan for a transport hub linking Sentosa and Pulau Brani in Keppel Harbour is likely to seriously impact the western stretch of Serapong. Here's what the team saw here in Apr 2026. Once completed, Greater Sentosa is projected to attract about double its current number of visitors, now about 17 million visitors a year.

These shores are also likely to be impacted by the reclamation at Keppel-Tanjong Pagar expected to start end of 2027.

As well as more long term plans such as the Greater Southern Waterfront coastal protection plan - a “continuous line of defence” at the South. Construction is slated to begin in the 2030s.