Pulau Sekudu with dugong feeding trails

A small team surveys this untouched island that lies opposite Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin. We survey in the dark and end as the tide turns at sunrise. Pulau Sekudu is off limits since 2007 and requires special permission from NParks.

I saw dugong feeding trails again! The team make all the special finds including seahorse, stonefish. I will update with their sightings later.

Updating with finds by the rest of the team! I estimate we saw 25 Knobbly sea stars distributed throughout the island, similar to our May 2025 survey. We saw mostly large grandmother stars, with only one young one seen by Jonathan (greenish on in the top left corner). Sightings of young ones would suggest regeneration of this population - hope to see more of them soon.

Since we noticed mass injuries on Knobbly sea stars at Cyrene in Feb 2026, we are on the look out for similar injuries in other Knobbly sea star populations. While most of those on Pulau Sekudu seems okay, I saw some sea stars with a few knobs that were sliced off or seem to be falling off. Could it be the sea stars self amputated their knobs, the same way that they can do with their arms? Zen also shared a photo of a yellow Knobbly sea star he saw in Bali with similar injuries. So it seems this is something Knobblies do?

Sadly, other kinds of stars were no longer so abundant. Biscuit sea stars have been missing from Pulau Sekudu since Jul 2020 and today, Jonathan saw a small one and I saw a tiny one. We didn't see many other kinds of sea stars, aside from a few Common sea stars, a Painted sand star. The most abundant echinoderm on the shore were Synaptid sea cucumbers! There were also some well camouflated White sea urchins. Also seen, one feather star, one heart urchin, and one small Diadema sea urchin, in addition to the big one near the rock; Marcus saw three big ones too. 

Other special finds include the large Ramose murex, jewel-like Onyx cowrie. Also many nudibranchs and slugs - the Northern shores usually have a wider variety than the South. There were also many Lightning flatworms and Persian carpet flatworms! Not sure why. Many octopuses were out an about, as well as squid and fishes of all kinds. A snaky anemone was seen, as well as a large Flowery disk coral!

Recently, I sensed that we have been seeing much fewer Noble volutes that in the past. So we are now going to document every live Noble volute that we see. What a relief to see many today at Pulau Sekudu. As a team, we saw about 30, from small ones with 'clean' shells to larger ones with shell patterns obscured by age. Jason spotted a smaller on top of a larger one - possibly a mating pair? Many were seen laying egg capsules, there were also many egg capsules without snails nearby. Several also spotted burrowing - possibly eating some buried prey? This large beautiful snail is restricted to our part of the world, in particular, Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. We have a duty to protect them. Hopefully, our sightings will help encourage further study into whether the populations on our shores are okay. 

Similar to our last survey in May 2025, colourful sponges, sea fans and some soft corals still dot the coral rubble. I still sense the sponges are not as abundant and their diversity is lower. But there were some good clumps of well formed sponges. The 'nudi rocks' were colourful with sponges too.

The team is diligently counting Knobbly sea stars - I saw 9. Will compile all their sightings soon. Sadly, Biscuit sea stars have been missing from Pulau Sekudu since Jul 2020 and today, I only saw one tiny one. But there were many Synaptid sea cucumbers, a large Garlic bread sea cucumber too. I saw a few White sea urchins, one Diadema sea urchin. When we arrived, we saw a large empty shell of what seems to be a Triton snail - we suspect it used in some shore-side religious or cultural ritual, and got lost. Jonathan also showed me a Ramose murex which we also saw on our last survey.

I saw many soft corals and other cnidarians, they seemed alright. The most abundant remains Haddon's carpet anemones. I saw one Swimming anemone. There were also a variety of small sea fans, many with large dead portions. I saw some small colonies of Flowery soft corals, and also some sea pens.

Similar to our last survey in May 2025, I saw about 15 small to medium sized Boulder pore corals, on the arm of the lagoon. None of them were bleaching but some had large dying (bluish grey) tissue and dead parts at the top. Most small colonies were perfectly well formed. I saw patches of Zebra coral on rubble and even a glass bottle. Also a Disk coral. But I didn't come across the Pock-marked coral colony and Boulder sandpaper coral colony that I had in the past.

Was glad to see many clear dugong feeding trails again today, though a bit challenging to photograph in the dark. These trails are formed when dugongs chomp up seagrasses including their roots, leaving a shallow meandering furrow of about equal width and depth. Although we have seen feeding trails on Chek Jawa , I only saw them for first time on Pulau Sekudu on our last survey in May 2025.

As on our last survey in May 2025, seagrasses remain lush, green and clean (no epiphytes)! Lots of Spoon seagrass (both small and large leaf blades) and Needle seagrass (narrow and broad leaf blades). There were sprinkles of Fern seagrass at the eastern most edge of the island. The Serrated ribbon seagrass are still growing in sparse patches from the mid-water mark to the low tide line. On the arm of the lagoon, I saw several clumps of Tape seagrass with leaves cropped to about 30cm. None were flowering.

Fortunately, today we didn't come across any fish traps or nets.

What is the fate of Pulau Sekudu?

Chek Jawa and Pulau Sekudu is slated for reclamation in the Long-Term Plan Review. The plan includes 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 a large stretches of Changi Beach.

The Singapore Blue Plan 2018

Among the Proposed Areas for Immediate Conservation Priority, the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 proposes that the intertidal and subtidal marine areas of Pulau Ubin to be designated Marine Reserve.

Dugong feeding trails in the dark.

The proposed area would include Tanjung Chek Jawa, the largest known intertidal area in northern Singapore. Considered one of the richest in Singapore, Chek Jawa comprises many adjacent ecosystems: coastal hill forest, mangrove areas, rocky shores, seagrass meadows, coral communities, and sandy areas. Chek Jawa remains an icon of celebration and hope for many Singaporeans since its reprieve from reclamation in 2001.

DOWNLOAD the Plan, SUPPORT the Plan! More on the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 site.

Others on this survey

Jason Ooi


Richard Kuah


Chay Hoon


Jonathan Tan


Marcus Ng


Rui Quan Oh


Others on this survey: Ian Mun, Anya