Ubin rocks still alive

A small team surveys the living rocks and seagrass meadows next to Ubin Jetty. 

We started at Thomson's Rock which was sparsely 'painted' with colourful encrusting animals. And ended up at the shore opposite the old Civil Service Chalets, where the sea fans were much reduced. The rest of the team make all the special finds. I will update later.

This rock is made famous by John Turnbull Thomson's 1850 painting: "Grooved stones on Pulo Ubin near Singapore."

Image from Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance

The fluted sides of Thomson's Rock were 'painted' with sparse patches of colourful encrusting sponges, ascidians and fluffy hydroids. Compared to our last survey in Jun 2025, today the variety remains low. Seems like the shore has not recovered to what we saw in Jun 2021. Nevertheless, we saw one Rose nudibranch and many Blue-dotted flatworms which feast on such encrusting animals.

The sea fan garden near the jetty seems much reduced today, compared to our last survey in Jun 2025. But there were still large colonies of Flat branch sea fans and Asparagus sea fan. As well as some of the commonly seen varieties. Most were well covered with Tiny colourful brittle stars. But near the Big Rock and even among the live ones near the jetty, there were many dead sea fans.

There were many Zebra corals, which can be quite common on our Northern rocky shores. I saw some Cave corals and one small Flowery disk coral. I saw many more small colonies of Pink flowery soft corals stuck on the big rocks than I did on our last survey in Jun 2025. I didn't see any that were bleaching.

Today I saw sprinkles of Spoon seagrass (with large leaves) all along the shoreline from the Big Rock to Ubin Jetty. The leaves were nice and green, most were free of epiphytes. The ground is very soft in some parts. This is similar to our last survey in Jun 2025. The tide turned before sunrise so I couldn't see if the seagrasses were as lush as they were in Jun 2021. The shore was rather quiet. Haddon's carpet anemones remained the most abundant cnidarian visible here. There were many Ball sea cucumbers, but I only saw one Thorny sea cucumber. I saw the usual variety of sea pens but no cerianthids. I saw one hermit crab. 

What is the fate of Pulau Ubin?

This shore, together with 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.

We started in the dark and ended at sunrise as the tide turned.

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.