BB Secrets

:: Amongst the shore volunteers, BB is a very special reef. Located in the northern part of Singapore, stories of how one can find sea life that are elusive and rare on mainland Singapore and the other Southern islands, would find the shores crawling and bubbling with life. Another reason why its so special is the fact that 2/3 of it has already been destroyed through reclamation works a few years back, and whatever is left, is still teeming with marine life. Goes to show how resilient nature is. BB is about 45 minutes away from Changi via boat and one can only land (an amphibious landing just like Cyrene) when the tides are favourably low. So I jumped at the opportunity to head to BB with Ria, Dr Chua and the rest of the mad-cap volunteers, at 3am on a warm Saturday morning. ::

:: Getting ready for BB. ::

:: The air was still, nary a breeze on this muggy Saturday morning. Not single star in the sky. ::

:: ...but lots of stars on the sand/silt/substrate. I didn’t realized that early in the morning but when dawn came, the shore was crawling with stars. Here we have two specimens of biscuit sea star (Goniodiscaster scaber). ::

:: Cake sea stars( Anthenea aspera) are the other kind of star easily found here on BB. I have yet to really comprehend how to id juvenile biscuit and cake sea stars. More here on wild films blog on the intricacies of sea star id. ::

:: Another special sea star, a 6-armed scaly sea star (Nepanthia belcheri) , found by Joe Lai. ::

:: What shore trip would be complete without a sighting of knobblies (Protoreaster nodosus). We found these 5 knobblies in this intriguing arrangement. ::

:: And I found a beautiful powdery gray coloured sea star. Apparently, it probably is a Craspidaster hesperus and we have never seen it intertidally before in Singapore. And as Ria pointed out, you can see tiny stars shaped spinelets on its upper surface. How cool is that! ::

:: Other echinoderms found include sea cucumbers and sea urchins. The pink thorny sea cucumber could be found relatively easy on BB. Here, you can see the feathery tentacles.::

:: As said, some creatures rare on mainland can be found in great numbers on BB. I have never seen pencil sea urchins (Prionocidaris bispinosa) before but when morning came, so many could be found amongst the coral rubble that we had to be really careful in case we stepped on them ::

:: Here we have a pair of Onyx cowries (Cypraea onyx). This cowrie is listed among the threatened animals of Singapore due to habitat loss and over-collection and is rarely seen. The paler cowrie is called the Wandering cowrie (Cypraea errones). Cowries have shiny shells cause their mantle usually covers its entire shell, thus algae and stuff wont get the chance to grow on it. In the past, cowries were used as currency due to their polished and shiny appearances. ::

:: Another unusual and elusive snail spotted was this ovulid snail. Found amongst the attractive soft coral which resembles cauliflower, these ovulid snalls have a mantle which covers their shell where it imitates the bumps and colouring of the coral polyps of their host. Its really hard to spot, where rumour has it that a local diver flew all the way to Phillipines to take a photo of this snail, only to be told that it can found here in Singapore waters. ::

:: These clumps or balls of these flowery soft corals, in pinks and cream, are rather common on BB. If you take a closer look, many tiny polps can be seen at the tips of the branches, through which this animal catches minute prey. ::

:: And I was very lucky to spot this white shrimp living amongst the branches. Apparently, usually a pair lives amongst the clumps of the soft coral, giving it a safe secure home. ::

:: Many anemones were spotted as well. According to Kok Sheng, this is a swimming anemone. ::

:: Another first for me is this rare bailer snail (Melo melo). Threatened in Singapore cause irresponsible people poach them for food, this carnivorous snail has beautiful tiger-like stripes on its foot. We spotted another one much later having a gong gong for breakfast! ::

:: A relative of the bailer snail, the nobile volute (Cymbiola nobilis) too has striking patterns on its foot. ::

:: BB has many firsts for me. Here is large anemone which has a body that is as clear as glass and has specks of gold in its tentacles and body. Its so pretty and this photo does not do it justice. It’s a piece of artwork I tell ya. ::

:: My first time seeing a sea fan (Top). And hydroids as well. That’s why we were all wearing long track pants for this delicate and innocuous looking animals causes painful stings that leaves ugly scars. ::

:: Spotted this big sea horse (Hippocampus kuda) lying limp in a shallow pool of water. The yellow one was found later on. ::

:: Some parts of BB is covered by stunning patches of sponges in blues, greens, reds and yellows. If we blew them up to the scale of buildings, they would be architectural wonders and be most appropriate for any science fiction movie. ::


:: And what trip would be complete without seeing nudibranchs. Denisoni nudibranchs seems to be in season and were having mating. Here, you can see the beauty of its electric blue spots on its body. ::


:: Talking about electric blue, its my first time seeing the stunning blue dragon nudibranch. Not just one but 5! Wow! ::



:: And Joe Lai found this lovely nudibranch (Bornella stellifer) which I have never seen before. I thought it does look like one of the nudibranchs featured in National Geographic recently. And yes, this nudibranch flees from danger like its cousin by swimming like an eel. ::


:: We can always depend on eagle eyed Chay Hoon to spot nudibranchs that are no bigger than a finger nail. This nudibranch is probably only, at best, 1.5cm long! ::



:: Another surprise find was to actually see moray eels and none of us had to get our entire body wet! I found one sticking its head out of his home while Kenerf found another one later, entirely out of water. It was very much alive and it slithered into the lagoon, probably relieved, after we snapped shots of it. ::


:: We saw quite a few octopi on relatively dry areas, probably caught unawares by the retreating tide. ::

:: Was looking at this strange looking mound of sorbet lime coloured sponge and then realized that it was attached to this grumpy orange crab with beady eyes. I shall name it Grimace! ::

:: Morning breaking over BB was postcard perfect. This is another reason why I go on these shore trips. Mornings have never looked better. I could be in Halong Bay for all you know... ::

:: 4 hours later, it was time to leave. ::

:: This is one trip that was worth waking up for. A respite from regular life, as a mindless drone, a dispensable cog in this city. Thank you Ria as always and everyone else who made this trip fascinating. ::

Ah! Who can resist the call of Cyrene...

:: Ah Cyrene. Just like its mythical namesake from Greek mythogs, where Apollo fell in love with Cyrene, daughter of Hypseus, King of Lapiths, after she wrestled with a lion who attacked her father's sheep. Apollo kidnapped her and founded a city in North Africa (now Libya). And just like he, I too have fallen under the spell of our enchanting Cyrene Reef, right the middle of The Lion City's busy shipping lane. ::

:: Cyrene reef can only be visited a few times a year, at one of the lowest spring tides and only for a few hours. Thus this morning, we mad-capped volunteers, NParks and Dr Lane were there to continue our echinoderm hunt. After the lack of interesting echinoderms on Pulau Semakau on Tuesday, today we found what we were looking for! ::



:: We departed from Singapore Yacht Club in good spirits, all of us raring to down and dirty, looking for echinoderm specimens... ::


:: As the reef is usually fully submerged most of the time, it means it doesn't have a proper landing site. Thus, we  would need to make an amphibious landing i.e get wet ::


:: The smaller boat will take us to shore ::


:: Cyrene reef is surrounded by petrochemical refineries and heavy industries on Pulau Bukom & Jurong Island ::


:: Off we go in our dinky little boat ::



:: While some of us suited up, others have already went off in different directions ::




:: Cyrene did not disappoint us. There were so many knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodusus) to be found. In all colours, shapes and sizes! ::


:: And common sea stars (Archester typicus) were found all over the sand dune, some of them mating. And big too ::


:: Siti and Weiling found a sea horse (Hippocampus kuda). My first living sea horse on our shores! It was a very pregnant daddy sea horse and refused to have its picture taken ::


:: A sea hare ::


:: Lush sea grass meadows. I have never seen so many species of sea grass before in Singapore, all in one area ::


:: Peacock anemones found here have the most psychedelic colours ::


:: Spotted this long-horned cowfish (Lactoria cornuta) which was utterly adorable. It was swimming around like a wound up toy when it beached itself against the sand. They are related to puffer fishes ::


:: Sea urchins are echinoderms too. Actually, there were plenty of them on Cyrene. Here is a salmacis sea urchin and its dead friend's test ::


:: Black sea urchin (it shall not be named..) with his long spikes and electric blue spots. That ball thing is not its eye which I thought it was, but instead, its the anus. (Imagine having a bulbous anus...no wonder you have spikes) ::


:: So many colony of zoanthids in the sand, all in feeding mode::


:: Lotus coloured jellyfish swam languidly in the shallows::


:: First time seeing a greenish-blue cake star (Anthenea aspera)...one of its arms have been nibbled upon ::


:: I spotted this juvenile cushion star amongst the crystalline algae with one of its limbs bitten off previously and now sporting a smaller appendage ::


:: Anemone shrimp. Usually, a male and female pair can be found living on one carpet anemone ::





:: And the reason why we came to Cyrene...to find this sea star! This is a new recording for Singapore and it was spotted for the first time previously when Team Seagrass came to Cyrene for a session of sea grass monitoring where they spotted it. Luckily, Vyna saved the day and found this as we were heading back to our landing point. This is tentatively known as the...Pentaceraster mammillatus!!!! but we prefer to call it the Evil Knobbly...as compared to its benign red/orange cousins ::


:: And of course, we all turned into star paparazzi ::


:: I didn't realised that there was a tiny brittle star on this synaptid sea cucumber until i got home ::


:: Us going wild over another star of Cyrene...this time its a red feather star or crinoid ::



:: Many coral species can be found on Cyrene. These were found near our landing point ::


:: An encounter with one of Singapore's poisonous crabs, the mosaic crab (Lophozozymus pictor). It is also one of Singapore's threatened animals ::


:: Have never seen such sponges before on our shores, with big gapping holes. I think they are the coolest thing. To think we use them to scrub our backs! ::

:: Two big fat juicy Marginated Glossodoris (Glossodoris atromarginata) nudibranchs feeding (yes, eating) on the tape sea grass. Nudibranchs means naked gills and are actually shell-less molluscs ::


:: Sea grapes. Dr Lane ate one and we all went.." EWWWW" . Sure it can be eaten, but not when its from the waters that surrounds heavy industries. Ha!::


::Lets play Caption time! What is Ria yelling at me for? ::



:: And off we go, heading back to the main boat ::

:: It was an amazing trip to Cyrene, thanks to Ria and everyone else who made it so fun and informative. And just as how Grecian Cyrene needed to wrestle the lion who attacked her sheep, our Cyrene reef is constantly under threat by the impeding doom of being blown up or reclaimed as it is right in the middle of a major shipping lane. Cyrene is also potentially at risk from chemical spills from the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom and Jurong Island. And with the monstorus tankers and ships that go by every day, imagine the impact of the waves and currents constantly pounding on the fragile corals and animals found on this marine habitat. ::

Find out more about Cyrene here!

Pulau Semakau: Echinoderm Hunting : Tuesday, 22 April 2008

:: Ria invited us on a trip to Pulau Semakau on Tuesday, in the wee hours of the morning, with Dr Lane, the expert in Echinoderms (sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers etc) to look for echinoderms on our shores. We were tasked to find uncommon echinoderms but it was the usual suspects that we found (at times, we were distracted by other things..Semakau has that effect on you)::

:: Us intrepid volunteers making our way to Semakau ::


:: Our first knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodosus) spotted by myself. And it is rather huge ::


:: SiJie, Vyna and I were walking and we saw this fish. Its a flat head or a crocodile fish. We thought it was dead ::


:: Chanced upon this rather large flat worm ::


:: Dawn slowly approaches ::


:: Another knobbly sea star, this one found by Marcus. And right beside it was a sea cucumber which had its innards split open. We reckon that some fisherman came by and were collecting these benign creatures and this unfortunate fellow fell out. Such a bloody waste! ::


:: A mushroom coral (Heliofungia actiniformis). It is not a sea anemone::




:: Lucky for us the ominous rain clouds stayed above mainland Singapore. And those, my friends, are the petrochemical industries that make our country rich..but at what price? ::


:: Good Lord! Some moronic fisherman left his brain behind! Actually its a brain coral (Family Mussidae).::


:: Contrary to what some people think (ha!), I spotted this chunky Sandfish sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra) first, then realised that there were two mating nudibranchs on top of it. They are Chromodoris lineolata ::


:: Nearby, I spotted a polka-dotted nudibranch (Jorunna funebris) and right beside it, another pair of Chromodoris lineolata mating. Gee, at least some creatures are having wanton sex. ::


:: Hard and soft corals. Semakau is rich in coral species, as you can see ::


:: This stunning peacock anemone reminds me of its flora name sake: the french anemone ::


:: This is a type of nudibranch: the black phyllid ::


:: A synaptid sea cucumber curled around these bulbous sponges ::


:: Robin taking a shot of a sea cucumber, while a pulsating jellyfish swims by ::


:: My favourite neon pink sponges ::


:: Nope, didn't see any Nemos or shrimps under this sea anemone (Stichodactyla sp.) ::


:: A gorgeous flat worm. Looks likes its in PJs ::


:: i thought this sponges were rather interesting looking. Like 3 aliens or like an art piece that one might find at the Venice Binnale. Or like that tourist attraction in Blue Mountains, Sydney Australia, the 3 Sisters::

:: After a long morning, we took the fast craft back to mainland and it was time for Vyna, Helen and myself to open the Team Seagrass booth at Singapore Polytechnic's G-pop event, in celebration of Earth Day! ::


:: Helen getting SOME interest from someone .... ::


:: ...and girls from Hwa Chong Junior Collage, with our cool new stickers, designed by Siti.::



:: Our booth was by far the most informative, fun and exciting one at the event. We had a baby dugong (whom I named Bruce) on loan from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity, thanks to Sijie .(Okay, I am biased)::


:: A close up of poor baby bruce. Baby Bruce was found inside his mother, whom died either from a fish net strangulation or was bludgeoned to death by boat propellers. Yes, she was found on Pulau Ubin ::

:: Tomorrow we get to go to Cyrene reef with Dr Lane and everyone else again! Woot! ::

Back to Chek Jawa: Sat, 12 March 2008

:: Finally. after 2 weeks of hell, which was disguised prettily as the Singapore Fashion Festival, I headed out with Team Seagrass today to our everyones well loved shore, Chek Jawa, for a much anticipated breather from regular life ::

:: The sky was a washed in soft dusty pinks and lilacs and as the sun slowly crept out to welcome a new day, it hung in the sky, a blazed, proud, its orange like the yolk of a duck's egg. A light mist shrouds the island, beckoning with hidden delights. Definitely a morning worth waking up for ::

:: Shiny agate-coloured termite marched along side the path to CJ, while the torrential tropical rain on Friday knocked these durian flowers from its tree, covering the path with its waxy glossy petals ::

:: We had quite a good turn out this morning, so together with the NParks team and Ria (who brought us to the motherlode of rare Beccari's seagrass), we created the third transect for Chek Jawa, just off House No. 1 ::

:: A big patch of Beccari...really tiny and covered by gunk and algae....but its there. You can see them much more clearly on Ria's blog here. ::

:: Have never been to this side of Chek Jawa before so it was rather interesting to say the least. Besides the Beccari, we found a type of unique bivalve called the window pane shells, in various sizes, shapes and iridescent colours. You may have seen this shell in the form of dusty lamps or wind chimes made from these creatures in South East Asia and as a result, over collected for the tourist trade ::

:: Transect 3 was fairly simple since there are only two types of seagrasses: Beccari and Halophila ovalis, Kenerf and I walked out to the coral rubble after we were done ::

:: Pulau Seduku seems so near. And that massive tanker is evident that we are right smack in the middle of one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world ::

:: The boardwalk which leads from House No. 1 ::

:: We chanced upon these two Coastal Horseshoe Crabs (Tachypleus gigas). They were probably mating when we disturbed them. Horseshoe crabs are not true crabs and they are related to spiders and have been around since the age of the dinosaurs ::

:: Chanced upon a brown blob and thought it was a sea cucumber of sorts. Then it started to move and realised that it was a sea hare. You can see the internalised shell in the middle of its body ::

:: The carpet anemones are doing very well. There were so many of them and they seem to be really close to one another. I was wondering if they were mating as there were floating blobs of translucent mucus floating amongst the algae and seagrasses and were particularly near the carpet anemones ::

:: A selmacis sea urchin ::

:: First star of the day, a yummy looking biscuit star (Goniodiscaster scaber) ::

:: Herons and egrets having their breakfast and in the background, Ria with her black umbrella. ::

:: Found this dead biscuit star under the boardwalk. It looked like it imploded and something that happened to many of the sea creatures during the mass death of Chek Jawa in 2007. Could it be due to the rain of recent days? ::

:: Fortunately, this orange Cake Sea Star (Anthenea aspera) looks healthy. Gerald found it whilst looking for his orange pegs which he had dropped while monitoring ::

:: Chay Hoon showed me these rocks stars underneath a rock. She said they were having a concert underneath. Ha! ::