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! ::

:: Nearby, a thunder crab (Myomenippe hardwickii) protects her eggs. Legend has it that if one's fingers are caught between the powerful claws of this crab, it would need a clap of thunder for the crab to release it ::

:: A fan shell, encrusted with tube worms and things. In the background, the Chek Jawa boardwalk ::

:: Chay Hoon found this bubble shell or headshield slug. Isn't it pretty? ::

:: As was walking back to House No. 1, went to have a closer look on the shore plants of Chek Jawa. The white flower with the pink centre belongs to Singapore's native Pong-pong tree (Cerbera odollam). It can only be found on natural coastal forests such as those found on Chek Jawa ::

:: And the Seashore nutmeg (Knema globularia) were fruiting. And a sea hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus) ::

:: A juvenile horseshoe crab...::

:: View of the boardwalk at House No. 1. It was a lovely day actually, though some what marred by the incessant noise by inconsiderate and silly visitors from a certain girls school on the boardwalk, who probably fightened all the shy animals like civet cats and squirrels away ::

:: But, all in all it was a lovely day to be out traipsing on Chek Jawa. Great to see everyone and to hear Siti bellowing and making her snide caustic remarks that could burn the skin off anyone.. Oh yes, I have here a snap shot of the "Ubin Fashion Festival"........::

:: Actually one of them was wearing a pair shiny black kitten heels. Unfortunately, my stealth camera taking skills are pathetic so ... ::

Beware! Man-eating Anemone! (22 Jan , 2008)

:: Yes, it does seem about the right time that I had a blog. A blog specifically to write about my jaunts with Team Seagrass, Naked Hermit Crabs and Koh Sheng's CJ project on Chek Jawa to various shores and nature spots on Singapore . And the wonderful, amazing and sometimes peculiar things(and people) that I encounter during these trips. ::

:: Was back on Chek Jawa on Tuesday after Sunday's Team Sea Grass monitoring (which left me with an ugly tan line which gave the impression that I was wearing a big sports bra) to volunteer for Kok Sheng's CJ project. What we volunteers do is monitor key species on Chek Jawa (which suffered losses in a mass death last January due to the monsoon) and collecting data for Kok Sheng. Anyway, its just another excuse for to visit Chek Jawa and play in the sun while the rest of the world are stuck behind their desks. * grin* ::

:: Herons, egrets and other shore birds can be seen feeding on the intertidals while at House No. 1. The sky was a shocking blue, and as the tide receded out, pools of water amongst sand bars and rocks filled with the glint and glitter of sea life. ::

:: The Chek Jawa Boardwalk. The public can sign up for guided walks with NParks on this almost lost shore. Here, July puts up " Research in Progress" sign. ::

:: Intrepid volunteers from Team Anemone braving the mid-day heat. Kok Sheng was the star of the day, where the team from Channel 8 came to film a programme on volunteers who work to save the environment. And in Mandarin! (what do you call a sea star in Mandarin? Hai Xing?) ::

:: This tiny crab is called an Elbow Crab, Why? Look at its pincers... ::

:: Sea Hares are in season at Chek Jawa. Have always wanted to see them and I was in luck. There were everywhere. Sea Hares are molluscs and have an internal shell. They are also hermaphrodites. How lucky eh? Above, right, the sea hare is seeking shade from the sun by attempting to burrow under the dead flower crab. ::

:: We saw this brittle star on the sand bank. One of the many STARS of Chek Jawa. ::

:: Found this empty mass of egg sacs. Well Ria and I were arguing whether if it was an empty one. I thought it probably looked liked squid eggs. But subsequently Ron told me that (below) were unhatched octopus eggs so probably all the babies have hatched and swam away. Anyway, I thought the egg mass look rather like a black sea cucumber. ::

:: The carpet anemones (Stichodactyla haddoni)were doing well. In fact, we saw many of them...some really big. ::

:: Was told that these carpet anemones can grow to 1m in length. Told Ria imagine if we just left them alone, to their own devices, evolution might allow them to grow to an immense size...and well, who knows, maybe one day we might hear of killer carpet anemone devouring unsuspecting Chek Jawa volunteers. *snort* ::

:: One of my favourites denizens at Chek Jawa. The peacock anemones, in various shades of shocking orange, green and pink, usually comes out of their tubes when its cooler in the day, waving their dainty tentacles through the water to snare unsuspecting prey. ::

:: View of the House 1 below the boardwalk. Large meadows of sea grasses could be found here. Maybe a transect here next time? ::

:: Besides the usual barnacles, drills, whelks and sponges found on the pillars of the boardwalk, we found a few bunches of pink soft corals. Ria pointed out a certain species of cowrie/snail which looks exactly like the warts and bumps of the soft coral lived amongst its fronds, but alas, even though we molested a few, we didn't find any. ::

:: Chanced upon this meter long monitor lizard scampering away into the cliffs as I approached. They are fairly common on Ubin and are mostly scavengers. ::

:: Mussels. Found in clumps usually under the boardwalk and pontoon. ::

:: These are sand dollars, the currencies of the shore. If only! I'll be rich! Related to sea stars, sea cucumbers and sea urchins (Echinoderms), sand dollars are found on the sand bar, leaving their trails, leading unassuming lives, eating detritus..until someone accidentally steps onto one of them. Sounds like some people I know.. ::


:: As the day got cooler, the sea cucumbers start popping out from their burrows. From Left: the sandfish sea cucumber (holothuria scabra) also affectionately known as the garlic bread sea cucumber (thanks Ria), the ball sea cucumber (Phyllophorus sp.) also known by the Malays as gamut, and the slimy smooth sea cucumber that reminds me of something sexy that I really shouldn't say on this blog. ::


:: Tube worms by the thousands resides on the sand bar. When the tide comes in, the worms come out, displaying their feathery tentacles to feed... ::

:: Ria found a nudibranch (Armina barbai) and since I am rather new to this Latin  identification for creatures, I remember its name by calling it Armina's Babi. Anyway, I have been told that it exudes a strong medicinal smell when molested/threatened. And below, I found this nudibranch Dendrodoris denisoni near the pontoon...argh, my clumsy tongue can't keep up! ::


:: Found these sea hares doing the nasty while two sand stars scurried away...the orangy mess of threads are the result of the sea hares amorous activities. ::

:: Thus was a lovely day thanks to Kok Sheng and Ria and everyone else. And this blog post is really hard to do. Urgh! I actually have a video of a train of sea hares in an orgy but its taking too long to upload so...maybe later when I get a hang of this whole blogging thing. ::