Back To This Part Of Changi Shore.....

after a long time this morning! More than a year!

The first thing we saw are the colourful and beautiful Sea Fans (okay, plus the nasty looking Stinging Hydroids :op)!



And they seen to be doing pretty well!


A little Hermit Crab perched on a Sea Fan.


Was checking the Stinging Hydroid for commensals and found this thingy on it. Could this be a Lomanotus sp. nudibranch that can be found on such Hydroid? This is the best pic I have as the Hydroid was swaying about and of course, I would not want to touch and hold the Hydroid to keep it still! :op


Found a pair of these nudibranch (possible Cratena sp.)!


and later on branches of a Candy Hydroid, spotted another pair!


Lots of this Flatworm around.


A few Fanworm can be seen in the water.


Came across two of these Spider Crab.


A mama Stone/Thunder Crab hiding in a crevice.


While this little Filefish was hiding among the purple sponges.


The only Sea Urchin that I saw today.



Plenty of Crown/Rock Sea Star can be seen. One with six arms and some as small as my fingers.


The other "Star" sightings are this Spiny Sea Star.....


and this Featherstar/Crinoid.


Saw only one Synaptid Sea Cucumber.


Lastly, a buried Sea Cucumber with its feeding tentacles out grabbing tiny food in the water.

Careful Where You Put Your Next Step.....

or you will be stepping on what you think is a rock but turned out to be.....


A Stonefish!!!!

Saw it at Pulau Hantu yesterday when we were out there checking the bleaching situation. This fish was lying motionlessly next to some brown seaweeds and it just looks like a piece of rock with all the silt and Ascidians on it!

So remember to check out what is in front of you before you proceed and try not to step on any rock/rubbles if possible. Phew!

Other than this scary encounter, we saw couple of stuffs too!

But first, how's the bleaching situation? Well according to the rest who had been here last month, the condition of the corals seen to have improved.




But some corals are still fighting the "war".....



Hope they can win the "war" and survive!



Big Anemones like the Magnificent Anemone and the Giant Carpet Anemone are in their healthy colours!


And in some Giant Carpet Anemones, hide the camera shy False-clown Anemonefish!


Near the mouth of the lagoon, spotted this elegant Featherstar/Crinoid.


A long Ribbon worm. The stripes on its body reminds me of pyjamas. :p


Lots of Octopus sightings on the reef. Most of them are busying hunting about.


A grumpy looking Mosaic Reef Crab guarded its breakfast tightly as if fearing that we would steal the clam away.

As the tide turns, we slowly made our way back to the high shore. Along the way, we checked out the Burrowing Giant Clam that ML had tagged.


It is still doing pretty well!


Spotted this Black prickly Nudibranch (Atagema intecta) on a brown sponge.


Haha.....and also the cute tiny Strawberry Sea Slug (Costasiella sp.) on the solitary Fan green seaweeds (Avrainvillea sp.).


A Ghost Crab burrowed into the sand.


A lots of these dull looking Anemone can be found on the high sandy shore.


All too soon, the sun rises and we called it a day!

Predawn Trip To Cyrene Reef Again.....

This morning, I made my second predawn trip to Cyrene Reef.

With me this time were some volunteers from Nparks Ubin. It was nice to share with them this reef that we called Chek Jawa of the South as most of the habitats and creatures found here are similar to those in Chek Jawa in the North.

First, we started with the many Knobbly Sea Stars that you can see at Cyrene!




They come in various colours and number of arms!


The team also saw the Pentaceraster Sea Star after much searching for it among the seagrass! It a juvenile and about palm size! This one looks different from the one that KS saw on Sunday. Wow.....this mean that there are more babies around?


We also came across this unknown Sea Star. It looks like a hybrid of a Knobbly and a Pentaceraster.

We saw other "Stars" too! Like.....


The Spiny Sea Star! My first time seeing it at Cyrene!



And a couple of Cushion Stars!




Various Sea Cucumbers! From top-down : Sandfish/Garlic Bread Sea Cucumber, Remarkable Sea Cucumber and Stonefish/White-rumped Sea Cucumber!


Saw at least three Longhorn Cowfish in the tidepools!


A Flathead laid motionlessly among the Seagrass.


Found these Strawberry Sea Slugs on the solitary Fan green seaweeds again.



Other Sea slugs seen include these two nudibranch! The Bohol nudibranch (Discodoris boholiensis) and Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata)

We also checked out on the bleaching situation.


Lots of the Soft corals are still doing badly!


While the Hard corals fare slightly better. Only a few were bleaching here and there.

Tomorrow it another trip to Cyrene again! But it will be in daylight!

If you like to find out more about Cyrene Reef, visit the "Cyrene Reef Exposed" blog!

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