Lim Chu Kang (16 Apr 2011)

Another small team of enthusiastic volunteers gather today to find out what lives in the soft mudflats of Lim Chu Kang.

At the meeting point, we are welcomed by several friendly dogs! So sorry, we have no doggy food for you!

It rained heavily earlier, so the day was cool and overcast. A perfect setting for a mud bath. On the horizon, across the Johor Strait is Johor.

After exhaustingly and exhaustively mining the mud around the stream, we start to check out the rest of the soft squishy mud flats.

There are lots and lots of Onch slugs on the shore. I get a pot full of them in no time.

Here's a closer look at an Onch slug busy slurping up stuff from the mud, leaving a trail of poop behind it. Mud creatures are gross but fascinating!

Wow, Kwang Liak has found a strange mangrove anemone! It's bizarre! Full of bumps on the body column. It does look like the Plain anemone that we sometimes see on our other shores. This sea anemone has yet to be identified!

Later on, I found another of these strange anemones. Here's what it looks like while it's still in the mud.

The rest of the team found MORE of these anemones! For a grand total of five of them! Bravo!

Wow, someone has found a scorpionfish! Could it be the Stargazer waspfish or Mangrove waspfish? We also found a little mudskipper and other small fishes.

There weren't so many bristleworms in this mudflat, although we did find lots of Ribbon worms.

We even found some animals that look like sea cucumbers! Ken Jin also found some brittlestars under a piece of wood. The first time we have found echinoderms on a mangrove mudflat. So exciting!

Rene is hard at work taking photos of us and of the animals that we find. Check out her photos on facebook.

Soon it was time to pack up and sort out our finds.

Before we go, Dr Ng from the Tropical Marine Science Institute tells us more about our finds, and explains more about the purpose of the Survey.

Here's a little clip of Dr Ng's explanations.

And here's a group photo of the muddy but happy team after the Survey.

There's no washing up facilities at this site, so we try to get as clean as possible in a little mangrove stream.

Here's a little clip of us at work and washing up afterwards.

Another satisfying survey with lots of exciting finds!

Other posts about this trip

• Rene on facebook with volunteers at work and what we found.

There's more work to be done after the field session, to process, sort and identify all these fascinating creatures. Look out for more news on how you can help out in this as well.

Upcoming trips for the rest of the year have been announced on the mailing list for registered volunteers. To join us, register your interest in this form and you'll be invited to join the mailing list to receive updates on the Survey and sign up for Survey activities.

Also check out our FAQs for more about the Survey.

To find out more about our common mangrove wildlife, check out the online Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore and the wildsingapore wild fact sheets.