Here's a glimpse of some of the interesting places and colourful marine life seen during the first busy week of the Northern Expedition that I missed blogging about in earlier posts.
Loh Kok Sheng and Ivan Kwan surveyed a part of Pulau Ubin that is rarely visited on Day 2. Past the picturesque Tanjung Tajam.
Here, they saw the intriguing
Burgundy sea anemone (
Bunodosoma goanense) that so far we've only seen at Punggol.
Like many rocky areas on our Northern shores, there are colourful
sponges here.
On Day 3 the team visited
Tuas, a narrow strip of seagrassy, rubbly and reefy shore that escaped reclamation. It is teeming with reefy life such as beautiful
Pink flowery soft corals (Family Nephtheidae).
Also plenty of colourful
sea fans (Order Gorgonacea).
And sea stars like this large
Cake sea star (
Anthenea aspera).
This pretty pink
Slender sea pen (
Virgularia sp.) seems to be more commonly seen on reefy areas like Tuas and
Beting Bronok.
Meanwhile, another team was at Pulau Sekudu, just off Chek Jawa on Pulau Ubin where there are lots of amazing large
Knobbly sea stars (
Protoreaster nodosus).
On Day 4 the team visited Changi which is full of colourful marine life. Such as pretty
cerianthids (Order Ceriantharia), also known as peacock anemones, although they are not true sea anemones.
It is also where we can find all kinds of pretty sea stars like this small
Cake sea star (
Anthenea aspera).
And the
Painted sea star (
Astropecten sp.)
And this gorgeously patterned
Moon crab (
Matuta planipes) which is commonly seen on Changi but not encountered as often elsewhere.
Meanwhile, another team was at Chek Jawa famous for escaping reclamation and for its seagrass meadows with all kinds of marine life. The large colourful
Haddon's carpet anemones (
Stichodactyla haddoni) are common here.
Chek Jawa is one of the places where we can encounter the
Red scaly sea star (
Nepanthia sp.) that isn't very often seen.
The beautiful
Little ruby flatworm (
Phrikoceros baibaiye) appears to be seasonally common, so it's good to see it during the Northern Expedition.
Back at the lab, all kinds of observations are made. Rene Ong saw this tiny nudibranch that Chay Hoon found laying eggs.
Jerome Pang shared this close up of a tiny baby squid still inside its
egg capsule.
Thanks to the many volunteers who shared these photos. This is just a tiny glimpse of the many activities going on and the astounding variety of marine life we have encountered in just seven days of intensive surveys!
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