Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Thursday, June 30, 2016

The Southern Expedition: What we found

The results of the Southern Expedition for the Mega Marine Survey are out! These include seven species new to science and more than 160 new records for Singapore!

A massive 30 articles outline the results and had to be published in two volumes in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement No. 34 Part I and Part II. Some of these will be featured on the Mega Marine Survey facebook page in the coming weeks.

The Northern Expedition: what we found

The results of the Northern Expedition are published in The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 2015 Supplement No. 31.

With lots of new finds from slugs to seaweeds, sea cucumbers to sea anemones, lots of crabs and other critters! Some of these will be featured on the Mega Marine Survey facebook page in the coming weeks.

Volunteer divers invited to join the Mega Marine Survey

Volunteer to dive with the Mega Marine Survey!

Photo by Toh Chay Hoon on facebook
during a Mega Marine Survey dive

Dives in Jan-Feb 2015 are now open for registration! Registration closes on 14 Nov 2014.

Diving for Treasure: Singapore Style - a video clip of the Southern Expedition

A video clip of the Southern Expedition is now online on the Shell YouTube channel.

It features some of the key activities at the Southern Expedition.

Mega Marine Survey featured in Nature of a City

The Mega Marine Survey and the Southern Expedition (14:18 - 19:00) are featured in Nature of a City a Channel NewsAsia documentary. With Dr Tan Koh Siang speaking during a dredging survey.

"Small stuff" at the Southern Expedition and why we should care

When asked why he was interested in bryozoans, Dr Kevin Tilbrook of the Queensland Museum joked: "Isn't everyone?"

Grace Chua has captured Dr Kevin's humour that many at the Southern Expedition appreciated (and miss). She also explored why we should care about small stuff that people often overlook, featuring some of the amazing animals encountered during the Mega Marine Survey expeditions.

Mega Marine Survey at the Festival of Biodiversity

The Festival was an awesome explosion of fun for volunteers of the marine community and fellow nature lovers.

President Tony Tan visited the Festival and we take the opportunity to share about the important aspects of our biodiversity. Heng Pei Yan managed to get a smile out of him by showing him how the dugong leaves a feeding trail in our seagrass meadows.

Southern Expedition in the news

A slideshow of some happenings at the Southern Expedition is featured in Today Online.

Photo from Don Wong Today Online 13 Jun 13

Much earlier, just after Minister Tan Chuan Jin's visit, there were also many media features about the Southern Expedition. Here's some highlights.

Video clip of "Copepods -- an introduction to the 'Insects of the Sea'" by Prof Rony Huys

Thanks to Andy Dinesh, here's a video clip of the awesome talk by Prof Rony Huys on one of the most numerous animals on the planet.

From his talk, we learnt that copepods are indeed sexy, delightful and endlessly fascinating animals.

Southern Expedition dive photos and stories by Debby Ng

Thanks to Debby Ng of the Hantu Bloggers for awesome dive photos and dive stories at the Southern Expedition!

Photo by Debby Ng.

In her post Surveying the Deep Debby shares: "Apart from getting to dive in areas that leisure divers do not frequent, it was a real eyeopener to be diving with a diverse group of scientists from around the world who have such varied interests and expertise!"

The last day of the Southern Expedition

Today we wind down the Expedition spending the entire day washing and washing, packing and packing.

Here's a last look at the people and happenings at Base Camp before the Expedition shuts down.

Last field trips on Day 17 of the Southern Expedition

This is the last day for field trips. A bitter-sweet time when we savour every moment at the Expedition.

Heng Pei Yan and I decide to hunt for shrimps at the lagoon next to the public jetty. It was a hot day, with the main city skyline and the greenery of Seringat-Kias on the horizon. There were also diving, dredging and mini-talks.

Molluscs, ascidians, stars and cucumbers: Mini-talks at the Southern Expedition

We finally get an understanding of some of our common ascidians. As well as some of our echinoderms, and learn about molluscs and marine life in Thailand. In the last of the mini-talks at the Southern Expedition.

As Debby Ng of the Hantu Bloggers says so well: "I've learned so much from #megamarine survey! Learned/saw new things & learned more about things I already knew some about! Enriched!"

'Sulphur-eating' clams, shrimps and sea cucumbers: Mini-talks at the Southern Expedition

The highlight of the day are the mini-talks by experts at the Expedition. From 'sulphur-eating' clams, to wondrous shrimps and amazing sea cucumbers.

The series kicks off with a talk on "Chemosymbiotic bivalves" by Drs John Taylor and Emily Glover, The Natural History Museum, London UK.

Curious Critters from the Deep on Day 16 of the Southern Expedition

This cutie came up from the Deep Dredge today! It's not a sea anemone. It may be an ascidian. We are still not sure!

Today, the Dredge hit nearly 200m! We also had day and night dives, and the usual frenzied hunting on St. John's and nearby islands.

Phytoplankton, cnidarians and crinoids: Mini-talks at the Southern Expedition

One of the highlights of the Expedition is to hear from the experts during the all too-short talks at the end of the day.

For her talk on "Incredible Cnidarians", being the world authority on sea anemones, Prof Daphne Fautin, University of Kansas, USA of course started with these wonderful colourful animals. In his talk, Prof Charles Messing gave a quick and simple guide to some feather stars commonly seen in Singapore.