Yesterday evening, 52 of us trainee guides made our way to Sisters' Island Marine Park, the first ever marine park in Singapore.
Establishing a marine park is a wonderful milestone in marine conservation here, and is a much needed move because:
1)Our local water's are home to
- more than 250 species of hard corals (32% of hard coral species worldwide!! In such a tiny space!)
- more than 100 species of reef fish
- approx 200 species of sponges
- 12 seagrass species (and dugongs that eat them!)
2)Singapore shoreline and waters are constantly undergoing development. For our marine species survive and thrive, they need a protected place to call home!
Our journey started at Pasir Panjang ferry terminal, where we boarded a boat to take us to the marine park.
There is lots to see on the way (as Ria points out in the photo):
- Labrador Park, the last mainland coral reef we have
- Sentosa - popular tourist attraction, but not many tourists know about the reefs around the island. Sadly much of it has been buried under sand due to land reclamation (this is going to be a recurring theme, as many of our islands have been enlarged in this way, at expense of the coral, seagrass, fish and many other organisms that live on the reef.)
- HUGE ships - Singapore is one of the world's busiest ports, with about 1000 ships in port at any one time. And yet, our resilient reefs are still here!)
- several of the other southern islands - Pulau Tekukor (ex-army dump with barely any reef left), St John's island, Lazarus Island
After a 30 minute boat ride, we moored up at Big Sister's Island. Beautiful waters greeted us!
At the jetty, we broke up into smaller groups and set off to see what we could see on the island.
Here are some of the animals that were seen that evening and night:
Whelk: Scavenging molluscs that have a long siphon that they use to detect chemicals released by dead organisms. They follow the trail of chemicals to the dead organism to feed on it.
Acorn worm casts: The pile of sand there was created by an acorn worm as they swallow sand and mud and eat the edible bits, and excrete out the rest! Much like what an earthworm does in the garden. These guys breathe through gill slits! They can also grow up to 2m long. Massive! Don't try to dig them up though, they are very fragile and will disintegrate.
Common sea star: Contrary to what the name suggests, these animals are no longer so common in Singapore. They used to be found in Chek Jawa (North) and East Coast and Changi, but are no longer found there due to the flooding that occurred in Johor in 2007, which caused a drop in salinity in those marine environments. They are still the most common sea stars in the Southern Islands though. Sea stars eat by extending their stomachs out of their body on their underside, and eating up small decaying plants and animals on the sand surface. Their mating ritual (shown in the photo) is pretty unique among sea stars; the male is on top of the female and they release sperm and eggs respectively. Only one other sea star does this too!
Tape seagrass: Seagrasses are the only flowering plants that grow in the sea. They have roots, flowers and fruits, just like plants on land. These are some of the features that you can use to tell them apart from seaweed (you can find more here). Seagrasses form important habitats (like underwater forests) for marine animals, and provide food for others, such as turtles and dugongs. The next time you are
looking at a seagrass bed, look for dugong feeding trails, which are look like clear paths through a (sea)grass field.
Arrowhead crab: On closer look at the seagrass, we saw a few tiny (0.5-1cm long) Arrowhead crabs. These guys, as their name suggests, have a triangular body with a pointed tip between the eyes.
We saw many different types of coral! Pictures of just a few:
Giant clam: These big clams feed on the sugars and proteins produced by algae that live in their tissues, and also filter and eat plankton from the water. They can actually control their growth rate depending on water conditions. If conditions are good, you can see that they are growing by the white mantle on their shell. In some countries, giant clams are harvested for their meat, which has unfortunately lead to decline in their numbers.
Leaf slug: These slugs belong to an order of slugs called sap-sucking slugs. They feed on the sap of seaweed by piercing a seaweed cell and sucking out the contents, hence the name. The chlorophyll of the seaweed is what gives the slug its green colour and good camouflage! Leaf slugs in particular are believed to eat Hairy green seaweed, which you can see in the picture.
Besides all these animals, many more were seen! Including the hermit crabs, Spider conch, octopus, yellow-lipped sea krait, ghost crabs, monkeys and monitor lizards.
At the end of the night, we were all extremely happy at seeing and learning about so many cool things on the island. And of course, completing the guide training!
To sign up for the next guided walk at the marine park (and have a chance to see all this amazing stuff!), check out the Nparks website: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=207 . I might see you there!
Establishing a marine park is a wonderful milestone in marine conservation here, and is a much needed move because:
1)Our local water's are home to
- more than 250 species of hard corals (32% of hard coral species worldwide!! In such a tiny space!)
- more than 100 species of reef fish
- approx 200 species of sponges
- 12 seagrass species (and dugongs that eat them!)
2)Singapore shoreline and waters are constantly undergoing development. For our marine species survive and thrive, they need a protected place to call home!
Our journey started at Pasir Panjang ferry terminal, where we boarded a boat to take us to the marine park.
 |
| Most of the photos shown here were taken by a fellow guide Xiuling. Thanks for letting me share the photos! |
There is lots to see on the way (as Ria points out in the photo):
- Labrador Park, the last mainland coral reef we have
- Sentosa - popular tourist attraction, but not many tourists know about the reefs around the island. Sadly much of it has been buried under sand due to land reclamation (this is going to be a recurring theme, as many of our islands have been enlarged in this way, at expense of the coral, seagrass, fish and many other organisms that live on the reef.)
- HUGE ships - Singapore is one of the world's busiest ports, with about 1000 ships in port at any one time. And yet, our resilient reefs are still here!)
- several of the other southern islands - Pulau Tekukor (ex-army dump with barely any reef left), St John's island, Lazarus Island
After a 30 minute boat ride, we moored up at Big Sister's Island. Beautiful waters greeted us!
 |
| Across the channel is Little Sister's Island |
 |
| Small lagoon at Big Sisters' Island. Beautiful but unfortunately, reclaimed. Luckily, some corals have managed to settle themselves on top of the rocks and there are patches of seagrass around. |
Whelk: Scavenging molluscs that have a long siphon that they use to detect chemicals released by dead organisms. They follow the trail of chemicals to the dead organism to feed on it.
Acorn worm casts: The pile of sand there was created by an acorn worm as they swallow sand and mud and eat the edible bits, and excrete out the rest! Much like what an earthworm does in the garden. These guys breathe through gill slits! They can also grow up to 2m long. Massive! Don't try to dig them up though, they are very fragile and will disintegrate.
Common sea star: Contrary to what the name suggests, these animals are no longer so common in Singapore. They used to be found in Chek Jawa (North) and East Coast and Changi, but are no longer found there due to the flooding that occurred in Johor in 2007, which caused a drop in salinity in those marine environments. They are still the most common sea stars in the Southern Islands though. Sea stars eat by extending their stomachs out of their body on their underside, and eating up small decaying plants and animals on the sand surface. Their mating ritual (shown in the photo) is pretty unique among sea stars; the male is on top of the female and they release sperm and eggs respectively. Only one other sea star does this too!
Tape seagrass: Seagrasses are the only flowering plants that grow in the sea. They have roots, flowers and fruits, just like plants on land. These are some of the features that you can use to tell them apart from seaweed (you can find more here). Seagrasses form important habitats (like underwater forests) for marine animals, and provide food for others, such as turtles and dugongs. The next time you are
looking at a seagrass bed, look for dugong feeding trails, which are look like clear paths through a (sea)grass field.
Arrowhead crab: On closer look at the seagrass, we saw a few tiny (0.5-1cm long) Arrowhead crabs. These guys, as their name suggests, have a triangular body with a pointed tip between the eyes.
We saw many different types of coral! Pictures of just a few:
5 spot anemone shrimp on a carpet anemone: Named after the 5 spots on it's tail fan. These shrimps are usually found in a male and female pair, one pair per anemone. The anemone provides shelter for them, and they may feed on the leftovers from the anemone's meal of fish, crabs or snails.
And we were lucky enough to see this rare (and dangerous) creature, a cone snail! Cone snails are highly venomous and hunt by shooting a tiny harpoon through which venom is injected into their prey (mainly fish). However, the same mechanism can kill a human within minutes. So if you ever see a cone snail, or anything that looks like it, DO NOT pick it up.
And this is something that I have always wanted to see while out diving, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine seeing it while walking in shallow water in a lagoon! Can you see it? It's a perfectly camouflaged frogfish. This one in particular had eggs attached to its left side, indicating that it is a male. A super cool find!
Giant clam: These big clams feed on the sugars and proteins produced by algae that live in their tissues, and also filter and eat plankton from the water. They can actually control their growth rate depending on water conditions. If conditions are good, you can see that they are growing by the white mantle on their shell. In some countries, giant clams are harvested for their meat, which has unfortunately lead to decline in their numbers.
Leaf slug: These slugs belong to an order of slugs called sap-sucking slugs. They feed on the sap of seaweed by piercing a seaweed cell and sucking out the contents, hence the name. The chlorophyll of the seaweed is what gives the slug its green colour and good camouflage! Leaf slugs in particular are believed to eat Hairy green seaweed, which you can see in the picture.
To sign up for the next guided walk at the marine park (and have a chance to see all this amazing stuff!), check out the Nparks website: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=207 . I might see you there!
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