Natural Disasters

Do you remember the Tsunami in 2004? The one which took the lives of almost 200,000 people. Now, that 4 years has passed, coral reefs previously destroyed are coming back to life!

Here's a recent article reporting:

Coral springs back from tsunami

Scientists have reported a rapid recovery in some of the coral reefs that were damaged by the Indian Ocean tsunami four years ago.

It had been feared that some of the reefs off the coast of Indonesia could take a decade to recover.

The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) found evidence of rapid growth of young corals in badly-hit areas.

A spokesman said reefs damaged before the tsunami were also recovering.

Some communities were abandoning destructive fishing techniques and even transplanting corals into damaged areas, the WCS said.

"This is a great story of ecosystem resilience and recovery," said Stuart Campbell, co-ordinator of the WCS's Indonesia Marine Program.

"These findings provide new insights into coral recovery processes that can help us manage coral reefs in the face of climate change."

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a reef expert from the University of Queensland in Australia who did not take part in the study, said the findings were not surprising since corals typically recovered if not affected by fishing and coastal development.

"We are seeing similar things around the southern Great Barrier Reef where reefs that experience major catastrophe can bounce back quite quickly," the scientist told the Associated Press.

Countries across the Indian Ocean have been remembering the 2004 disaster, which claimed some 230,000 lives.

Prayers were said in Indonesia, Thailand and India on Friday, while Sri Lanka declared a two-minute silence in memory of the dead.


It is great to hear that the coral reefs are recovering slowly and steadily. For the affected countries lie within the important Coral Triangle. This place does not only hold an abundance of coral species, but also with its dwellers such as the whale shark and living fossil, coelacanths.

Singapore has been making the effort to protect our shorelines from potential tsunamis by reclaiming lands 1-2m higher than previous land reclamation. It is definitely an important matter to be alert and prepared for potential natural disasters.

The Tsunami 2004 has also shown us the great importance of mangroves and coral reefs in protecting the shorelines, thus, the land dwellers. With all these removed, the coastal areas are more exposed for damage and devastation. Hopefully, with time, these important ecosystems can recover and perform their ecological functions.

To understand more about tsunami or other natural disasters, BBC has a an animated guide to them and the formation. It's easy to read and follow, with real-time pictures.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7533972.stm

Enjoy!

The Oldies

Another interesting clam! Check out this news hot on "National Geographic News"

405-Year-Old Clam Called Longest-Lived Animal

John Roachfor
October 29, 2007

A clam dredged from icy Arctic waters is being hailed as the world's longest-lived animal.
Climate researchers at Bangor University in the United Kingdom recently counted 405 annual growth rings in the shells of a quahog clam.

When this animal was young, Shakespeare was writing his greatest plays and the English were establishing their first settlements in the Americas.
The team plucked the mollusk from 262-feet-deep (80-meter-deep) waters off the northern coast of Iceland.

The team is studying growth lines in clam shells as part of a project to understand how the climate has changed over the past thousand years.

"On a side note, we discovered this very old clam," said Al Wanamaker, a postdoctoral researcher at the university.

Some protest the "oldest animal" designation, saying it should go to certain corals that grow together to form colonies. By this reckoning, the clam would be only the oldest non-colonial animals.

Slow Aging

Quahog clams are known for their longevity.

A 220-year-old taken from American waters in 1982 holds the official Guinness Book of World Records oldest animal title. Unofficially, the record belongs to a 374-year-old Icelandic clam housed in a German museum.

The new clam is at least 30 years older, according to the Bangor University team. The animal died when the researchers counted its rings.

"There's probably many others that are actually quite older—we just haven't found them yet," Wanamaker said.

"I think in my stomach if you start getting up around 600, then maybe that would be the maximum—but that's just pure speculation," he added.

Scientists believe the secret to the clams' longevity is a slowed cell-replacement process. But why they age so slowly is unknown.

"It is possible that an investigation of the tissues of these real-life Methuselahs might help us to understand the process of aging," team member Chris Richardson said in a media statement.
Wanamaker added that several research teams want to study the tissue of living quahog clams to tease out the secret.

Climate Records

The researchers hope to use their shell studies to reconstruct a record of environmental changes over the past several centuries.

"Just like tree rings, those growth lines vary in accordance with the environment," Wanamaker said.

Shell growth is related to water temperature, salinity, and food availability, for example.

A main goal, Wanamaker said, is to determine if the climate of the last half century "is extraordinary compared to the last thousand years."

Isn't it cool? I was just thinking, if my giant clams' age could be counted by the growth lines too. But it's also quite alot! :P I found these facts nice to know.

The Quahog Clam - Interesting Facts

1) It is also commonly known as the Hard Clam (Mercenaria mercenaria).

2) It's the clam that you eat in 'clam chowder'!

3) A legend goes "Quahog" is the name of the fictional Rhode Island city that the hit animated sitcom Family Guy is located in. The city's annual civic celebration is based on the fabled settling of the city, by an immigrant thrown overboard from his ship and saved from drowning by a clam.

The "Rock"

Date: 15 December 2008
Location: Somewhere in Singapore :P

The weather was good before we set off. As we approach our destination, it started to pour... Then it stopped! Then it poured again. Urgh... I guess the weatherman was more accurate than on normal days - intermittent rain. Anyway, it was a good trip for us! Both of us weaving through the rocks to reach our destination.

Before that, we spotted two Oriental pied hornbill perched on the tree along the road. It was easy to identify them by looking at their yellow head.

I was running across the roads back and forth in order to catch a glimpse of them on my camera screen. I'm glad to have seen them! This afternoon, I spotted a cockatoo in NUS. haha...

On the higher shoreline, there were many snails, including this Toothed top shell snail. They have those distinct little tooth on their shells.

A big pimply onch resting on the rocks. It was about 6cm long and 2.5cm width. Huge!

And a variety of nerite snails! Even though they appear similar in shape, they are actually quite different. The best way to ID any nerite is to also photo the underside and see the tooth.

Here's a chameleon nerite snail, with the distinct pattern and colour on the shell.

Here's another Scaled nerite snail (Nerita histrio). You can tell by looking at the lines, they are not fully joined. Tiny 'scales' on the shell.

A more common Lined nerite snail. But this individual was so much bigger than the usual ones that I encountered! Look at the size!

An array of limpets was spotted. Not sure what species the centre big one is. This is apparently a smooth limpet (Cellana sp.).

Further down the shore, I spotted an entire bed of button zoanthids! Now that the tide has receded, the zoanthids are closed and look like mini clumps of buttons on the floor.

Some remain open in the tidal pool, extending out its tentacles. Some were green and others were pink.

My partner also found aplenty of crown sea stars. These starfishes are usually found under the rocks and some blend in well with the substrates. Four were spotted today.

The four-armed orange crown sea-star.

This starfish looks like it's doing pumping on all five arms! Actually, starfish don't like to be laid on their back. So most of the time, they would overturn themselves 'upright'.

A pair of commensal shrimps which are transparent.

I found this colourful patch of orange and white lining. Not sure what is this though. It is probably an ascidian. Maybe?

A few peacock anemones could be found scattered on the silty substrate. This particular one revealed its tube-like body. This is one of the biggest one that I have encountered, or perhaps that it was always buried, hence, the size of its tube body was not seen.

A smaller peacock anemone with orange tentacles. These creatures are relatively easy to spot, especially with a torch because their fluorescent-tentacles reflect the light, making it glow in the dark.

More rock-encrusting fauna. I'm not sure what this is though, but my first guess is sponge.

This red one as well. Encrusting fauna.

These are definitely sponges! Can you see the different coloured sponges?

A beautiful bright pink sponge.

We spotted this dead fish on the shore. We believe that it was just washed up when the tide receded. It has whiskers and my first thought it was a cat fish. But upon comparing with sea catfishes listed on WildSingapore, they are quite different especially the tail fin. The usual sea catfishes has a caudal fin and a laterally flattened body, while this one has a flattened tail and a rounded body. Hmm... Might be a eel-tailed catfish (either Lined eel-tailed catfish or Black eel-tailed catfish - need to see the length of the barbels).

While some animals choose to stay at its 'home'. The thunder crabs can be found in large numbers if you look closely at the refuges. While they may look tasty with their enlarged pincers, the body parts are actually slightly poisonous. I feel the worse thing about them is their painful pinch! A story told to me was that if you ever get pinched by a thunder crab, you need to have rain. Why rain? It's only when thunder rumbles through the skies, will the crabs release your finger. Hence, the infamous name - thunder crab. haha...

On the whole, the shores were heavily littered and polluted - a variety of thrash and trampling by the public could be seen strewn everywhere. It was quite a sad sight, to see some of the animals de-colourise and bleaching, over-turned rocks and littering. Worse, the water was badly polluted that visibility was close to zero.

I do hope that through this post, everyone will play a part in being a responsible visitor - minimize trampling, do not litter, do not pick any animals or bring any animal home, and most importantly, turn the rocks back so that the animals are sheltered again.

As the saying goes, "Leave only footprints, take only photographs." :)

Garden of "Everything"

Date: 14 December 2008
Location: Somewhere in Singapore :P

The morning started out badly with heavy rain through the day. I fear that I would be the 'rain witch' who brings rain during fieldtrips and thus not allowed to go anymore! Thankfully, the rain stopped an hour or two earlier than the departure time, hence, most animals should be out on the shores!

Undeterred by anything, we braved through the muddy grounds to reach a beautiful shoreline All of us hard at work right away.

There was an array of sea cucumbers! (Yum!) There were definitely many Thorny sea cucumbers (Colochirus quadrangularis). And there were many others which I couldn't identified at all. From left clockwise: the white sea cucumber is about 3cm long, which seem to have short white appendages on its body; brownish-looking one about 6cm long; 2.5cm long with black stripes across it; 6cm long Thorny sea cucumber.



There were even tinier ones around the rubble area. Look at this tiny purple sea cucumber that I found resting on a spoon seagrass. It has yellow feathery tentacles, body is slightly prickly-looking. This was 1cm long.

The underside is pale pinkish. A beautiful colour combination in my opinion. (My favourite colours too!) I spotted two of these babies.


Up next, another contender of tiny - tiny red sea cucumber! It is reported to be more common on Chek Jawa and Tuas. Kok Sheng spotted a whole 'army' of them at the rocky areas. I spotted them individually though. Here is a sluggish-looking one.

One showing its tentacles here. I wonder why they prefer the rocky areas if they are filter-feeders? Hmm...

Another translucent looking sea cucumber. I was contemplating if I should take it out to have a closer look. It was tough! I keep having this stingy and sticking feeling on my palm which made me feel afraid that I had stressed it. I think I still managed a full body but silt-filled picture of the sea cucumber. It has distinct white stripes and white spots on the translucent parts. At first, I thought it was the See-through sea cucumber, but it doesn't appear so, does it?

A closer look at the pattern on the body. It was burrowing before I caught it. :P


This pinkish looking Ball sea cucumber was unique. I first spotted its black and transparent-looking feeding appendages and called out to Kok Sheng to ask if he has seen before. When he tried to dig it out, to our surprise, it squirted at Kok Sheng! Lol!

Eventually, a great looking ball was found. :)

One of the highlight of the previous shore visit was the Pink sand dollars! Ok, these weren't as pink as they should be, but you could tell that it's very different from the more common ones.

Small patches of these anemones could be seen scattered on the shores. I think this is a Haddon's carpet anemone. There were two very small shrimps on it, which I couldn't photograph it at all! I love how bright green it is.

A commensal female shrimp. It was accompanied by her mate which was further back of the anemone.

Small patch of spoon seagrass could be found near the entrance to the shore, and it was teeming with life! From tiny snails, to sea cucumbers, to small Cresent Perch (Terapon jarbua). They were quite a lot of them swimming in the water pools. And it is good to know that the seagrass supports the juveniles quite well here.

A glimpse of the snails that were previous spotted as well. Dubious nerite snail (Clithon oualaneinsis). They all had different motifs on its shells, making it like a huge party with different shells present.

I spotted several empty black-lipped conch shells lying around. I couldn't find any live ones though. The shell is so beautiful and these are the shots of the empty shell.

Lots of Tiger moon snail (Natica tigrina)! Moving happily on the silty substrates.

I found a pair that seem to be mating?

An olive whelk moving gracefully in the tidal pool. It has such a long siphon that I couldn't resist and took a silty shot of it. :P

Another relative of the black-lipped conch is the gong gong! Or also known as Pearl conch (Strombus canarium). Look at the orange foot! I got a video of it flipping itself over! So exciting!

This is how it looks like after it flips over. Isn't it rather cryptic?

Another anemone - no idea what it is though. The central oral disc is not exposed. Hmm...

Two peacock anemones! One orange and the other yellow. Beautiful fluorescent colours. These are not true anemones, and you can tell by looking at the outer ring of longer tentacles. Ria explained much better on this. Hee...

A red ribbon worm? It's more translucent though.

Another lined moon snail (Natica lineata). I think it's burrowing away when we spotted it.

Ghost crab feeding on its prey (another small crab). These crabs normally stay in their holes till the sun goes down. If they are spotted in the day, they usually hover near their holes and not venture out further. They are really quick! Zooming pass us like speeding cars.

Two most exciting find of the evening.

First up is this snail. Doesn't it look like a teacup to you? We don't know the ID for this. New snail perhaps! :))

It was a large snail, ~10cm in length. Here you can see the siphon and probably its eyes nearer the central region. It was using its foot to propel upwards to change its direction.

A full picture of its appearance. It does look like a cowrie with some of its mantle out covering its shell, and the shell has grooves.

A closer look of the shell and mantle. So pretty! We found three of them. Chay hoon and I were watching how it burrowed and I got a video of it as well. It was burrowing backwards, where the foot is, leaving only the siphon.


Next up, it's the 'star' of the day (I would think that Kok Sheng was about to hyperventilate when he saw them). Eight-armed sea star (Luidia maculata)! He had dedicated a whole post to his stars on his site.

The underside of the star. Transparent tube feet with orange tips.


Then, he continued to find two more Luidia stars but this time, they are quite different.

The tube feet not only had orange tips, but they also have an orange line across each tube feet. Maybe a new star? :)

Phew! What a day with a garden of aplenty. It was nice to have walked on these shores, and hopefully another chance to do so! It harbours so many different kinds of burrowing animals, showing how much diversity each habitats has for each animal. Hopefully, these rare animals will have their chance to survive well on our shores, and keep living to prove that our shores are still very much alive and teeming with life.