I'm a Seagrasser! @ Chek Jawa

My last trip to Chek Jawa (CJ) was almost 1.5 years ago... Since then, CJ had experienced an oil spill and recovery from the last mass death in 2007. My latest trips to CJ were mostly to help out my Seagrass labbie, Siti with her collection and monitoring...

Look what Ria found upon arrival to CJ - Halophila beccarii! The Beccari's seagrass is one of the most recently discovered seagrass species in Singapore and also possibly the smallest known seagrass in Singapore! It was initially discovered on the muddier flats towards the mangroves, but today, we spotted this tiny growing patch of Beccari growing on the cleaner sand near the monitoring sites.


So, seagrasses are marine plants, planting and growing seagrasses should be almost as easy as growing land plants? Not exactly the same at all! In the marine environment, environmental parameters constantly changes and the flux can affect the overall growth of the seagrasses. Siti is currently trying to find the balance of these parameters and grow her seagrasses. We mostly targeted the loosened seagrass like this one below. Check out the root hairs! This is Halophila ovalis.


Other teams working hard on CJ with their own monitoring work on Saturday. The lush green meadows play important roles in housing many marine fauna.


For example, sifting sand stars like this Painted sand star (Astropecten sp.) can be found ubiquitously with the seagrass beds. Seastars also do not like to be picked up by its arms! A study by my labbie showed that this can cause intensive stress on the star and it might lose its arms by autotomy almost instantly.


Anemones are also sand-loving animals. They mostly feed on passing food and with their sticky tentacles, they are able to effectively capture their unknowing prey such as crabs and prawns.


An unusual under the rock animal - possibly an ascidian? It is see-through!


Bryozoans are colonial animals that filter-feeds amongst the seagrass beds. Seagrass beds provide anchorage for bryozoans to attach themselves.


A large swimming crab defending its territory...


Flatworm galore! Purple-spotted yellow flatworm, Pseudoceros laingensis (left); Blue-lined flatworm, Pseudoceros sp. (right); Little ruby flatworm, Phrikoceros baibaiye (Bottom)

And the molluscs: From top clockwise - Volvatella slug (Volvatella vigourouxi); Black prickly nudibranch (Atagema intecta); Tiger moon snail (Nautica tigrina); Noble volute; Turrid snail (Turricula sp.)...


Sunset at CJ...


And the wild boars start to explore! :)


Read more about our CJ trip on Ria's Wild Shores...