Dec 16, 2012

Cyrene Reef (15 Dec 2012)

A small team monitored the seagrass meadows on Cyrene during a brief break in the wet weather, just before sunset.
We quickly set up for the monitoring after a safe arrival. How are the seagrasses doing on Cyrene?

Before we walk all the way to Site 2, some of us have a quick look at the many many Knobbly sea stars that can be found on this amazing submerged reef in the middle of the industrial triangle!
Among the red Knobblies was a yellow spotted Pentaceraster sea star (Pentaceraster mammilatus).
Here's a closer look at the sea star which was first discovered on Cyrene Reef and is a new record for Singapore!
It's a long walk to Site 2, near the orange Cyrene beacon way in the distance. The waters around Cyrene are major shipping channels used by huge container ships. On the horizon are the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom.
Alas, the Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) on Cyrene are all still cropped short, with ends that are brown or bleached. Doesn't seem much different from what we saw on our last trip here in Aug 2012. This is why it's important to monitor so we get data on how these seagrass meadows are doing.
Here's the team all set up at Site 2. There's still a lot of seagrass here.
The coverage of seagrasses seems good and the Sickle seagrasses seem alright, although all the Tape seagrasses are still cropped short. Other kinds of seagrasses found on Cyrene include Sickle seagrass (Thalassia hemprichii) which were also burnt here and there. The Noodle seagrass (Syringodium isoetifolium), Needle seagrasses (Halodule sp.) and Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis) that we saw were alright.
We had to work fast as it was close to sunset!
It was quite dark by the time we left Cyrene.
It was great to have with us today Nor Aishah, Chay Hoon, Sean, Yifeng, Johnson, Siew Yong, Wee Meilin and Grace. Thanks also to Siti the Science Lead for TeamSeagrass. Although Rachel from NParks couldn't make it for the trip, she organised the transport and logistics for the trip. Thank you!

Posts by others on this trip
  • Johnson on facebook with more knobblies and our journey there and back.
  • Ria with some interesting marine life encountered, and 'flooding' at sea.

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