Saturday Seringat-Kias

A small group headed out to visit Lazarus Island on one of the last early morning low tides of the year. While the rest headed towards the rocky shores of Lazarus Island, Kok Sheng and I decided to explore a lagoon located in the north of Seringat-Kias; James and I had previously checked out this area in April 2010. On that occasion, we visited that lagoon during the day, and it was raining, so we might have missed out on a lot of the marine life that lived in that lagoon. Hopefully, we would find a more interesting variety of critters this morning.

Sightings at Sungei Tengah

I'd spent the evening at the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES) Wildlife Rescue Centre, and as I walked out towards Old Choa Chu Kang Road to take the bus, I stumbled upon a few examples of local amphibians and reptiles along Lorong Pasu and Sungei Tengah Road.

Thoughts on Roadkill, Part 2: Invasives & Non-natives

On Monday, the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES) posted the following image on their Facebook page:

Green iguanas are native to Central and South America. It is saddening and shocking to sight such exotic wildlife here in Singapore, smuggled in to meet the demand for reptiles as illegal pets. This poor adult male Iguana was found run over and dead on the roads on Sungei Tengah road, right in our neighbourhood - Another victim of the illegal wildlife trade being abandoned to fend for himself.

Thoughts on Roadkill, Part 1: A video collection

Road sign on Sentosa;
(Photo by scubawatters)

Despite my morbid fascination with dead animals, I still get a little shudder every time I encounter roadkill. Maybe it stems from the fact that motor vehicles (through the actions of the people who operate them) can also cause serious injury and death to other people, so it's a twinge of empathy, acknowledging that it is a nasty way to get killed, and the grim realisation that it could just as easily be a fellow human being lying on the road. Not to mention the fact that despite near-universal knowledge and education on road safety, there is no indication that we will ever be able to eliminate vehicular traffic as a significant cause of human mortality. What makes one think that animals, being unable to comprehend the purpose of pedestrian crossings or road signs, would fare any better?

Monday Morgue: 13th December 2010

Common Asian toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)
Jurong, 22nd November 2010

Ecology Asia
Wildlife Singapore
AmphibiaWeb
Amphibians and Reptiles of Malaysia

Raffles Museum Treasures: Malesian frog

Malesian frog (Limnonectes malesianus)
Collected from Nee Soon swamp-forest, January 1992
Native to Singapore

Wildlife Singapore
NParks FaunaWeb
Frogs of Borneo
Ecology Asia
IUCN Red List
ARKive


(Photo by kwokwai76)

Raffles Museum Treasures: Mandarin newt

Mandarin newt (Tylototriton shanjing)

AmphibiaWeb
IUCN Red List
ARKive


(Photo by salamandermaster)

Raffles Museum Treasures: Four-lined tree frog

Four-lined tree frog (Polypedates leucomystax)
Collected from Nee Soon swamp-forest, March 1990
Native to Singapore

Wildlife Singapore
Ecology Asia
Amphibians & Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia
Frogs of Borneo
AmphibiaWeb
IUCN Red List
The Online Field Guide


(Photo by Jacqueline)

Raffles Museum Treasures: Common Asian toad

Common Asian toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)
Native to Singapore

Wildlife Singapore
NParks FaunaWeb
Ecology Asia
Amphibians & Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia
Frogs of Borneo
AmphibiaWeb
Amphibian Species of the World
The Online Field Guide
IUCN Red List


(Photo by James)

Raffles Museum Treasures: Chinese giant salamander

Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus)

AmphibiaWeb
Amphibian Species of the World
IUCN Red List
IUCN Species of the Day
ARKive
EDGE Amphibians


(Photo by Melinda ^..^)

Raffles Museum Treasures: Crab-eating frog

Crab-eating frog (Fejervarya cancrivora)
Collected from monsoon drain along Cluny Road, 1990
Native to Singapore

Wildlife Singapore
A Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore
Ecology Asia
Amphibians & Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia
Amphibian Species of the World
IUCN Red List
Membranes maintain salt balance: crab-eating frog
Plasma maintains salt balance: crab-eating frog
Kidney function in the crab-eating frog (Rana cancrivora)
Osmotic regulation in the tadpoles of the crab-eating frog (Rana cancrivora)
Water uptake by the crab-eating frog Rana cancrivora, as affected by osmotic gradients and by neurohypophysial hormones
Morphology of the Skin Glands of the Crab-eating Frog (Rana cancrivora)


(Photo by Chee Kong)

Yet another raging bushfire at Tampines

Two STOMPers witnessed the bushfire at the open field at Tampines St 45 today (Mar 7), and says the smoke engulfed the surrounding blocks, making breathing difficult.

Says STOMPer Putri:

"This open field near Tampines St 45 caught fire today (Mar 7), probably because it is so hot and dry.

"The picture was taken across the TPE."

Another STOMPer, Desmond, comments:

"This happened at about 1.45pm today, at the field next to my home.

"The sweltering hot weather must have dried up the vegetation and this resulted in a fire.

"The burning smoke engulfed the surrounding residential buildings, affecting resident's visibility. The smoke made breathing difficult as there was a bad smell and it was very dusty.

"Firefighters came in within a few minutes and started bringing out the hoses from the nearby blocks (which were at least a good 400m away from the fire).

"Policemen were everywhere, trying to get the public to stand back for their own safety.

"The fire was spreading quickly across the dried grass, and yellow smoke soon emerged from the thick haze as the fire grew.

"Fortunately, firefighters managed to slowly put out the blaze after their continuous effort in spraying water all over the blaze.

"I think it took about 30 minutes to extinguish the fire."

STOMP is trying to contact SCDF for more details, so do check back later.

Do check out the video posted on STOMP.

Related posts: More pictures from massive Tampines bushfire (4th March 2010)
Bushfire the size of a football field rages at Tampines (3rd March 2010)
Scorching sun turns Singapore from 'green' city into gold (3rd March 2010)
The haze is back at Pasir Ris (2nd March 2010)
Bush fire rages at Expo area (19th February 2010)

Related articles: Vegetation fire at Tampines took at least 4 hours to put out (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Large fire at open field in Tampines (4th March 2010) (Mirror)
Sorry kid, it's going to stay hot and dry for a while (2nd March 2010) (Mirror)
Last month the driest Feb in 140 years (1st March 2010) (Mirror)
February 2010 is driest month for Singapore since records began in 1869 (2010) (Mirror)
Driest February ever recorded to date in Singapore (25th February 2010) (Mirror)
February's a dry, hot season in Singapore (19th February 2010) (Mirror)
Smoke in the air due to bush fires (18th February 2010) (Mirror)
71 bush fires in two weeks (18th February 2010) (Mirror)

I used to live in that neighbourhood! I do have fond memories of exploring that area of open land during my upper primary and secondary school days. Afternoons lost in my own little world, chasing after changeable lizards (Calotes versicolor), common Asian toads (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) and banded bullfrogs (Kaloula pulchra), trying not to get snagged in the thickets of giant mimosa (Mimosa pigra). Where I squatted in front of marshy ponds for hours, watching tadpoles and water snails. It was where I saw scaly-breasted munia (Lonchura punctulata), little heron (Butorides striatus) and white-breasted waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus). On many occasions, I saw people flying kites or playing around with remote-controlled helicopters.

If there's any consolation, this patch is just part of a large area of scrub and grassland found in many parts of Tampines and Pasir Ris. While the fauna and flora in this area are interesting in their own right, I don't think any species inhabiting this habitat is under any great risk of extinction. The vegetation will grow back eventually, what matters now is whether or not the original species will be able to recolonise the field from the surrounding patches of scrub, separated by barriers such as apartment buildings, roads and concretised drains and canals. I also hope that such fires don't become a regular occurrence, which would eventually lead to the growth of fire-climax vegetation, in which probably only a small proportion of common and hardy species would be able to survive in the long term.

Head to Pandan Reservoir for a relaxing day

STOMPer Entomologist often goes to Pandan Reservoir to relax and enjoy the scenery.

In an email to STOMP today (Jan 11), the STOMPer says:

"The Pandan Reservoir at West Coast Road is an oasis of peace that I frequent on weekends. In the evening I usually see crowds of foreign workers congregating on the grassy slopes for a picnic.

"When you look at the water and the vast sky overhead, you will experience a calmness over your soul.

"The floating plants are a unique feature of this reservoir.

"A brown caterpillar was moving up and down looking for food.

"A dead frog was exposed to the heat of the afternoon sun for a few days and it now looks like a dried cuttlefish."

Special Sentosa

Today was one of my last low tide trips for the year, and because I had not explored the shores of Sentosa for almost 6 months, I decided to check out Tanjung Rimau, a place with a great deal of sentimental value for me.

This time was a little different though, since I was joined by my good friend Valerie, who also happens to be this year's winner for the Miss Earth Singapore pageant.


Here's a photo of Valerie on her virgin shore trip.

We made our way down to the shore at dusk, and as we waited for the tide to recede, we wandered amongst the rocks, looking at the various snails that lived on the high shore.


Such as these spotted top shells (Trochus maculatus).


And these lightning dove snails (Pictocolumbella ocellata). Other snails that we looked at included toothed top shell (Monodonta labio), chameleon nerite (Nerita chamaeleon), spiny drill (Thais bitubercularis), dwarf turban snail (Turbo bruneus), and ribbed turban snail (Turbo intercostalis).


We also spotted several big pimply onch slugs (F. Onchidiidae) crawling about on the rocks.

A while later, we ventured into the shallows, where we encountered large numbers of crabs.


Blue swimming crabs (Thalamita danae) and blue-spined swimming crabs (Thalamita prymna) were extremely common, but as usual, they were so shy and skittish that most of them refused to stay still long enough to be photographed. This particular crab was stranded in a small pool.


Strangely enough, we saw only a single common hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertilio). Either we were not alert enough to see more, or they were all in hiding.

As you can see from the photo, the common hairy crab was perched near a mass of sea mat zoanthids (Palythoa tuberculosa). Was it about to feed on them? The common hairy crab is a generalist omnivore, and is known to feed on zoanthids, which apparently render the crab mildly poisonous and unappetising to potential predators.


A crab that we kept seeing today was the red egg crab (Atergatis integerrimus). We saw at least 6 of them! This species is highly poisonous.


Somewhat less common was the floral egg crab (Atergatis floridus); we found 2 over the course of the visit. Like the red egg crab, it too is highly poisonous.


A very special crab find for me was this red-eyed reef crab (Eriphia ferox). If I'm not wrong, this is my first ever sighting of this species.

Other crustaceans that we encountered included plenty of sea slaters (Ligia sp.) on the high shore, as well as glass shrimp (Palaeomon sp.) and red-nose shrimp (Periclemenes sp.) in the shallows. Of course, it was impossible to miss the loud clicking of the snapping shrimps (F. Alpheidae), even though they remained hidden in their burrows.


These shores are also very good for spotting two-spot reef octopus (F. Octopodidae). Both Valerie and I were extremely thrilled when we encountered a pair that seemed to be mating! Another first sighting for me.


In male cephalopods, one of the arms, known as the hectocotylus, is modified to storm sperm packets, which he then transfers to the female by inserting this arm into her mantle cavity. You can see how the male in this photo is literally being dragged all over the place as the female moves around.


Later on, we saw a second mating pair of octopus. The smaller male spent quite a bit of time riding on top of the female's head. If octopus could talk, I can imagine the female exclaiming, "Get off! I can't see!"


Another special find was this giant top shell (Tectus niloticus).

We didn't have much luck finding black long sea cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota), and only managed to find a small one hiding beneath a rock.


We were however lucky enough to find another long (and disgusting) creature hiding amongst the coral rubble, the giant reef worm (Eunice aphroditois). I saw these worms on 3 separate occasions, but only managed to take 1 photo of the face. Despite their size, these worms are extremely shy and will immediately dart back into their burrows upon the slightest disturbance.


We spotted quite a lot of fish such as young mullet (F. Mugilidae) and tropical silversides (Atherinomorphus duodecimalis), but these usually swam off instantly. This false scorpionfish (Centrogenys vaigiensis) stayed still long enough for us to snap a few shots.


We didn't really have much time to walk around looking at corals, but we did find quite a few colonies of soft corals, such as this pinwheel leathery coral (F. Alcyoniidae).


As well as several omelette leathery corals (F. Alcyoniidae).


I think this is a big o-ring favid coral (F. Faviidae).


The tide rose, but just before we went back to wash up, we spent some time looking at the land hermit crabs (Coenobita cavipes) crawling about on the seawall.


Valerie had to go off first, and as I was washing my booties, I came upon a few of these terrestrial snails.

I decided to spend just a bit of time exploring one of the islets off Siloso Beach, which are another very special place for me. The tide was steadily rising, and I was too lazy to dig out my net and container from my bag, but I could still walk around in the shallows and see what I could find.


As usual, the bridge is festooned with all sorts of soft corals, zoanthids, sponges, ascidians, bivalves, and other sessile organisms.


There were plenty of fish in the lagoons, the usual cast of characters that I'd seen on virtually all of my previous visits; tropical silverside, larger adult mullet, sand whiting (F. Sillaginidae), Kops' glass perchlet (Ambassis kopsii), all sorts of halfbeaks (F. Hemirhamphidae), orbicular cardinalfish (Sphaeraemia orbicularis), and shadow goby (Acentrogobius nebulosus). I caught a glimpse of a medium-sized striped eeltail catfish (Plotosus lineatus) as it swam around close to the surface, then darted out of sight.


However, this was the first time I had seen banded needlefish (Strongylura leiura) in these lagoons.


Another fascinating find was this peacock sole (Pardachirus pavoninus) which I spotted from the bridge, hiding on the sand at Siloso Beach itself. I tried to get closer to take more photos, but it slipped beneath the bridge. I wish I had taken out my net and container, then I might have been able to ambush it and take a bunch of clear and decent (if somewhat unnatural-looking) shots. So we'll have to content ourselves with this horrible picture.


There were plenty of crustaceans here as well, such as this spotted moon crabs. There were also quite a few blue-spined swimming crabs, flower crabs (Portunus pelagicus), and blue-tailed prawns (F. Penaeidae).


Purple climber crabs (Metopograpsus sp.) were common on the rocks and the bridge.


There were quite a few pearl conch (Laevistrombus turturella) and black-lipped conch (Canarium urceus) half-buried in the silt. Other snails seen included spiral melongena (Pugilina cochlidium), as well as the usual hordes of zoned horn snails (Batillaria zonalis).


Here was a very surprising and special find, a live wandering cowrie (Cypraea errones).


It was quite a nice coincidence, as I had just learnt that this species has a dark spot close to the front end of the shell, unlike the very similar ovum cowrie (Cypraea ovum).


It is always nice to find the common sea stars (Archaster typicus). I was unable to find the colony of adults that I'd found on previous occasions; I suspect that the entire group was already well submerged by the rising tide by the time I arrived. However, I did find a small group of juveniles, which is a good sign. This either means that this population of sea stars is reproducing, or that larvae are drifting in from elsewhere and settling on this shore.


Just before I was about to call it a night and head for home, I found this tiny polyclad flatworm (Polycladida). I have no idea what it is, although my hunch is that it is a species of Pseudobiceros.

Is this another unknown species? It reminds me of the large unidentified flatworm I had found at Siloso Beach earlier this year, just that it lacks the orange margin possessed by the latter. What other secrets lay hidden in the murky depths of these lagoons?

It was getting late, so I headed back towards the Beach Station to take the bus.


Much of Siloso Beach is being set up for ZoukOut 2009, which takes place next Saturday. Hopefully, the marine life will not be too badly affected. But then again, the creatures living in this lagoon must be very tough indeed. They already receive a daily auditory and visual assault from Café del Mar and Songs of the Sea, have survived the annual ZoukOut and Siloso Beach Party, and it seems that they have survived the construction of the MegaZip, in addition to 2 new clubs along the beach, Azzura and Wave House Sentosa.


It was nice to walk past the pond and see this sign. Now I know why the pond exists in the first place.


All around the pond, I could hear the calls of common Asian toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) and dark-sided chorus frog (Microhyla heymonsi), although they remained out of sight.


This millipede wasn't so shy though.

I didn't really get to explore the shores to my heart's content, but I was definitely very thrilled to see that these familiar shores at Sentosa still appeared to be doing quite well. No matter how many times I visit, it seems that there is always something new and surprising.

Such is the magic and beauty of the shores, that compels one to visit repeatedly, not quite knowing what to expect. You can never visit a place too often.