Changi Point marvels

We awoke to lighting and thunder and pouring rain. But we still headed out for Changi Point.

Although most people think it's dead, Changi Point is one of our favourites. In the past, it surprised us with nudibranchs, mantis shrimps, lots of peacock anemones and sea pens among seagrasses and seaweeds. It reminds us very much of Chek Jawa. One of the most spectacular sights on Changi Point that we have not seen anywhere else was a pile of 50 or so sea urchins, perhaps mating?

We were apprehensive this time around. There is heavy dredging going on in Changi Creek. We were afraid this would have smothered our favourite beach.

But this tiny shore continues to surprise us! The rain died down to a drizzle, then stopped completely. In the cool morning light, we came across these marvelous creatures...

The Mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundata) is not often encountered.
This must be my first time this year! There were two of them (of course mating),
the other larger and with a much shorter tail...strange.

Among the seagrasses nestled small Carpet anemones (Stichodactyla sp.) not much larger than the seagrass blades themselves.

A pair of Pebble crabs (Family Leucosiidae) were mating! I haven't seen these crabs for nearly two years! The shore was also covered with small Thorny sea cucumbers (Colochirus quadrangularis). Some were tiny, less than 2cm long. Among the feathery 'fronds' of a seapen was a tiny polka-dotted porcelain crab that often shelters in these sea pens.

We saw two different kinds of flatworms! My first time for Changi, although we have seen them on our other shores. There were also lots of fanworms. Out of the water, the feathery fans stick together making the animals appear to be bizarre blossoms. These worms are segmented like our more familiar earthworm (you can see a few segments in the photo above) and live in tubes.

But the most amazing find was this large seahorse. It's probably a papa seahorse as he had a big pouch. The shore also continues to be home to many peacock anemones, ball sea cucumbers and the other creatures we commonly see in the past. The seagrass also still looks healthy and happy.

Changi is very much alive!

Today, we also saw two men with a large changkul digging large holes on almost every patch of exposed shore in search of worms.

The guys dug up 4 large holes before my constant nagging drove them away. They only managed to find two worms after digging up a total of about 10m by 10m of shore.

We went through dugup areas and found sliced up sea cucumbers, peanut worms, carpet anemones, and other creatures. Seagrasses and mounds of tubeworms were also dug up. One of the survivors was this little Gong-gong (Strombus canius).

Shortly afterwards, another guy walked up with a yellow bucket to check the fish
traps he no doubt laid much earlier...

This stretch of Changi is popular with fishermen and there were lots of fishing lines left on the shore. As usual, these trapped crabs who die a needless and painful death.