I’ve been monitoring seagrasses with TeamSeagrass ever since I started my Research Studies project on seagrasses in 2007 while in RGS, and seagrasses are really why I got so interested and involved with all that I do now (:
Seagrass.
Now that I’m (finally) leaving for my undergraduate studies in the UK come end September, I will probably not be able to join TeamSeagrass for their trips for a while 😦 But I’m very glad that at least my last monitoring session is at Cyrene Reef (5 August) and that I SAW A SHARK! 😀
In photos, because I’m leaving for the Philippines to volunteer with Coral Cay Conservation in a few hours.
A Knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodosus) greeting us as we touch down on Cyrene Reef
A Pentaceraster sea star (Pentaceraster mammilatus) amidst many Knobblies (Protoreaster nodosus)
Seagrass monitoring vitals! Quadrat, transect tape, 30cm ruler, 2 pegs, compass, pencil and clipboard, and most importantly the data sheet!
Unknown foot print! Looks like a mammal’s paw… But what can it be??
No prizes for guess, they’re human foot prints
Bird prints too! Lots of life frequent Cyrene Reef at low tide (:
Peacock anemone (Order Ceriantharia)
Anemone on Fan shell
Largest White sea urchin (Salmasis sp.)
Sea cucumber (Class Holothuroidea)
Chiton (Order Polyplacophora) that refused to leave its safe spot
Cowrie (Cypraea sp.)
Red-eyed reef crab (Eriphia ferox)
Hairy crab (Pilumnus sp.), one of my favourites cos it’s one of the first few marine animals I saw when I started my seagrass project at Labrador Park all those years ago!
Green isopod (Order Isopoda) that we found on the seagrass
Sea spiders (Order Pycnogonida) found under a rock
Last but not least, THE shark I saw! Kudos to Jia Ling for pointing it out (:
(Rather small) Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus)!
And since it was the Sunday before National Day (9 August), the monitoring session was done in celebration of National Day, and out came the flag!
Group photo with our national flag on Cyrene Reef at sunrise! Photo taken by Jerome Pang
Soon the tide started coming in and we had to leave before the reef got submerged.
My last look of Cyrene Reef in a long while. Thank God for the internet and wonderful people who blog!
So that’s it, my last monitoring trip with TeamSeagrass. I will so miss this after I leave 😦 It’s been one of the few constants in my life the past few years!
More on the trip:
Ria Tan on TeamSeagrass blog
Ria Tan on Wildshores blog
Jerome Pang’s Facebook album
Johnson Ong’s Facebook album
My Facebook album
Nature rambles. 