whats good abt going to chek jawa with ppl from NParks or registered teams with NParks, is that you get to climb down that ladder and actually walk on the sand bank. which by any means is better than the broadwalk.
but you know, the broadwalk had to be built cos of some ppl who trample on these sands and corals and anemonies………. but serious, kudos to the activitists who petitioned and fought for chek jawa to remain a nature site.
at chek jawa this morning for the last sunrise monitoring. my site’s transect was done quite quickly because after the 30m mark, there were no seagrass…. and yep, i didnt drop anything or lose anything today…
and again, i saw things ive never seen before. each trip marvels me so much…
🙂
these are tubeworms tubes. at higher tides, the worms come out. and there were plenty of them. all over. at first i thought they were some algal remnants. 
a really huge mangrove horseshoe crab. so big, ive never even seen any at this size when i did monitoring at kranji mudflats! i’ve emailed chia chi and leslie abt this! amazing! they probably have seen some at this size before. i tried to clear the sand off it, but then it became too murky, and i couldnt get a good shot of it.. 
and this guy, is actually a sea cucumber. seen them many times on photos, but my first time seeing one for real. 
the same sea cucumber with its burrow. in from one side, out through the other. 
yest another sea cucumber. they actually are soft. and they remind me of playdoh!
and i know this one!!! it belongs to the sand sifted by the sand bubbler crab. got introduced to this when my bro first spotted it in phuket..
we saw sand dollars. many of them. here’s one. this is the front. 
and here’s the back. with all the wiggly things that it uses to move and feed. 
and here’s what they look like under the sand.
now you dont see it. now you see it!
OK! im doing another post on how many echinoderms you can find! answer in the poll! we’ll see how many of you get it correct!
acorn worm casts. many of these were seen upshore. i was wondering whether these were the faeces of some other marine animal. good thing SL was around. its actually infact, sand that is dug out by an acorn worm. so as this worm is digging through the sand (probably to find food, or maybe shelter), the sand it brought out. i touched the sand, its actually still wet and soft, so, its interesting to see how the worm compacts it. 
ok, this, we found out were bristleworms. but, what we were wondering is whether this was ONE injured bristle worm, or TWO mating bristleworms.. cos one part of the body seemed to be attached to the other part in only a tiny section, and it just looked weird… ive got the video, either way, it looks cute (in a weird way)…
this is a moon snail. 
some sort of weird creature. im not sure if this is a type of sea cucumber. 
found this crab on my way back to the ladder. weird crab. it didnt try to run away from me. it tried to defend himself. all along in this standing up kind of defensive position. when i moved to the left to position myself for a shot, he followed. claws were moving towards me. legs looked ready for attack.
and this guy is not even 15 cm! the flora that you see around it are only 1-2cm long!
unless………. he knew i was looking for a good shot, and tried to pose for me!!!
isn't it a wonder, how life came to be 