Sentosa's Tanjong Rimau

Visited Sentosa's Tanjong Rimau few times recently, so this is just a summary blog of the things I saw. Unknown to many Singaporeans, Sentosa has a natural underwater world not too far away from its man-made underwater world! :)


Tiny little Costasiella Sea Slug (Costasiella sp.) less than 5mm long that was found on the Fan Seaweed (Avrainvillea sp.). They were rather numerous, and on of of the seaweed, I actually found about 10 of them.


When I told KS that I was going to Sentosa, he commented that CH found a Galloping Sand Star (Stellaster equestris) some time back, and I might see one. I told him that my luck had not been fantastic these days, so I doubt I would see one. But surprise surprise! Thanks to his golden mouth, I really saw one this morning! While I have seen this before at Semakau, it's still really nice to see it again here on Sentosa :)


Hen spotted a juvenile Cushion Star (Culcita novaeguineae) - my first time seeing it here on Sentosa too!


At the sandier area, there were lots of Sand Dollars (Arachnoides placenta).


Since we reached the shore while it was still dark, there were lots of nocturnal animals, such as the many shrimps in the various tidal pools.


The crabs were out too, and the various species of swimming crabs (Family Portunidae) were the most numerous. This is probably a Thalamita pelsarti.


There were many juvenile swimming crabs too.


Among the branching Montipora corals, there were several Smooth Spooner Crabs (Etisus laevimanus). These crabs use their claw's flattened tips to scrape algae to feed on.


A few Purple Climber Crabs (Metopograpsus sp.) were seen crawling over the rocks. They have claw-like legs which aid them in their climbing.


There were many tiny hermit crabs, which I have no idea what species they are.


There was this little Estuarine Moray (Gymnothorax tile) slithering around, probably searching for smaller animals to feed on.


On one of the trips, we saw a black frogfish! My guess is that it is a Spotted-tail Frogfish (Lophiocharon trisignatus) in its black phase.


Moving on to the sessile animals, I saw a number of sponges appearing rather sick, and probably dying or dead... They turned greyish-black in colour, and appeared to be disintegrating.


Some of the corals had a rather sickly colour too.


There were a number of bleached corals here and there, but guess there's little we can do about such a situation except to blog and spread awareness.


Most of the corals appear rather healthy though, such as the Turban Coral (Turbinaria sp.) above.


There were a few colonies of Acropora corals, and I was rather surprised to see them as the water was really murky, and Acropora mostly require clear and pristine water to do well.


There were a number of interesting plants at Tanjong Rimau too, such as this Raffles' Pitcher-Plant (Nepenthes rafflesiana).


There were at least 3 locally critically endangered Xylocarpus rumphii at Tanjong Rimau. On mainland Singapore, I have only seen naturally occurring ones at Sungei Buloh, though I understand they can also be found at Pandan Mangrove. Offshore, apart from Sentosa, they can also be found on St John's Island.


Apart from the wildlife, Tanjong Rimau also has majestic cliffs to offer!


There were quite a few natural caves too!

So apart from being a nice place to show biology students about our marine life, it is also a great place for geography students to learn about coastal landforms :P