Dead Sea Turtle on St John's Island

In late December last year, I saw one of the Xylocarpus rumphii flowering, and hence decided to go back to take a look today to see if the fruits had matured. After getting some photos, I decided to explore further, when I suddenly heard lots of buzzing sound. It turned out to be a dead sea turtle! It was decomposing rather badly with lots of flies and maggots on it, and was lying on its back. Since I couldn't identify the species with it lying on its back, I decided to turn it over.


From the scutes, it should be an Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea)! I had never seen this species before in Singapore, either dead or alive! Correction: Have found out from our local vertebrate expert that the structures on the back are not the scutes, but par tof the skeleton. The scutes had fallen off. This could be a Green Turtle or Hawksbill Turtle.


Here's its original position before I turned it over. The head appeared to be badly damaged. Could it be killed by boat propellers? Seeing this is certainly very, very sad...


Another interesting animal I saw was a Chiton (Acanthopleura gemmata). Interestingly, this appeared to be the same individual I saw in December last year, as it had a little barnacle growing on the left side of its middle plate.


And this was the fruit of the Xylocarpus rumphii, and the main reason I was here today. So far I have seen 4 of these locally critically endangered plant on St John's Island. Not sure if there are more of them.


And one of the them was flowering! So I guess in about 2 months time, it may start fruiting also.


Right on top of the cliff, I saw a wild Kemunting (Rhodomyrtus tomentosa).


I also saw this plant with little flowers growing on the cliff which I had no idea what it was.


It was a small tree with alternate leaves. The leaves were rather glossy and leathery, meaning it could be a coastal plant. Perhaps any of the plant experts can shed some light on its ID? Update: Thanks for Prof Hugh Tan, this is Chrysobalanus icaco, an exotic plant which has been naturalised here.

It started raining cats and dogs soon and I had to cut short the trip. Did not see a lot of things due to the rain, but it was still a rather memorable trip, though in a rather sad way.