Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Serangoon mangroves II

Having found a more accessible route, I'm back at Sungei Serangoon again. It's great to have a mangrove habitat so near my home for a quick exploration.

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Here is another view of the mangrove overlooking Seng Kang.

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Besides the plants shown during my last trip, here are some new ones. Nothing special but good for a revision. Here is the emerging propagule of Bruguiera cylindrica.

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I only saw two Mangrove apple, Sonneratia alba throughout the walk.

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There was a healthy patch of Acanthus sp. that were all fruiting. They were commonly known as Sea hollies due to their spiny leaves similar to the Christmas holly plant. However, not all of them possess it and some of them ahve spines in varying degrees.

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The Noni plant, Morinda citrifolia, has fruits that are a favourite for weaver ants, probably because it secretes some sugary fluid from there. Unfortunately, I was unable to find one for a picture.

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I was fortunate to see the beautiful flowers of the sea hibiscus, Hibiscus tiliaceus. These flowers only last for a day and they will turn orange before dropping off.

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Perhaps I had not been that attentive previously but this is the first time I am seeing this snail, Dostia sp.

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There were lots of Juda's Ear Ellobium, Ellobium aurisjudae, slithering all over a decaying stump probably feeding on algae or detritus covering over the dead tree.

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There were lots of crabs under the bridge at the mudflat picking at the nutrient rich mud. It was really hard to take this picture having to wait impatiently under the hot sorching sun. Could this be Uca triangularis on its raised burrow?

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The colourful porcelain fiddler crab, Uca annulipes, was probably the more common species around.

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The largest mudskipper in Singapore is the Giant Mudskipper, Periophthalmodon schlosseri, which was also present here.

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And lastly, the empty shells of the edible Lokan, Geloina sp. were spilled all over the mud together with the unsightly rubbish.

Only took about an hour to explore this area as I had to head back home for lunch. But will probably be back again soon since its just a 10min cycle from my home~

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