KS have already blogged about this but I thought I will also do one just to feed my blog which I have been neglecting lately. :)
The pink spotted sea cucumber, seen quite for quite a awhile in our shores, finally have a name, Holothuria fuscocinera. Click on the picture above to access the article from Nature in Singapore, written by LN, KS and me.
I shall leave Ria, who will probably do a posting about this, to share the details.
I decided to take a walk to Loyang Mangroves today since my router was spoilt and I can’t do any work at home.
Getting off the bus, I was pleasantly surprised to see the row of neatly cultivated roadside tree, Sterculia parvifolia fruiting!
This is a critically endangered plant in the forests of Singapore. Update >> I could be wrong in the ID… But at least its still Sterculia sp.~ ;p
I remembered the last time I went to Loyang mangroves was a painful walk from the Pasir Ris mangroves. Taking a look at Google Earth, I decided to try out a new route by walking in the canal which leads directly to my destination.
Occasionally, I ran up the canal to take a look at the vegetation. This a common climber, Flagellaria indica. The thicken stem is used as an inferior substitute for rattan.
As I neared the mangroves, more coastal plants start to appear. I was happy to capture a shot of the furry flowers of the sea lime, Ximenia americana;
And the sickle fruits of the common climber Dalbergia candenatensis.
Soon I reached the small mangrove patch in Loyang. Nice scenery~
Here is a lone Nipah palm stand. Looks like I have missed out this location in my NiS paper.
I went to check out the sole surviving Pisang Pisang, Kandelia candel. Seems to be doing well, though only with a few leaves.
Because of the tide, I had taken a detour to avoid getting wet. On my return trip, I notice this floating bridge and decided to try it out.
I have my doubts that such a thin rope can pull me over. But I was wrong! It went across smoothly! Fun~
And back to the canal. This time, I notice this monitoring device in the water. I wonder what it is used to measure.
KY had passed this to me quite a while back but I had forgotten to share this to everyone till now. Click on the picture to assess the website where the PDF can be downloaded. (The link to the PDF seems to be broken when I am typing this entry. Hopefully it will be restored soon.)
The State of Observed Species (SOS) gave a short report on our current (correct as of year 2008) number of described species in the world.
And here is a summary of the various taxa at a glance.
