The Hantu Blog - Bringing Clarity to Singapore Waters

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The Hantu Blog - Bringing Clarity to Singapore Waters

An environmental awareness initiative for Pulau Hantu - Singapore's most popular Southern Island. DIV
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The Hantu Blog is the only non-profit, volunteer dive organisation in Singapore that conducts regular guided dives for members of the public. Since 2003, The Hantu Blog has been conducting educational tours for divers in Pulau Hantu, Singapore’s most popular Southern Island, known for its sheltered and biologically diverse reefs. The Hantu Blog also conducts private, public and corporate talks.

21/08/2023

Much remains unknown about sea anemones, which are under-studied and difficult to preserve as specimens. Read more at straitstimes.com.

15/07/2023

onyx cowrie

15/07/2023

09/07/2023

We had a gorgeous morning and a beautiful day out at Pulau Hantu! Visibility was a little challenging but a great attitude allowed us to revel in the unpredictability of Nature and celebrate Singapore reefs! Thank you for diving with us!

27/11/2021

Protecting wild places doesn’t mean excluding people. Users can be stewards of land and sea. Stand-up paddle boarders found a hawksbill turtle off East Coast today and didn’t hesitate to rescue the endangered reptile that was tangled in discarded fishing nets. Read more about this sea turtle rescue on our blog post.
http://www.pulauhantu.sg/endangered-sea-turtle-rescued-by-stand-up-paddle-boarders/
Photos: YP Loke

26/10/2021

On a regular day of at a seagrass meadow in Singapore, we met an eagle ray! Looked like it was sniffing around the meadow for a tasty treat. We also saw lots of cowfish, squid, mullet, and flatworms galore.

St. John's Island Marine Laboratory

05/10/2021

Our coastlines are dynamic! How coastlines respond to sea-level rise
https://twitter.com/zzsylvester/status/1443723103352332291?s=19

“The Jurassic Tank XES-02 experiment provides some excellent data to illustrate how stratigraphy forms as a result of constant sediment input, changing sea level, and ongoing subsidence https://t.co/knqbuDuj9Z”

21/06/2021

Happy days! We hope these baby sea turtles return in 20 years to near on our beaches again! Reason to protect our beaches! 🏝️ Cheers to the anglers who promptly and gently responded to help the baby turtles overcome their first big hurdle in life!

22/05/2021

Singapore Salvage Engineers together with MPA Singapore, and community volunteers, including Our Singapore Reefs, finally managed to remove the 100 m gill net from seabed off Pulau Hantu. Here is our summary of the encouraging collaboration! Many thanks to Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore - MPA, Our Singapore Reefs, and Singapore Marine Guide. http://www.pulauhantu.sg/working-together-to-save-our-seas/

21/05/2021

Encouraged by the response from Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore - MPA , Our Singapore Reefs and Singapore Marine Guide to retrieve the abandoned fishing net that was reported by boaters last week. Shows what can be accomplished when private, government and independent stakeholders collaborate, share info. More: https://t.co/fouVRObhDD

“Encouraged by the response from to retrieve the abandoned fishing net that was reported by boaters last week. Shows what can be accomplished when private, government and independent stakeholders collaborate, share info. More: https://t.co/fouVRObhDD ”

19/05/2021

Scientists in Singapore used DNA barcoding to identify shark species from a variety of shark products traded across Singapore. They identified at least 16 species - two of which are listed under CITES Appendix II and another six cited as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Read their report below!

Sharks are apex predators that play important roles in marine ecosystems, yet many species of shark are facing significant conservation challenges. Gl…

16/05/2021

My latest post about the hawksbill sea turtle that was found drowned at sea yesterday at the waters off Pulau Hantu. Thank you to Roy Kairos for sharing his photos and videos from the unfortunate incident. http://www.pulauhantu.sg/sea-turtle-drowned-at-sea/

15/05/2021

Our fabulous team of marine scientists at St. John's Island National Marine Laboratory present the wonderful corals of Singapore! They share how they are being stressed 😫 by climate change and other human activities 🏙 and what our intrepid local scientists are doing to save them! https://youtu.be/fKjqG0nKjv0

We are visiting the Tropical Marine Science Institute on St John's Island with some volunteers from Thekchen Choling (Singapore) to find out what scientists...

12/05/2021

Snippets from the BIGGEST day of this year's mass coral spawning dive! Many species of coral released their eggs and s***m bundles into the water! Many fish were busy feeding on the yummy, floating, and protein-packed egg bundles. Keep watching to the end for the BIG, MEGA FINALE! Many thanks to the enduring marine scientists at NParks for inviting us to this dive at Pulau Satumu.

As you watch this video, listen too to the sound of the reef. That static sound is the scraping of coral by small invertebrates, the snapping of shrimp claws, the munching of algae by urchins, and even the calls of some fish. Scientists that study the sounds of reefs think that these sounds help guide marine animals to reefs, similar to how we humans find the city by looking for lights or listening for the sound of people and traffic.

12/05/2021

Hantu Blog volunteer, Nicholas Chew, witnessed the mass spawning of corals in Singapore for the first time! He shares about this experience of "a magical time swimming through a soup of eggs and s***m. It was a bit like snowing but upside down." http://www.pulauhantu.sg/soup-of-egg-and-s***m/

08/05/2021

"Coral spawning is such a rare event which only happens once or twice a year, and during the dive I get to witness the primordial process by which a massive coral reef is formed from millions of tiny coral eggs." - Hantu Blog volunteer and marine biologist, Min Hui Khoo joined NParks for a coral spawning dive at Pulau Satumu
Read all about it in our latest post: http://www.pulauhantu.sg/birth-of-a-coral-reef/

05/05/2021

Exciting efforts by Singapore's very own marine scientists Dr Neo Mei Lin and Dr Jani Tanzil. We are super proud of them and this fun game plan to save Singapore reefs!

“Our reefs may not be as pretty or colorful as those in Australia or the Maldives, but they are very, very resilient.”

05/05/2021

Hantu Blog volunteer, Khoo Min Hui, went for a night dive over the weekend at Pulau Hantu and met this juvenile Brock's pipefish (Halicampus brocki)!

24/04/2021

Tune in to 89.3FM this morning to learn about Singapore's home-grown and internationally renowned marine biologist, Dr Neo Mei Lin, who speaks up for giant clams!

10/04/2021

Hantu Blog volunteer and underwater photographer, Nicholas Chew, shares about this recent attempt to document the mass coral spawning event that occurs in Singapore. Read about his up-close-and-personal encounter with some of Singapore's magnificent marine life!

http://www.pulauhantu.sg/waiting-for-a-coral-spawning/

17/02/2021

Exciting explorations of the tiny creatures that give so much life to our waters - zooplankton! Home grown marine biologist Dr Zeehan Jaafar and her team, share their findings.
https://news.nus.edu.sg/a-fascination-with-the-deep/?fbclid=IwAR0T34_535hnf3_aryKrUVEjFOOc0fr4euvemP8DVZWjAI6MM5vWZTWHG2M

Dr Zeehan Jaafar, a lecturer at NUS Biological Sciences, loves the rich and mysterious oceans. She learnt at a young age that in addition to providing a home for the diverse organisms she loves, marine ecosystems also provide food, medicines, and perform important processes that may not be immediate...

14/02/2021

Did you know that Singapore has its very own sea turtle hatchery?
Learn more about sea turtles in Singapore and what goes on behind the scenes to make sure each sea turtle has a fighting chance at life!

Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at the Turtle Hatchery at Sisters' Island Marine Park? In this video, Collin Tong shares an inside look into the...

06/02/2021

A new field study in French Polynesia has shown that the metabolic rate of juvenile orange-fin residing in bleached anemones decreased over a four week study interval.
"Despite the reduced metabolic cost, the growth rate of fish (𝘈𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘺𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘴) from bleached anemones was significantly lower compared to fish from healthy anemones, suggesting that animals residing in bleached hosts are at an energetic disadvantage.
The loss of symbiont algae ( -driven) and the likely decreased availability of waste products in bleached sea anemones, coupled with an absence of compensatory foraging, are two likely causes of the lower growth rate observed for fish from bleached anemones."

The metabolism of clownfish—or anemonefish—decreases when their sea 'homes' are damaged by climate change, according to a new study.

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Videos

On a regular day of #fieldwork at a seagrass meadow in Singapore, we met an eagle ray! Looked like it was sniffing around the meadow for a tasty treat. We also saw lots of cowfish, squid, mullet, and flatworms galore. St. John's Island Marine Laboratory

Mass Coral Spawning at Pulau Satumu 2021

Snippets from the BIGGEST day of this year's mass coral spawning dive! Many species of coral released their eggs and sperm bundles into the water! Many fish were busy feeding on the yummy, floating, and protein-packed egg bundles. Keep watching to the end for the BIG, MEGA FINALE! Many thanks to the enduring marine scientists at NParks for inviting us to this dive at Pulau Satumu. As you watch this video, listen too to the sound of the reef. That static sound is the scraping of coral by small invertebrates, the snapping of shrimp claws, the munching of algae by urchins, and even the calls of some fish. Scientists that study the sounds of reefs think that these sounds help guide marine animals to reefs, similar to how we humans find the city by looking for lights or listening for the sound of people and traffic.

Happy World Oceans Day from our volunteers! #WorldOceansDay2020 #welovehantu

Found in a Kusu night dive, I wonder this kind of Moray Eel has been spotted in SG water before. Somebody can help to ID please?

Worm-eel

Worm-eels can often be found hiding and hunting for fish in the coral rubble around Singapore's southern islands. Here's a tiny little one from Cyrene Reef.

Archaster typicus, a.k.a Common sea star

Archaster typicus, a.k.a Common sea star, used to be abundant in Singapore shores. However, they are now listed as 'Vulnerable' on the Red List of threatened animals in Singapore due to habitat loss and overcollection. Perhaps their last stronghold is in the shores of Singapore's Southern Islands, such as these that live on Cyrene Reef.

Grey bonnet snail

Here's something we don't get to see while diving! The Grey bonnet snail is listed as 'Endangered' in the Red List of threatened animals of Singapore. It is threatened by habitat loss and over-collection. They are predators, feeding on echinoderms like urchins and sand dollars. These snails favour exposed sand flats, close to dead coral areas and are more commonly found in intertidal and shallow subtidal zones to a depth of about 10 m. Thanks to Ria Tan for organising this fantastic trip to Cyrene Reef!

Squid

We love squid! And we love that we can find them on Singapore shores! Did you know that squid are among the fastest aquatic invertebrates, reaching speeds of up to 40km/hr? They are also famously known as masters of camouflage. So just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they're not there! Here's one that lives in a very special place in Singapore - Cyrene Reef! Thanks to Ria Tan for organising the trip!

A pair of Hypselodoris bullocki and a ribbon of yellow nudi eggs, upon a coral outcrop at Singapore's Pulau Hantu.

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Our Story

The Hantu Blog is the only non-profit, volunteer dive organisation in Singapore that organises regular guided dives at this iconic island. Our aim is to protect Singapore shores by giving our ancient and magnificent reefs a voice. We have led educational tours for divers, students, and the general public at Pulau Hantu for close to two decades. We also deliver talks and lectures for corporations, schools, and at public venues.

Our volunteers have been actively involved in public discourse to raise awareness and protect our reefs and shores from unnecessary and avoidable environmental impact. Pulau Hantu is Singapore’s most popular Southern Island, beloved by SCUBA divers for her sheltered and biologically diverse reefs.