The Great Flood at Chek Jawa

NF#1: In January 2007, Singapore experience some of the heaviest rainfall in 75 years. The rain was just as severe in Johor, and the Johor River was bloated with rain water, which it eventually released into the Straits of Johor.



NF#2: On 18 January 2007, there was a public walk at Chek Jawa, and Adelle from Nparks informed the other regular guides that a lot of animals have died. We suspected that due to the heavy rainfall, Chek Jawa was flooded with freshwater, and it is known that most marine animals could not survive well in water with low salinity. Animals like the carpet anemone simply exploded from taking in too much freshwater, others like sea stars and sponges turned black and died, and many of the snails just died and decomposed into black liquid in their shells.


An exploded carpet anemone.


A dead knobbly seastar.


A decomposed noble volute.

NF#3: Kok Sheng from NUS is conducting a study on the mass mortality and recruitment of macrofauna for example like carpet anemones. This project also lays the foundation for the long-term monitoring and understanding of Chek Jawa.

More information at:
- 18th January
- Death Note from Chek Jawa
- First TeamSeagrass Field Orientation at Chek Jawa
- Chek Jawa Mortality and Recruitment Project