#interislandlife

In November, the Officiating Curator spent four days on Pulau Pawai (Alligator Island) to collect the fauna of the adjacent coral reefs.

The navy moved to the Brani Naval Base in 1973 from Sentosa (Pulau Blakang Mati).

“The total landmass of the main island and surrounding smaller islands is approximately 650km2, though land reclamation is constantly increasing this figure. There are numerous patch reefs in the waters south of mainland Singapore and many of the small islands have fringing reefs.” (Study area, para 1)

Guitar Island or perhaps “Rayfish Island” which, being placed immediately south of Singapore, must be identified with St John’s Island, or the group of three islands, west St John’s Island, East St John’s Island and Peak Island

The assistant curator was able to use the steam launch Shark during August, for the purpose of investigating the habits of a sea-snake common on the Raffles Light Island… Marine collections and a few kinds were obtained from the neighbouring islands.”  “In addition numerous trips were made to various parts of Singapore Island to collect freshwater fishes, earthworms and land and freshwater molluscs. Pulau Renggis, near Blakang Mati, was twice visited; marine worms and two species of reef spider were obtained.

As late as the mid-1600s, the Riau Archipelago was still featured as a fantastic agglomeration of impenetrable islands on what was otherwise (or may be) a relatively accurate chart… A classic description of this maze of islets that make up the Riau Archipelago is found on a map virtually unknown to many contemporary experts on Singapore.