Beautiful Cyrene 2 - Synaptic Sea Cucumber in action

Beautiful Cyrene 2 - Synaptic Sea Cucumber from BeachBum on Vimeo.

With a horizon of petrochemical industries, Cyrene reef is a wondrous exposition of nature. Very much like a coral atoll, but not quite, Cyrene is mostly submerged and only revealed at the lowest of tides. Constantly in danger of ship groundings and chemical leaks, Cyrene is amazing in it's biodiversity.

The clip shows a synaptic sea cucumber looking for food in a rich Thalassia seagrass meadow. With it's accordian-like body tube which relies on seawater for form, it unfurls it's feeding tentacles grasping material from the seagrass surrounding it and passing it one by one to a central mouth. This one, when fully expanded, was about a metre long. However, it can contract or deflate itself, within seconds, to a fraction of it's full length by expelling all the water in the body tube.

Sea Cucumbers are Echinoderms (Class Holothuroidea)

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Cyrene Reef is a unique submerged reef right in the centre of Singapore's West Coast port surrounded by petrochemical and shipbuilding industries. It is only visible and visitable during very low tides. At other tides, the entire reef is totally submerged. At suitable low tides, access is by amphibious (wet)landing as there is no jetty or pier. Cyrene (also called Terumbu Pandan) has unique mix of various ecosystems : seagrass lagoons, sand bars, rocky shores, coral rubble and coralline areas. It's biodiversity is amazing! A reef-seagrass-sand oasis!

Uniquely Singapore!
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useful links :
about Thalassia hemprichii seagrass : http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/g104.htm
on sea cucumbers : http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/p630.htm
http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/inverts/diver/marine/echinodermata/holot.htm
http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Holothuroidea&contgroup=Echinodermata