The Stream
0Introduction
On the second day of the new year, Beng Tang, an avid conservationist together with his companion went on an expedition down the “stream” that runs through Bukit Brown. Concerned that development from the impending highway will encroach on the habitat which is home to both indigenous and as he described it “foreign talent”fresh water species, he set himself a mission to transport what he could “capture” to safer environs. We thank Beng Tang for sharing his expedition report and findings with a.t.bukitbrown and salute him for his effort.
The Set-Up
- Setting up the traps
The Long View - Waiting
Yes, they are biting!
Prologue
The Bukit Brown stream is actually a man-made drain with sloping concrete sides, but it is well weathered such that a substrate of mud and sand and leaf litter has accumulated on it’s bottom and plants are growing in it. The water in it is slow flowing (except when it rains and it is in spate), and these factors make it suitable for freshwater plants and animals. Fish can lay eggs in the gravel substrate, fry can hide in the vegetation and eat invertebrates in it, animals can shelter in the plants when the water is fast flowing, and the decaying leaf litter and plants support a food web. Land animals can access the stream to drink or forage.
The Catch
The"stream" is overgrown in places, with substrate and dead leaves on the bottom, perfect for fish and turtles
Species of Spotted Barb and Danio including Kedah danio
Spotted Barb species, 2 inches long
A Malayan Box Terrapin lurks, the Bukit Brown stream is a good habitat for this native reptile
An easy albeit none too happy captive
Underbelly showing the hinges of the plastron
The banks of stream is for butterfly spotting
A New Home
- Beng Tang making his way to release catch to new and hopefully safer habitat. Location: the drain on the other side of Bukit Brown, near Ghymkhana Ave / Jalan Mashhor
Beng reports the terrapin made a dash for freedom
Part of the stream where the wildlife was released, seen from Woodbridge
How did the eel get to the stream? Who dun'it?
Comments