Marine Life at Pulau Hantu: Singapore’s Wildest Intertidal Walk

travelertina

08:01:00 January 19, 2026

Asia,Singapore

There are many ways to experience the sea in Singapore, and a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk offers some of the wildest and most wonderful. Few Singaporeans ever make it out to Pulau Hantu, a pair of connected small offshore islands surrounded by a fringing coral reef. Fewer still will engage in an intertidal walk, an exploration of the sandy area that’s exposed between low and high tides, and the creatures that inhabit this liminal space. But Pulau Hantu is one of the best places in all of Singapore to enjoy an intertidal adventure.

Pulau Hantu’s red-roofed jetty framed by palm trees, seen from the approaching boat against calm turquoise water

What’s Special About a Pulau Hantu Intertidal Walk?

First of all, while Pulau Hantu is close to Singapore’s southern border, it feels ages away. Just getting there feels like a challenge: you have to make your way to the ever-inconvenient West Coast Pier, pass through a simplified immigration checkpoint, and head out to a bumboat. The subsequent ride is less than 30 minutes long, but you pass such unfamiliar scenery — quay cranes, oil storage tanks, refinery equipment — that it’s hard to believe you’re still in Singaporean waters.

Colorful container ships and towering cranes along Singapore’s port, seen on the boat ride to Pulau Hantu

Then there’s the reef. An honest-to-goodness coral reef that runs around the twin islands. You can’t see it, of course, because visibility is lousy, but you’ll know it’s there. And you’ll see evidence of the reef during your walk, including vibrant anemones and living corals.

Turquoise maze coral partly covered in seaweed at low tide on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk, showing vibrant marine life

If you’ve done an intertidal walk at Singapore’s Changi Beach Park, a walk at Pulau Hantu is guaranteed to be different: wetter, rockier, more in the middle of everything. You’ll find more small pools, different kinds of creatures, and a varied landscape.

Finally, you’ll be walking around Big Ghost Island and Little Ghost Island. What’s not to love about names like that?

Important: Do Not Pick Up, Move, or Place Wildlife in Containers

What I Didn’t See On My Pulau Hantu Intertidal Walk

I’ll be honest: I love intertidal walks in Singapore, but I signed up for Pulau Hantu specifically because I was hoping to see nudibranchs. I love these tiny, colorful sea slugs with all my marine-life heart. But I didn’t see a single one. I also didn’t see any chitons, which are rumored to be around, or any octopuses (though others on my tour did).

This is an excellent reminder that wildlife sightings are a luck of the draw. Nudibranchs are both small and elusive, so you can’t ever count on finding them. But I’ll hold out hope every time.

What I Did See On My Pulau Hantu Intertidal Walk

The good news is that I saw a great deal — it’s almost impossible not to. Marine creatures are everywhere, from the tiny whelks right underfoot to the large coral formations poking out above the water. Here’s a quick look at my evening’s finds, grouped loosely into themes to help give you a sense of what to expect.

Things That Blend In

Camouflage is one of nature’s great wonders, and you’ll find just as much of it under the water as you do on land. It takes good eyes to spot common hairy crabs (which our tour guide sweetly called a teddy bear crab) …

Well-camouflaged common hairy crab blending into rocky shallows on a Singapore reef, its shape barely visible

… elbow crabs …

Well-camouflaged elbow crab blending into sand and rubble at Pulau Hantu, showing its spindly legs and algae coating

… and bluespotted ribbontail rays.

Blue-spotted ray partly buried in silty shallows, its bright turquoise spots glowing on a Singapore reef flat

The common sea star camouflages itself by getting covered with sand …

Common sea star camouflaged on the sandy seabed, seen during a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk

… so you might have a slightly better chance of finding them in the act of mating — but even then, they’re still easy to miss.

Common sea star at Pulau Hantu, showing bristled arm edges and camouflage coloring, with outline of mating sea star below

Things That Wave

There’s something hypnotic about watching the quiet movement of life underwater, especially anything that catches the motion of the waves and sways back and forth, back and forth. You can see this in the fine tendrils of feather duster worms, the spectacular tendrils of a magnificent sea anemone …

Brilliant green sea anemone with long waving tentacles and a pink base during low tide on Singapore's Pulau Hantu island

… the tiny polyps of a leather soft coral …

Golden soft corals polyps shimmering and swaying beneath shallow water on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk in Singapore

… and the stinging, flower-like branches of the fire anemone (stay far away, or you’ll be itching for days).

Soft lavender flower-like branches of a fire anemone swaying in tidal currents on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk

Things That Pop (With Color)

In most intertidal walks, you’ll find a lot of things in the neutral spectrum: beiges and browns, grays and olive greens. And then suddenly, wow — you’ll see something bright, and you won’t be able to look away.

Purple tubular sponge growing on a rocky surface at Pulau Hantu, a vivid sight during an intertidal walk at low tide

Of all the colorful things, you’re most likely to find lumpy purple sponges. They’re a good reminder that animals in the intertidal zone often get basic, descriptive names — like the pinkish-orange boring sponge.

Cluster of pinkish-orange burrowing sponges attached to algae-covered rock, seen on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk at low tide

You’re also likely to catch flashes of greens, most likely some kind of algae or seaweed, including the amazing-looking sea grape …

Bright green algae cluster textured with fine porous patterns, seen on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk in Singapore

Bright green marine worm-like algae emerging from reef crevice during a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk in Singapore

… or yellow-tipped coral …

Yellow coral with bumpy spots, peeking out of the water during a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk

… or shocks of red — but I’ll get to those later.

Things That Stick Out

Most intertidal marine creatures lie on the sand or just beneath the water’s surface, but a few stand tall and proud, so you can’t miss them. These include chocolate sponges …

Lumpy Brown chocolate sponge rising above sand and rubble in the shallow reef flat at Pulau Hantu

… and corals, such as branching coral …

Cream-tipped branching coral rising above the shallows on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk, with seaweed on the rock behind

… and boulder brain coral.

Massive boulder brain coral ringed with brown algae, seen at low tide on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk near the reef edge

Things That Ripple, Wriggle, and Squiggle

Here are the stars of the movement show, the ones I really love to watch in action. First you have the ever-shifting tentacles of the fabulously named (by Wild Singapore) wiggly sand star anemone.

Striped wiggly sand star anemone at Pulau Hantu spreading its short twisting tentacles across the sandy rubble

Then you have the fast-moving reef bristle worm, foraging in the rubble …

Orange bristle worm with its bright, segmented body stretching across rocks and shells during a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk

… and the secretive, whip-quick worm eel.

Pale worm eel weaving across sand and rock in shallow water on a Singapore reef flat during a low-tide exploration

Then there are the jet propulsion experts, the cuttlefish (sadly hidden in silty water) …

Cuttlefish swimming at Pulau Hantu, its rounded body camouflaged in the silty water during low tide

… and the bobtail squid (this one stayed near us so patiently that we feared it might be injured).

Bobtail squid hovering in silty water during a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk, its speckled mantle glowing under torchlight

We also saw a pygmy squid no bigger than the tip of my pinky — but sadly, I didn’t catch it on film.

Last in the wriggling category, we saw a trio of common clownfish (or anemonefish if you’re a marine naming purist), hiding in the waving tentacles of a carpet anemone. (If you love these guys, don’t miss my post on the clownfish of Indonesia’s Bunaken National Marine Park.)

Pair of pinkish-orange clownfish sheltering among sea anemone tentacles on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk

Things That Startle

Let’s face it: nearly every marine creature startles in the intertidal zone, because unless you’re a regular, you don’t know what to expect. But some critters really make you jump. Imagine that you’re walking carefully, trying to watch every step, and this suddenly appears in front of you.

Red swimmer crab lifting its claws in shallow water on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk, displaying vivid orange and blue hues

The wide-open arms of red swimmer crabs startled me more than once, frightening me just as they’re meant to frighten any nearby predators. I also leapt back whenever a bright red egg crab scuttled by.

Red egg crab resting in a shallow tide pool at Pulau Hantu, with its glossy, bright red, spotted shell

Things That Surprise

I am constantly surprised by things under the sea — it truly is an entirely different world.

Let’s start with the hexagonal corals that fluoresce under blue or UV light. What’s going on with that color? These corals contain a protein that acts as a natural sunscreen, protecting a symbiotic alga from harmful UV rays. If you want to see this phenomenon, be sure to bring a UV light along.

Hexagonal coral with turquoise tones exposed under UV light at low tide on a Pulau Hantu reef flat in Singapore

Corals take on all sorts of shapes — when one of our tour mates saw this one, he yelled out, “it looks like hands!”

Mauve soft coral formation that looks like hands, seen on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk, showing healthy reef growth

The many forms of smooth, leathery soft coral are just fantastic.

Curved folds of brown-orange soft coral in shallow water. marine life seen on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk

Lavender soft coral cluster emerging above shallow water at Pulau Hantu, an eye-catching find on an evening intertidal walk

For more unusual-looking creatures, you need look no further than the squat tubes of the broad zoanthid.

Cluster of tightly closed zoanthid tubes clinging to rocky substrate at low tide on Singapore’s southern reefs

These colonies of tiny animals fold up at low tide. Underwater, though, they open up into a wall of what look like (but are not) miniature anemones.

Green-centered zoanthids open underwater in a tidal pool on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk, forming a vivid mat

Also in the “unusual shape” category was this slender seamoth, a fish in the Pegasidae family (named for the winged horse Pegasus). It uses its long pelvic fins to “walk” along the sandy sea floor.

Slender seamoth on sandy rubble at Pulau Hantu, its wing-like fins visible beneath the water during an intertidal walk

Another surprise was this cluster of squid eggs — something I did not expect to encounter in the shallows.

Cluster of translucent squid eggs tucked among seaweed on a Pulau Hantu intertidal walk, glowing under torchlight

My biggest surprise sighting may have been this noble volute, which had engulfed a clam almost entirely in order to eat it. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Large noble volute at Pulau Hantu extending its orange-spotted mantle while feeding on a clam among algae in the intertidal zone

Safe & Respectful Walking at Pulau Hantu

I’ll stress again that it’s important not to pick up wildlife, move it, or put it into any sort of container. Intertidal zones are fragile, and we don’t know what kind of injury we might be causing to animals when we stress them or move them from their homes. We already know that visitor behavior at Changi Beach Park has reduced the number of sea cucumbers we see there. We don’t want the same to happen at Pulau Hantu.

I would also recommend going to Pulau Hantu with a guide (though not the one I chose, Untamed Paths — they routinely violated the “do not pick up wildlife” rule). It’s important to be with someone who knows how to navigate the area and can alert you to any possible hazards. A guide can also do wonders in helping you to see things — and then to understand what you’re seeing.

Changi or Pulau Hantu: Which Intertidal Walk is the Best?

Short answer: they’re both amazing! But if you have to pick one or the other, Changi is easier to access, easier to navigate, and overall easier to do by yourself. If you’re a first-time intertidal walker, Changi is probably your best bet — and if you want to get a sense of what you might see at Changi, I have a whole post about it here. Pulau Hantu is wilder, more varied, and offers a higher chance of seeing unusual stuff. If you’re looking for something different, you should definitely head here.

Tips for Your Pulau Hantu Intertidal Walk

Go With a Guided Tour: As noted above, I would avoid a walk with Untamed Paths, since they pick up and move marine life. I have not been out with the NUS team, but you might try the tours led by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
Bring: Water, headlamp, mosquito repellent, waterproof bag for your phone, and a government-issued ID (Singapore work pass or passport if you’re not Singaporean). Booties, water shoes, old sneakers, or any other shoes with rubber soles are an absolute must.
Getting There: All boats leave from West Coast Pier. Arrive early to pass through security.
Be prepared: Your legs will get wet.
Photography: Because you’ll likely be out at dawn or dusk, and the waters around Pulau Hantu are silty, photography can be a real challenge.

Further Intertidal Walk Reading

If you want to see what you might find on a walk at Changi Beach Park, read my post. Want help identifying your finds? Wild Singapore is always my go-to website.

Traveler Tina