Understanding, enjoying and caring for our oceans
Sue Simmonds recently sent me the following email message regarding her late father’s love of the Shandon: – “Hi Steve, The “Shandon” was dad’s favourite ship, he loved sail and was probably born fifty years too early. I’ve also attached a photo of the “Shandon” taken from the “Mount Stewart” […]
This large sponge in the Darwin Art Gallery and Museum reminds me of how prawn trawling decimated our SA gulfs soft bottom habitats and meadows: – I also think about Smith Bay (on Kangaroo Island) and the huge old green coral colony* there, the survival of which has uncanny shades […]
Society member, Chris Iwanicki recently sent me a message seeking assistance in identifying what he thought may have been two different angel shark species. Chris had been swimming about 100m out off of Somerton beach, in about 3m depth. He found what he thought may be two different specimens in […]
David Muirhead recently witnessed some unusual behaviour by a pair of Moonlighter, Tilodon sexfasciatus at Moonta Bay jetty (11th March 2022). He later posted four photos that he managed to take of the pair during his snorkel in the jetty swimming enclosure on iNaturalist. David reported his sighting thus: “Initially […]
February 2022 was the 11th anniversary of Peter Clarkson apparently being taken by sharks whilst abalone diving in the waters off lower Eyre Peninsula in February 2011. Peter had co-authored a paper titled “Diet and feeding behaviour of the Blue-throated Wrasse” with our then Patron, Dr Scoresby Shepherd, which was […]
We had a briefing on the Northern Water Supply Project by Infrastructure SA at last night’s meeting. Our three guest speakers were Jeremy Conway, Chief Executive, Dan Butler, Stakeholder Engagement and Communications and Mike Morgan, Project Director. Visit https://northernwatersupply.sa.gov.au/ for more details. According to the page header on the site, […]
I now have a copy of Edgar Waite and Herbert Hale’s “Review of the Lophobranchiate Fishes (Pipefishes and Seahorses) of South Australia”, thanks to the generosity of Robert Browne. The review is an ‘Authors’ Reprint’ “From Records of the South Australian Museum, Vol.1, No.4, January 29th, 1921”. Edgar R. Waite […]
There is a plaque at St Kilda (SA) explaining about the rocks used to build the long breakwater there: – Certainly, it can be hard to read, but this is what it says (sic): – “These blocks of shelly limestone are part of the Glanville Formation which was exposed […]
More information has come to hand since I wrote Large Anchors Found at Normanville and More About the Shipwrecks at Normanville. Firstly, I accidentally found a copy of a letter written by David Muirhead’s father in 1970 on my computer. David’s father, David R. Muirhead, described the recovered anchor in […]
The Moonrise Seaweed Co. has been working towards the farming of seaweed for the past 3 years. They say that “seaweed farming has the potential to be a win-win-win form of agriculture – producing versatile, nourishing crops, reviving coastal economies, and regenerating local marine ecologies”. They need, however, a lot […]
There has been a new development since I wrote my two articles about red alga use in agriculture – Red Alga Use in Agriculture Update re Red Alga Use in Agriculture The SA State Government made a major announcement in January 2022. Details were posted to the PIRA/SARDI website. According […]