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” […]
I wrote about Jessie Hussey in the articles titled Jessie Hussey’s contribution to the knowledge of SA’s marine flora and Mike Moore’s “butterfly of the month”, followed by Lisa Waters talk about amateur botanist Jessie Louisa Hussey (1862-1899). Jessie Louisa Hussey was an amateur botanist from Port Elliot. She was […]
Further to More About Peculiar Colour Patterns in Fish, David Muirhead recently sighted yet another Moonlighter with an unusual pattern on its side. David photographed this Moonlighter during a dive at Carrickalinga on 16th April 2022: – Here is a cropped version of the photo: – This photo shows the […]
The Fab Five can be found in South Australia’s Commonwealth Marine Parks. They are five of SA’s ‘Fabulous’ charismatic species – the Australian sea lion, White-bellied sea eagle, Giant Australian cuttlefish, Great white shark and Southern right whale. These Fab Five icons occur in SA’s seven Commonwealth Marine Parks. Australian […]
Forget the Fab Four, the Fab Five are here! The Fab Five are 5 icons from Australia’s Commonwealth Marine Parks. These 5 icons are Southern right whales, Giant Australian cuttlefish, Australian sea lions, Great White sharks and White-bellied sea eagles. There is a website about Finding the Fab Five. It […]
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 […]