Viewing: Bony fishes
June 13, 2017
Congolli, Pseudaphritis urvillii
This fish that I photographed at the Ships’ Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River earlier this year was confirmed on iNaturalist as being a Congolli (Pseudaphritis urvillii). I had reported the sighting of the Congolli in my article titled “Further Discoveries at the Ships Graveyard” at http://mlssa.org.au/2017/03/25/further-discoveries-at-the-ships-graveyard/ I came across another one in Angas Inlet at the Garden Island jetty during a night dive there on 8th June (World Oceans Day). My photos of it were certainly…
Posted in Bony fishes | By Steve Reynolds
May 10, 2017
Normanville Jetty and Hotspot
David Muirhead says that the Normanville jetty is “a pretty poor excuse for a jetty”. “I have, however, found some surprisingly good photographic subjects on the piles at high tide, which is all the more titillating given the entire jetty can be above the water mark,” he says. (The present jetty is the second Normanville jetty. The first one was a short distance to the south of the current one but, after severe storm damage, it was decided that repairing…
Posted in Bony fishes, Dive Reports, Jetties, Maritime History, Syngnathids | By Steve Reynolds
April 27, 2017
Shrimps, Seadragons and Siphonognathus argyrophanes
Shrimps, Seadragons and Siphonognathus argyrophanes (As told to Steve by David Muirhead) The fish Tubemouth, Siphonognathus argyrophanes, looks very pipefish-like, and many veteran divers incorrectly think that they are true pipefish. They are, however, in the same family as wrasses (Labridae), which includes the ‘rock cod’ or ‘parrotfish’, plus weed whiting and western blue groper (which strictly should be called a western blue groper wrasse because it’s completely unrelated to tropical groupers like the giant Queensland Grouper). Tubemouth, Siphonognathus argyrophanes…
Posted in Bony fishes, Citizen Science, Crustaceans, Syngnathids | By Steve Reynolds
April 14, 2017
Goby Gets Nice Eye Rings
David Muirhead took this photo of a goby at Rapid Bay jetty in April 2016: – Goby at Rapid Bay jetty He has speculated in the past about why they (Grooved-cheek gobies?) get “nice eye rings”. He says that they can have gold irises or eyebrows. David thinks that they are probably Grooved-cheek gobies, Nesogobius species. They have also been called Opalescent goby. One of David’s photos of a Grooved-cheek or Opalescent goby featured as the background image for December…
Posted in Bony fishes | By Steve Reynolds
April 10, 2017
Spotting Pipefish
David Muirhead and I had Facebook conversation about finding pipefish with one-time Society member Ron Bellchambers recently, after David had posted this photo of a Crested pipefish on his Facebook page: – Crested pipefish (a.k.a Briggs Crested pipefish) (Taken by David Muirhead) (This Crested pipefish is typically cryptic below detrital seagrass leaf on silty sand @ 4 m depth Second Valley 5-4-17. The crest of its dorsal fin is just visible where its trunk meets the seagrass blade) I subsequently…
Posted in Bony fishes, Syngnathids | By Steve Reynolds
April 9, 2017
Photo of a Smooth Toadfish Blind in One Eye
In 2014, David Muirhead wrote an article titled “Opalescent Eye of Toadie – Reflecting on refracted light” – see http://mlssa.org.au/2014/08/11/opalescent-eye-of-toadie-reflecting-on-refracted-light . A Smooth Toadfish with two good eyes (Taken by David Muirhead) The article features a slide show of four toadfish images, along with comments such as “I’ve many dozens of similar shots of this adult individual and numerous other smooth toadies. Some are juveniles or sub-adults, while most show equal, or maybe even better, opalescent appearance of the nearer pupil. The colour is…
Posted in Bony fishes, Underwater Photography | By Steve Reynolds
March 25, 2017
FURTHER DISCOVERIES AT THE SHIP’S GRAVEYARD
In addition to my recent discovery of an Oyster Blenny at the Ship’s Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River, I also found this bivalve mollusc shell there: – I checked it out further when I got home. I thought that it was a Venus shell, Tapes literatus. I photographed it with my mobile phone at home and sent the photo to Peter Hunt from the Malacological Society of SA for a positive ID. Peter’s response was as…
Posted in Bony fishes, Invasive species, Marine invertebrates, Molluscs | By Steve Reynolds
March 23, 2017
The Oyster Blenny, Omobranchus anolius
When I recently snorkelled at the Ship’s Graveyard in the North Arm of the Port River, I saw lots of blennies disappearing into holes on the river bed. They were much too quick for me to be able to identify them at all. Some of them seemed to have long-flowing eel-like tails. I struck it lucky when I returned back to shore and a blenny posed on a rock for me. I was quite surprised by the colour, shape and…
Posted in Bony fishes, Dive Reports, Invasive species | By Steve Reynolds
February 23, 2017
ID of pipefish found at Sellicks Beach
We recently received a request via Facebook from Robbert Alexander to identify a pipefish species that he found on Sellicks Beach. Robbert sent us a photo of the pipefish and we told him that it was “Most likely Stigmatopora argus, the spotted pipefish”. We also gave him a link to the relevant web page for the Australian Museum ( https://australianmuseum.net.au/spotted-pipefish-stigmatopora-argus ). Robbert agreed with our ID of the pipefish and then sent us several more photos of it. He…
Posted in Bony fishes, Coastal species, Syngnathids | By Steve Reynolds
February 3, 2017
Swimming with Surf Sardines at Myponga Beach
by David Muirhead I snorkelled at Myponga Beach’s south-western rock channels again this morning (29th Jan 2017) with my daughter who expressed interest in accompanying me because she’s never been in the water there. (No suits, just bathers, booties, fins, hood, mask, snorkel, SPF30+ and Sea Life camera.) The water was clear for a change (it’s been a wet, wild warm season). Bit surgier than same time yesterday morning (tide still well in but ebbing both days, with entries around 1030 a.m.) Today’s…
Posted in Bony fishes, Coastal species | By Steve Reynolds