Snorkel at Portarlington

By pfuller

Feb

14

BOM predicted some nasty SE winds today(which never really eventuated), so i decided to check out Portarlington Pier, being nice and protected from southerlies.

It must be Cardinalfish breeding time, since i saw 3 seperate individuals carrying eggs in their mouths. I’m not sure how/what they eat in the meantime??? eggs???

I was hoping to find some new nudibranchs, but i only saw this Oxynoe Viridis.

On my way home i decided to check out a nearby seagrass reef that turned up a couple of Philinopsis species last time i went there. Seems like its a good spot for this family of nudi’s, with about 20 Targona species seen and 3 Cyanea.

Philinopsis Taronga

Philinopsis Cyanea

It’s also a good habitat for Spotted Pipefish, but most are fairly young.

A Snorkel at the Pt Lonsdale Rockpools

By pfuller

Feb

13

Its been a quiet few months for nudibranchs at the rockpools, with lower numbers and diversity than usual. Today i only saw 4 species…all fairly common species.

I concentrated on getting some decent photos of Madrella Sanguine…a brilliant red nudibranch.

This Tritonia sp seemed to have more orange than others i’d photographed.

Tylodina corticalis is frequently seen in the rockpools. This one was the biggest i’d seen with a well developed shell.

After a thorough search i gave up on finding any more nudi’s and photographed this very dopey looking wrasse.

Theres plenty of these cardinalfish around the rock shelves, but this little guy must have got trapped in the rockpools by itself.

I’m not exactly sure what this is, some type of hydriod maybe??? Floating midwater.

This is another strange critter….its not a nudibranch but some type of worm.

Always plenty of Thornfish in the rockpools.

Also lots of big Seacarp in the pool today…outnumbering the zebrafish.

Zebrafish are always curious…but keep thier distance.