Temperatures are beginning to bottom out in the Bay. It was 11.4°C degrees this weekend and I managed a couple of August snorkels with clingfish & seahorses in the northern bay. We spent about 90 minutes in the shallows off Black Rock on Saturday and then an hour or so at Beaumaris Bay on Sunday. It’s quite hard work snorkelling in these temperatures. I’m not sure if it’s the cold water, the restrictive wetsuit or a combination of both, but I emerge feeling exhausted. But it was still pleasant. The low afternoon light is beautiful and even that slight warmth from above is enough to make it bearable.
Saturday 2 August, Black Rock
I pottered around in the shallows looking for small stuff as I couldn’t be bothered to duck dive much into the frigid water below. There were lots of clingfish around. These cute and charismatic little fish use modified fins to stick to rocks. They are our largest species, growing to a about 8cm long.
Other highlights were some Hairy Crabs (I love their porcelain-white claws), triple-fins and weedfish. As winter progresses, the green Caulerpa is disappearing – no doubt eaten by some of the seaslugs. The sargassum is flourishing, along with the Japanese kelp. The latter is introduced but doesn’t seem to do much harm. It’s grazed on by urchins and the like. By spring it’s dying off again.
Sunday 3 August, Beaumaris Bay
We started at the jetty near the motor yacht squadron. They were doing works last year and have removed the chains where the seahorses used to like to sit. In theory they are supposed to consider these species by law but I doubt any assessment was done. It probably doesn’t matter. Seahorses are really hardy creatures and there were a few under there.
Also, a big seagrape Sacoproteus sea slug. Plus, a few other Elysias. This always seems to be a good spot for finding these wonderful creatures.
Ecosystem effects
Out the front of the main drain the ecosystemHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More does not look too good. I have tried to report a sewage leak to Melbourne Water but so far have been rebuffed. They don’t seem to realise the immense impact this is having on the health of the reef, let alone the kids searching for echinoid fossils on the beach.
There are also piles of rocks to the north. These were made by a guy called Richard Casley – we know because many have seen him doing it. He’s been confronted numerous times using an underwater scooter to blast and lift the reef in a hunt for fossil shark teeth. One time a group of us called the water police but they could do nothing. He came over gleefully afterwards and showed us the teeth he’d pulled from the ground … the plume from his work was visible from the land. Whole areas of reef, home to Bigbelly Seahorses and Blue-ringed Octopus, among other things, have gone the same way. Shame, because this is turning out to be one of the richest areas for marine creatures in the whole of the northern bay.
The good news is, the coral reef has regained its colour since the terrible bleaching last year. I’ll be keeping a close eye on it this coming summer.
