Amelia's first dive for the season. Saw lots of small schooling fish. Can't work out what they are. Quite a few small Stingarees around the outside of the pier, as well as a single Spider Crab. We spent some time watching a Pale Octopus that lives in a tyre off the end of the pier, on the way to Elsa's reef. The Calamary have laid more eggs, and there were lots of juvenile Moonlighters hunting for food under and around the pier.
Amelia, on her first dive of the season.
The Moonlighter has six dark bands down each side, over a body that graduates from silver to yellow. Juveniles have a large white-edged black spot on the dorsal fin near the rear of the body. Adults are either solitary, or may be found in pairs. They can grow up to 35 to 40 cm.
Unidentified schooling fish under Rye Pier.
Unidentified schooling fish under Rye Pier.
The Pale Octopus grows to around 35 cm in length. It has a relatively large body, short arms, and is normally a reddish brown to orange colour. It is often seen on sand amongst sponges and gorgonian corals. It can form spiky protuberances all over its body, radically changing its appearance.
The Pale Octopus grows to around 35 cm in length. It has a relatively large body, short arms, and is normally a reddish brown to orange colour. It is often seen on sand amongst sponges and gorgonian corals. It can form spiky protuberances all over its body, radically changing its appearance.
The largest of all stingrays, the Smooth Stingray can be as long as 4.3 metres and weigh up to 350 kg. They can be quite inquisitive, and it isn't uncommon for them to circle around divers several times, and come back again and again. Not aggressive, but they do have a large venomous spine on the tail. We often see small schools of Silverbellies swimming with them
Female Six-spined Leatherjacket. The male Six-spined Leatherjacket has three pairs of prominent spines on each side of the base of the tail. Females and juveniles have much smaller spines, if they are present at all. Commonly seen in seagrass beds, adults are also seen on sheltered reefs. Males are much more colourful than females.
Calamary eggs. The most common Squid seen in Victorian waters, the Southern Calamary looks like a cross between a Cuttlefish and a Squid. The arms, head an body look like that of a squid, but the fins extend all the way around the mantle. Spawning occurs at night, and the females attach clusters of eggs to the seabed, or in this case to one of the pylons on Rye Pier.
Schools of juvenile Leatherjackets are often seen under Rye Pier in mid to late Summer.
The Common Stingaree grows to about 45 cm, and can vary from a uniform brown to grey, with a dusky shading below the eyes. They have a small dorsal fin on the tail, and often are found in small groups.
Spider Crabs often adorn themselves with bits of sponge, algae and hydroids, which provides great camouflage. This one was very plain. Aggregations of these crabs, for moulting and mating, can be seen in Port Phillip each year, with numbers easily in the thousands. The timing of the aggregation seems to be determined by water temperature, and the location of the aggregation can vary from year to year. We have seen aggregations as early as February, and as late as July.
Divers: Amelia Batchelor, William Batchelor, Peter Batchelor
Weather/Sea: 14 Kts Southerly.
