Weather conditions had been good for a couple of days, so I hoped that the visibility would be OK, even with the little bit of rain a few days earlier, and this turned out to be the case. There was a lot of life around for this dive, ranging from big schools of Zebrafish, accompanied by Sweep and Snapper, a couple of pairs of Old Wives, some Moonlighters, and a small school of Silver Trevally. The highlight was finding 13 Port Jackson Sharks in the ledges around one small part of the reef! Some of them appeared to have small cleaner fish on them, which is the first time I've seen this.
Dusky Worwong can grow up to 1.2 metres. Adults a blue-green colour, while juveniles have brown spots and bars in the upper body and tail. They are regularly seen in seagrass beds, often in pairs, lying in the grass, and are quite easy to approach. Photo by Peter Batchelor
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. Photo by Peter Batchelor
Horseshoe Leatherjackets have blue, green, black, yellow, and blue markings on the head and body, and a horseshoe-shaped mark on the sides. They are quite inquisitive, and if you are patient they will often swim right up to you. They have been known to grow up to 60 cm, although 45 cm is more usual. Photo by Peter Batchelor
The Port Jackson Shark eats bivalve molluscs, and its teeth are plate-like rather than the razor-sharp teeth normally associated with sharks. Not considered dangerous to divers, but they do have venomous barbs in front of each dorsal fin. It comes into shallow waters to breed during the late Winter months. They lay spirally flanged eggs, which are screwed into cracks or under ledges, where the young take a year to develop. Taking about ten years to reach maturity, they grow to between 1 and 1.6 metres. Photo by Peter Batchelor
The Port Jackson Shark eats bivalve molluscs, and its teeth are plate-like rather than the razor-sharp teeth normally associated with sharks. Not considered dangerous to divers, but they do have venomous barbs in front of each dorsal fin. It comes into shallow waters to breed during the late Winter months. They lay spirally flanged eggs, which are screwed into cracks or under ledges, where the young take a year to develop. Taking about ten years to reach maturity, they grow to between 1 and 1.6 metres. Photo by Peter Batchelor
The Port Jackson Shark eats bivalve molluscs, and its teeth are plate-like rather than the razor-sharp teeth normally associated with sharks. Not considered dangerous to divers, but they do have venomous barbs in front of each dorsal fin. It comes into shallow waters to breed during the late Winter months. They lay spirally flanged eggs, which are screwed into cracks or under ledges, where the young take a year to develop. Taking about ten years to reach maturity, they grow to between 1 and 1.6 metres. Photo by Peter Batchelor
You can often see large shoals of Zebrafish around some of the rocky ledges of the Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary. Sometimes they will ignore you completely, and other times will disappear into crevices and caves as soon as possible. Sea Sweep are often very inquisitive, and will often come and investigate divers. They can have a lifespan of almost 70 years, and take more than 14 years to reach sexual maturity. Photo by Peter Batchelor
Silver Trevally can occur in large schools. They have a silver reflective body, with a black spot on the gill cover, and often has a yellow stripe running along the midline. Photo by Peter Batchelor
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. Photo by Peter Batchelor
The Victorian Scalyfin is one of the larger members of the Damselfish family. It is territorial, and will aggressively defend its cave and the patch of algae that it farms. They can vary in colour from grey to black, or yellow to orange. Large males can be almost black, with a thin blue margin. Photo by Peter Batchelor
The Port Jackson Shark eats bivalve molluscs, and its teeth are plate-like rather than the razor-sharp teeth normally associated with sharks. Not considered dangerous to divers, but they do have venomous barbs in front of each dorsal fin. It comes into shallow waters to breed during the late Winter months. They lay spirally flanged eggs, which are screwed into cracks or under ledges, where the young take a year to develop. Taking about ten years to reach maturity, they grow to between 1 and 1.6 metres. Photo by Peter Batchelor
The Port Jackson Shark eats bivalve molluscs, and its teeth are plate-like rather than the razor-sharp teeth normally associated with sharks. Not considered dangerous to divers, but they do have venomous barbs in front of each dorsal fin. It comes into shallow waters to breed during the late Winter months. They lay spirally flanged eggs, which are screwed into cracks or under ledges, where the young take a year to develop. Taking about ten years to reach maturity, they grow to between 1 and 1.6 metres. Photo by Peter Batchelor
