Rapid Bay’s Stripy Fish
Dear Reader:
I am snorkelling just below the old Rapid Bay jetty. The poles are covered with sea squirts, sponges and a variety of algae. Seastars and urchins forage amongst this tangle of encrusting organisms and mixed schools of bait-fish dance around the timber uprights. Closer to the sea floor I can see some large rocks that form a shallow reef. Many are the result of mining or the remnants of an old breakwater. Like the jetty poles the reef has also been colonized by a myriad of marine invertebrates providing the perfect environment for the more residential species of fish that I am here to photograph.
In a slight depression near the bottom I come across a moonlighter swimming over a brownish coloured sponge.
Moonlighter (Tilodon sexfasciatus)
Size: Length to 40 cm.
- Common around reefs and drop offs
- Larger adults found in deeper water
- Often seen around Aldinga Reef and Rapid Bay jetty
- Opportunistic feeding on plankton, algae and tiny reef living invertebrates
- juveniles inhabit shallow reefs
- Not found in schools, adults solitary or in pairs
Where the water is a little deeper I manage to position myself at the end of a narrow cave and capture a nice image of a pair of old wives that are using it as a shelter.
Old Wife (Enoplosus armatus)
Size: Length to 31 cm.
- Found in schools over seagrass beds and alongside jetty poles
- In pairs or solitary around reefs
- Feed on small invertebrates such as shrimp and worms
- Juveniles often shelter in seagrass beds
- Have been observed cleaning parasites off other fish
- Have a venomous spine on the first dorsal fin
- Name comes from grunting sound made when captured
My final image is of a western talma a kind of butterfly-fish as it picks tiny invertebrates from some brown algae.
Western Talma ( Squareback Butterflyfish) (Chelmonops curiosus)
Size: Length to 20 cm.
- Lives around rocky reefs often under ledges and near crevices to depths of 40 m.
- Frequently seen along the steep rock faces of the Bluff at Victor Harbor
- Uses its long slender mouth to pick at small invertebrates including crustaceans and worms as it moves slowly across the reef
- Also eats algae
- Often found in pairs
It has been a wonderful dive and Rapid Bay is a place to explore some of the State’s most enchanting wildlife in a great setting. And if you are lucky there is also the opportunity to catch sight of both leafy and weedy seadragons. But I’ll leave that adventure for another post.
Cheers
Baz
Notes:
Over the next few months I will be writing a book about the wildlife of the Fleurieu Peninsula. My posts will reflect the research I am doing and provide more detailed information about the animals I encounter.
Naturally South Australia 