Dear Reader:
I swim under the jetty, dive and steady myself ready to photograph the jumble of complex animals and algae encrusting one of the jetty poles.
Marine organism encrusting a jetty pole
Port Victoria jetty
As I swim to the next pole, I decide to concentrate my photography on the more discrete types of marine animals amongst the colourful clutter. On this pole the most obvious inhabitant is a white colonial sea squirt.
Colonial sea squirt
The next pole I investigate has a dominant growth of green algae ,called Cualerpa, radiating from its wooden base. I find a Golf Ball Sponge near the bottom and spot a Red Bait Crab scuttling amongst the encrusting carpet of static marine life.
Golf Ball sponge
Green algae (Caluerpa spp) growing on jetty pole
Moving slightly away from the jetty I enter a zone dominated by seagrasses and interspersed with the occasional small island of brown algae and sandy stretches.
Seagrass algae boundary
In a small sand patch, a Magpie Perch swims between two patches of brown algae then angles up towards me. Nearby, a group of Red Mullet and a lone Shaw’s Cowfish are foraging on the bottom. There are also some small wrasse near the border between the seagrass and sand.
Magpie Perch
Shaw’s Cowfish
I am close to the shore now and the water is getting shallow. Schools of tiny fish congregate just below the surface. Two young children, playing in the shallows, wave to me as I stand up, take off my flippers and walk ashore.
School of juvenile fish near the surface
Ten minutes later, with gear back in the car and dry from the sun, I head over to the pub by the car park at the foot of the jetty. Time to enjoy a cool drink and a bite to eat while I review the images from my little snorkelling foray.
Local watering hole
Cheers
Baz
Naturally South Australia 