Port Macdonnell Mount Gambier Victor Harbour Adelaide
Kangaroo Island Yorke Peninsula Spencer Gulf
Eyre Peninsula - Great Australian Bight
Port Lincoln, famous for its tuna fleet, is a fishing town situated at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula.
Many exciting dive sites can be found in the area which incluse some interesting scuba diving and snorkeling from shore when the weather permits.
The Town Jetty is only in shallow water but the marine life on the pylons is prolific with sponges, anemones, sea squirts, nudibranchs and a number of different fish species.
Most of the dive shops in Port Lincoln run regular boat dives for scuba diving and underwater photography out to many of the islands and reefs, including the Sir Joseph Banks group, Gambier islands, and Thistle Island.
Rodney Fox has been running his Great White Shark trips out of Port Lincoln for over 30 years and his son Andrew carries on the tradition.
Rodney Fox has been running his Great White Shark trips out of Port Lincoln for over 30 years and his son Andrew carries on the tradition and continues to muster regular ventures out to the islands. ( photo copyright : Carl Roessler)
Endemic to southern Australia, the Long - snouted Boarfish Pentapodus recurvirostris is reputed to feed on brittle stars. However, I would think it not to be so specialised, and that it would feed on a variety of mobile invertebrates.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Port Lincoln, famous for its tuna fleet, is a fishing town situated at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula. Many exciting dive sites can be found in the area. Dont worry about looking over your shoulder every few minutes since the chances of even seeing a great white shark are remote, unless you spearfish or catch a few rock lobsters or abalone. A number of dive shops in Port Lincoln run regular boat dives to many of the islands and reefs around the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula.
Having sliced out a section of Leaches Ascidian with its sharp claws, the 'Sponge' Crab Austrodromodia octodentata wears it as a 'hat'. It has been thought that the toxic sponges traditionally used would protect the crab from predation, but the choice of ascidian might seem to point to a camouflage roll for the 'hat'?
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Port Lincoln Town Jetty
Try a relaxing shore dive under the Town Jetty, in the centre of Port Lincoln. Many of the pylons, in just 4 m of water, are festooned with sponges, anemones and ascidians. Typical marine life includes spider crabs, hermit crabs, octopi, sea stars, sea cucumbers, blennies, nudibranchs, shrimps, yellowtail, perch, leatherjackets, wrasse, goatfish, globefish, sweep and small rock lobsters. A number of other jetties in the area, including the Tumby Bay Jetty, are also good dive sites. Other shore diving in the area requires a 4WD to reach the best spots, so boat dives are probably the best option.
Seen on jetty pylons, rockfaces and wrecks all over the Indo - Pacific the very attractive soft coral Caryjoa sp. is generally covered in a red, or orange commensal sponge which gives such a nice contrast when getting close ups of the polyps.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Degei Shipwreck
This trawler lies in 11 m on the western side of Donington Island. The wreck has a good coverage of photographic subjects invertebrates are plentiful, as well as old wives, leatherjackets, scorpionfish, boarfish, bullseyes and cuttlefish.
Ringed toadfish Omegophora armilla occur from southern New South Wales around to south Western Australia and is easily identified by its circled, or half circled black ring around its pectoral fins on each side.( photo: Neville Coleman)
Taylors Island
The boulder-strewn bottom provides a number of exciting dive sites around Taylors Island. The many swim-throughs and gutters are occupied by morwong, perch, old wives, boarfish, blue gropers and rock lobsters. At a maximum depth of 12 m are many small caves lined with sponges and gorgonians.
Extravagant in colour pattern and texture, the ever - present dimensions of the Swimming Sea Anemone Phlyctenactis tuberculosa have to be seen and photographed to be believed. The colour patterns are magic, and the attitude of the column vesticles, hardly ever the same. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Hopkins Island
The shallow waters around Hopkins Island are a great place to dive with sea lions. As soon as divers arrive, many curious sea lions leave the beach, and join them in the water. Some of these magnificent animals seem to enjoy out-performing the visitors, and others are just as happy to lie on the bottom and ponder the divers. There are a number of interesting sites around Hopkins Island, including a pinnacle off the southwest tip of the island. Masses of boulders rise from 30-4 m, and form endless caves and swim-throughs. The caves are lined with particularly colourful sponges and gorgonians, and are home to old wives, bullseyes, blue devilfish and morwong.
Living in sea grass meadows, on sandy bottom and on reef, Gaimards Spider Crab Leptomithrax gaimardii may reach a size of almost 1 metre across the legs. At times it forms huge mating aggregations which may reach a height of over 2 metres and contain hundreds of crabs.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Dangerous Reef
There is probably some excellent diving around Dangerous Reef, but for the last thirty years the only people game enough to dive here have done so in shark cages. Today many visit the reef, famous for its great white sharks, and hope to see one from the safety of the underwater viewing platform.
Vermillion Biscuit Stars Pentagonaster dubeni live in a variety of habitats from southern Queensland down and around to south Western Australia. They feed on sponges and bryozoans and grow to 120 mm.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Cape Wiles
The spectacular sheltered lagoon at Cape Wiles, 30 km south of Port Lincoln, is accessible only by boat. The rocky bottom varies in depth from 6-15 m, and the many small caves found here are packed with invertebrate life. On the reef are rock lobsters, morwong, blue gropers, harlequin fish, drummer, cuttlefish, blue devilfish, perch and sometimes an occasional fur seal.
Although the Mitre Volute Lyria mitraeformis occurs all across southern Australia, it is not seen out during the day, when it hides beneath the sand. At night it comes up out of the sand to track down other molluscs upon which it feeds.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Coffin Bay
Located 50 km northwest of Port Lincoln are the picturesque waters of Coffin Bay. The area is best accessed by 4WD, and then explored from the shore or by boat. The rocky reefs and nearby islands support a wealth of marine life.
Looking for all the world like a lump of bottom growth, it is difficult to see where the Tasselled Anglerfish Rhycherus filamentosus begins and ends. This species is only found in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Elliston
The town of Elliston, located 150 km northwest of Port Lincoln, could easily be listed as a dive destination, except for the lack of dive facilities. Those with their own boat can visit the reefs, teeming with marine life, situated around the many offshore islands. Divers who have explored these report incredible underwater terrain, and regular encounters with seals, dolphins and many species of fish.
As agressive as it looks, the Rough Rock crab Nectocarcinus integrifrons is generally only seen out at night. It seems to prefer a rubble - reef habitat and also occurs around jetty pylons. Widely distributed along the southern coast, it grows to 80 mm across the carapace and is a predator on other smaller invertebrates and will also scavenge. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Streaky Bay
An area famous for its mainland population of Australian sea lions, Streaky Bay is located 125 km north-west of Elliston. The colony can be found at Point Labatt, which involves a climb down a cliff face, possible in scuba gear for those desperate for a dive.
Common to the southern Australian coastline, Zimmers Sea Fan Mopsella zimmeri occurs in a number of colours and sometimes plays host to an undescribed species of nudibranch, Tritonia sp.( photo: Neville Coleman)
Port Macdonnell Mount Gambier Victor Harbour Adelaide
Kangaroo Island Yorke Peninsula Spencer Gulf
Eyre Peninsula - Great Australian Bight
Neville Coleman's diving expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys and marine life identification courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in marine life identification extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters along the coastal reefs and jetties around Port Lincoln.
( Copyright Neville Coleman/Nigel Marsh)
