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LEAFY SEA DRAGON Phycodurus eques
The Leafy Sea Dragon Phycodurus eques is found in South Australia and South Western Australia, with an occasional sighting in Victoria. Unique to Australia they are one of the most sought after and highly prized aquarium fish in the world.
Most of the exported fish are grown in aquariums and as such there is little exploitation by commercial interests on the wild populations. Although some are protected by living in marine park areas, the fish themselves are not protected as for all their beauty they are not endangered.
They grow to around 350 mm and are extremely difficult to distinguish from their natural habitat, and as such appear to be less common than they are.
As can be seen by their extraordinary appendages, Leafy Sea Dragons live around kelp beds ( Ecklonia radiata ) where they blend in admirably with their habitat where they appear to be almost invisible to the average diver.
They feed on small crustaceans which live on the kelp and also on schooling groups of mysid shrimps which aggregate around the edges of kelp beds.
Mating takes place in early summer with the female depositing around 250 or so eggs onto the underside and along the tail of the male behind the anus. The eggs take around 2 months to hatch and the rolled up young exit the egg tail first. Newborns are generally around 35 mm in length.
An adult Leafy Sea Dragon Phycodurus eques grows to around. Fully grown males and females appear to be similar in size and may live in excess of 10 years.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Approximately 200 mm in length, this juvenile Leafy Sea Dragon Phycodurus eques from Albany, Western Australia has taken around 1 year to reach this size.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
Unless a diver has experience in recognising a Leafy Sea Dragon in the wild, quite often as not they remain undetected. Amongst the waving fronds of a kelp forrest, they can virtually disappear in plain view.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
On my adventure around Australia in 1969 this was my first sighting of a Leafy Sea Dragon; just the skeleton washed up dead on a beach in South Australia.
(Photo Neville Coleman)
In the wild, alive and magnificent there is little comparison to a dried skeleton. My first sighting of a living Leafy Sea Dragon was a moment I would never forget.
(Photo Neville Coleman)