A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:
A
raging ocean today on
Fossil Fools Day, most
beaches are closed.
The unusual find today was as a small (17 cm) dead
Leatherback Turtle (
Dermochelyidae and plastic). A large
Weedy Seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) wrapped in plastics and kelp. Many tropical-looking fish. An unusual number of juvenile
Snappers and many Porcupine fish of all sizes. A dead
juvenile Australasian Gannet (approx. 55 cm). A lot of dead
Cormorants and at least
14 living Crested Terns.
Jellyfish in all colours and sizes, a thick layer of bluebottles all along the beach. Small flat disk-like 'bluebottles'. The usual transluscent giant blobs. Unusual was a large glassy
Jellyfish with 4 corners! A
large purple/mauve blob (20cm) consisted of many scale-like compartments and short tentacles. A large variety of big
sponges and a lot of
pumice. The foam appeared very colourful.
A couple of mollusc overgrown
coconuts. And a generous amount of
shared noxious weeds from garden clippings. Treated pampas grass, asparagus fern, prickly pear etc.
The human Junkspace: Mostly
plastic:
'party' balloons with looong strings, full 'throw' away
lighters, dummies,
fast food debris, fishing junk/
hooks and a syringe A dumped (stolen?)
bicycle.
A woman on the walkway walking her
dog on a very long leash ON the beach. A pack of
free range dogs on the beach in the afternoon as well. Wonder how many prosecutions there are in Manly for dogs on the beach? 010409
Sponges today of all
shapes,
sizes and
colours. The
endosymbiont animals do not have a nervous, digestive or circulatory systems, but are sure an indicator for the absence of a murky marine habitat.
A
Brushtail Possum carcass, possibly 'busted' by the dog-fanatic community that seems to eradicate anything Australian.
Unusual were the large fist-size
red/purple jellyfish. They seem to have scale-like compartments on their bell and very short tentacles. They look as if one does not want to touch them. The usual transluscent, amorphous blob jellyfish and bluebottles.
The
'party balloons' with entangle ribbons do not seem to end, in fact the clumps/knots seem to get larger and more plentiful. But then there is a lot to celebrate in an
overcrowded world with diminishing resources. 020409
Mystery fish, note the sharp teeth and leg-like fins?
A
Cunjevoi (
Pyura stolonifera) day today, all over the beach. No, not illegal bait, it all seemed to have blown in with the wild weather. An unusual large (55 cm)
fish, maybe a
Catfish? Sharp teeth in a powerful
ancient loooking head and a sword-like tail. A still very colourful looking
Weedy sea dragon( Phyllopteryx taeniolatus).
Many washed up little
nudibranch (
Glaucilla marginata) again. Usually they float on top of the ocean eating Bluebottles and incorporating their stinging cells. A few stranded
Velella, mingling with the odd
Bluebottle/The Portuguese Man o' War (Physalia physalis). A few
Ram's horn shell (Spirula spirula).
Two dead rats and a car tyre. 030409
A thick layer of
kelp on the beach and in the surf today. Brown
algae accumulates heavy metals such as copper, lead and zinc from
sub-urban 'runoff' (
pdf) , industrial activities and motorised watercraft. "
In some parts of the harbour, lead levels in seaweed were six times higher than those off Hong Kong Island". The
contaminated brown algae of
Sydney Harbour is so
toxic it makes the prawn (Epifaunal amphipods) feeding on it
drop dead.
Huge bits of Cunjevoi in between.
Junkspace: 2 more
tyres,
noise pollution from amplified events and
glass around these areas. 2 dead rats by! the
pool. 040409
>> Driftwood
March,
February,
January 2009
In "Help! It's the stinky kelp" the SMH claims that "The smell comes from a tubular weed called cunji which was ripped off the rocks at the same time as the kelp". Cunjevoi (Pyura stolonifera) are animals, when they decay they smell. The giant sea tulip (Pyura spinifera) was also washed up along with the kelp. Such is beach ecology.
