A black tree coral on Joe's Reef, Freycinet Marine Park, dwarfs the diverse sponge and invertebrate community beneath it. Black corals are named after the black colour of their skeleton, and their living tissue can take on a variety of bright colours, including white.
by James Parkinson
The boundary between sand habitat (on the right) and low profile reef habitat (on the left) in 90 metres depth in the Freycinet Marine Park. The boundary is marked by a distinct change in slope and a change from bare sand to a sandy/invertebrate turf cover. It is also often demarcated by dense clusters of brittle stars, potentially due to enhanced food availability due to enhanced current speeds or accumulation of detritus at the reef base. Generally these “relict coastline” reefs are very low profile as shown here, and have quite low invertebrate cover with few larger sponges.
by Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies
Technical diver Andreas Klocker next to a black coral on Joe's Reef, Freycinet Marine Park.
by James Parkinson
The most accessible dive site in the Freycinet Marine Park (South-east Network) is known to local fishers as ‘Joe’s Reef’, an unusual 200m-long granite reef surrounded by sandy substrate. This reef is located 11 km off the coast and sits between 59–83m depth. Large numbers of tree-forming black corals amongst spectacularly diverse gardens of sponges, soft corals and bryozoans.
by James Parkinson
This image of a Gould's squid (arrow squid/dart squid/Nototodarus gouldi) was taken by an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) during a survey in the Freycinet Marine Park. Gould's squid are a schooling species that inhabit coastal and nearshore waters, preferring shallow reef, sand and seagrass habitats on the continental shelf. Gould's squid are typically light-brownish pink to brick red in colour, but like other cephalopods they can change the colour of their skin in the blink of an eye. This allows them to either mimic the colours of their surrounding environment and render themselves almost invisible to predators, or alternatively give themselves a colour or pattern that makes them stand out.
by Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies
In September 2016 Hub researchers undertook a survey of the benthic fauna of the Freycinet Marine Park with an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). While there, they encountered a significant number of Humpback whales that were passing through on their southward migration to Antarctic feeding grounds for summer.
by Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub
Istigobius decoratus, known as the Decorated Sandgoby is found on sand patches near reefs.
by Ian Shaw
Pleurosicya mossambica also known as the toothy goby or the Mozambique ghost goby is found on many substrates, including corals, sponges, giant clams and seaweeds, and can vary colour according to the substrate.
by Ian Shaw
This is an AUV still image showing habitat of the Freycinet Marine Park at ~89 metres, including sandy substrate, sea pens and sponges. Sea pens are colonial marine organisms and each individual pen is made up of many animals. These animals are called polyps and they look like miniature anemones with eight tentacles which they use to catch plankton and other small organisms from the water column to feed. Sea pens typically occur in deeper waters where there is less turbulence, and unlike most soft corals they occur in soft sandy environments, anchoring themselves in the sediment with a bulbous base.
by Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies
This stingeree was captured on camera during an AUV survey in the Freycinet Marine Park in June 2011. Stingerees are a family of rays within the order Myliobatiformes (commonly known as stingrays). They are relatively small compared to some of their cousins, typically measuring between 15-80 centimetres in length. They live on the bottom in sandy habitats on the shelf and upper regions of the continental slope, where they eat a variety of invertebrates, crustaceans and small fish that they trap beneath them and manoeuvre into their mouth by flexing their disc flaps. Half buried in sand, they are often very difficult to see, and divers, swimmers and snorkelers should be wary of the two venomous spines on the end of their tails.
by Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies