6/12/13 – Fresh!

Sunny. Winds westerly 15 to 25 km/h shifting east to southeasterly 15 to 20 km/h in the late afternoon. Southerly swell.

This is the perfect forecast! Southerly waves for our protected little corner…

Very special booty camp today taken by Anna – many hearts (and bodies) were broken apparently.. as she goes home for a few weeks..

..but she’ll be back so rest up while you can booty campers!

Manly lake…

Robin was just getting some free advice – from you know who 😉

There was haute couture and some not so haute couture……

OK Ros… am I back on the Christmas card list??

Steve Baird was ready for boarding at Gate 9

Stirling was giving a special stroke correction class…

Here’s a special one I took for Kelly…

Guess who’s sucking it in…

Soph still thinking of Stirling’s stroke tips…

Sorry Jules.. didn’t quite catch that…….it’s what…..?

It was still murky today so here’s some action from earlier in the week…

Here’s a stingaree I followed around the Point

Biggest flathead I’ve ever seen…. He was more like a small Wobbiegong

There was a “family” of blind sharks off the point this week. Sarah Bursle pointed them out for me. They were all hanging under the same rock, we must’ve counted about 10 of them!

Lots of these guys everywhere…

This guy was also the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen (over a foot long!)

I found out they’re called “Cobblers”

 

Cobbler belong to the Plotosidae family, commonly known as eel-tailed catfish. There are about 40 species in the family, with most found in tropical waters from Japan to Australia. These fish are characterised by a long tapering body and barbels (fleshy whisker-like organs) around the mouth, which they use to find food. They have venomous spines on their dorsal and pectoral fins that can cause a painful wound if you step on one.

Cobbler (Cnidoglanis macrocephalus), or catfish as they’re known outside Western Australia, are ‘endemic’ to Australia, meaning they’re only found here. They live in the southern half of the country, in coastal and estuarine waters up to about 30 metres deep. In Western Australia they’re found south of the Abrolhos Islands and east into the Great Australian Bight.

This week we sasw a few of Julia Baird’s favourite creatures….

When pink meanies were first observed in large numbers in the Gulf of Mexico (map) in 2000, they were thought to be Drymonema dalmatinum, a species known since the late 1800s and usually found in the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea, and off the Atlantic coast of South America.

Recently, though, scientists using genetic techniques and visual examinations have revealed that this pink meanie is an entirely new species—Drymonema larsoni, named after scientist Ron Larson, who did some of the first work on the species in the Caribbean. (Related: “‘City of Gonads’ Jellyfish Discovered.”)

Moreover, the pink meanie appears to be so different from other known scyphozoans, or “true jellyfish,” that it forced the scientists to create a whole new animal family, a biological designation  two levels above species. The new scyphozoan family—the first since 1921—is called  Drymonematidae and includes all Drymonema species.

The Old Wives are back this week. Michelle Sparkes and I found a whole school of them near the rocks..

This is what she was chasing…

A juvenile Spangled Emporer near the Point…

And I thought I’d better get some pics of the whiting as we see them all the time but they rarely feature…

The sand whiting, Sillago ciliata, (also known as the summer whiting, yellowfin whiting or blue-nose whiting) is a common species of coastal marine fish of the family Sillaginidae, the smelt-whitings. It is a slender, slightly compressed fish that is very similar to other species of Sillago, with detailed spine, ray and lateral line scale counts needed to distinguish the species between its nearest relative Sillago analis. The sand whiting is distributed along the east coast of Australia from Cape Yorksouth to Tasmania, as well as Lord Howe Island and New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean.

The sand whiting commonly inhabits shallow sandy substrates in bays, estuaries and surf zones where it preys on polychaeteworms, small crustaceans and bivalve molluscs. Reproduction in the species is variable over its range, generally spawning twice between September and April. Young fish inhabit shallow sand flats, both along the coast and well into the upper reaches of estuaries.

and then there’s the aprez scene….

Stats:

Swimmers: 148

Boulderdashians:

Newbies: 3

Water: 17.2! Love it!!

Sunrise: 5:37am

Sunset: 7:54pm

Have a great weekend! ND 🙂

“On your way home from your Saturday morning swim why not pick up a REAL Christmas Tree. Manly Scouts are selling premium trees at Hinkler Reserve (near Manly Lagoon) from 6am. This is their only fund raising event for the year, so they promise to leave you alone for the other 364 days”

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