Mediterranean fanworm Sabella spallanzanii waiting for its prey in shallow waters of Browns Bay, Auckland. It’s beautiful but unwelcome pest in New Zealand waters brought here we ships. Unfortunately, it seems it does very well in nz harbours and bays. Keywords: fanworm worm Mediterranean “Mediterranean fanworm” Sabella spallanzanii “Sabella spallanzanii” pest unwelcome bio-security bay bays harbour […]

Pair of leatherjackets Parika scaber swimming over kelp forest of Ecklonia radiata. Keywords: leatherjacket fish Parika scaber “Parika scaber” kelp forest “kelp forest” Ecklonia radiata “Ecklonia radiata” vegetation algae underwater undersea temperate water Pacific ocean

Tiny anemones attached to brown shallow water algae wait for their prey in murky waters of Browns Bay, Auckland, New Zealand. They cannot move so they wait for water to move and bring tiny critters to the reach of their deadly tentacles. In spite of not using a lipstick the anemone’s mouth is pink. Keywords: […]

A lot of interesting phenomenons hide under the canopy of kelp forest, in this case a road-shaped clean and flat strip of the bottom. Keywords: kelp forest “kelp forest” canopy under road bottom Ecklonia radiata “Ecklonia radiata” “like road” road-like rad-shaped underwater undersea sponge orange brown algae vegetation temperate water Pacific ocean

Large comb sea star Astropecten polyacanthus on silty bottom of Mahurangi Harbour where it is quite abundant. It spends a lot of time burrowed in sand so it’s seldom clean of it. The spines along its arms reminding of a comb give the sea star its name. Keywords: “sea star” starfish comb “comb sea star” […]

I wrote previously kelp forests of southern Pacific have their smiling face. It is Eastern Kelpfish Chironemus marmoratus. It usually hides among kelp fronds or “sits” on shaded rocks covered with algae where it is well camouflaged. What an unusual sight when it cruises in open water with kelp in the background. Keywords: fish kelpfish “kelp […]