The last giant kelp forest on the east coast of Tasmania has been confirmed lost due to rapidly increasing ocean temperatures. Marine biologist and photographer Emma Flukes from Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, takes you on a tour of a vanishing world.
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- The critically endangered red handfish (Thymichthys politus) is endemic to southeastern Australia. Barrett said it was unlikely to survive beyond this century. (Photo: Emma Flukes)
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- The Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus edwarsii) is one of the most important predators on southern reefs, growing to more than 8kg in unfished areas. As omnivores, rock lobsters do not depend directly on seaweed for food; however their diet is comprised of other animals that live in and among kelp beds. The rock lobster is the only animal on Tasmanian reefs that feeds on the invasive long-spined sea urchin (pictured in crevice). Stocks of large rock lobsters are severely depleted in Tasmania as a result of the large commercial and recreational fishery for this species. Governor Island Marine Reserve, Tasmania.
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- The spiny pipehorse (Solegnathus spinosissimus) is the largest of Australia’s seahorse family. Pipehorses secure themselves on the seafloor by wrapping their tails around vertical structures including seaweed stipes.
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- Another inhabitant of kelp beds, the Old Wife (Enoplosus armatus), makes its home among the kelp stipes. This species gets its name from the characteristic grinding noise of its teeth when caught, which is said to resemble a grumbling old wife. The Old Wife is one of many species extending its range from mainland Australia to Tasmanian waters with the strengthening East Australian Current. Maria Island, Tasmania.
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- The predatory eleven-armed seastar (Coscinasterias muricata) wanders beneath the kelp canopy in search of crabs and worms that live amongst the kelp. Waubs Bay, Bicheno, Tasmania.
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- The short-tailed nudibranch (Ceratosoma brevicaudatum) is one of several species of nudibranchs, or seaslugs, that live on and around the holdfasts of kelp forests (pictured here in an Ecklonia radiata forest). St Helens, Tasmania.
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- Beneath the sunlit waters inhabited by kelp forests are the colourful invertebrate reefs comprised of seawhips, sponges, yellow zoanthids, and home to large schools of fish. The invasive black long-spined sea urchin (Centrostephanus rogersii) grazes on juvenile kelp and sponges. Governor Island Marine Reserve, Bicheno.
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- The draughtboard shark (Cephaloscyllium laticeps) cruises between kelp plants feeding on shellfish, sea urchins and crustaceans that live beneath the kelp canopy.
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- The giant cuttlefish (Sepia apama) moves into the kelp forests to breed. Kelp forests provide an important nursery habitat for this species. Fortescue Bay, Tasmania.
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- Weedy seadragons are a quintessential kelp forest resident. Many will adapt to other habitat forms when the giant kelp is gone. But in places where urchin barrens form, they will not survive.
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- Octopus in a seaweed bed (Codium fragile). Derwent Estuary, Tasmania.
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- The kelp urchin (Holopneustes purpurescens), lives in ‘nests’ in the kelp which it makes by pulling the kelp fronds around its body using its tube feet. The nests provide protection from predators for the urchins, and also provide shelter for the herbivorous snail Phasianotrochus eximius. Waubs Bay, Bicheno, Tasmania.
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- A swarm of moon jellies above a crayweed bed (Phyllospora comosa). Ninepin Point Marine Reserve, d’Entrecastaux Channel, Tasmania.
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- Maori octopus (Octopus maorum) is the largest octopus in southern Australia and can grow an armspan of up to 3m. Octopus live in rock crevices amongst the kelp canopy and have a hardened “beak” similar to a parrot which they use to bore through the shells of crustaceans and molluscs (pictured here next to a large abalone). Maria Island, Tasmania.
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- The pot-bellied seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) lives in and among seaweed beds where it wraps its tail around their stipes and feeds on small shrimps that hover in the kelp canopy. Kingston Beach, Tasmania.
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- The giant cuttlefish (Sepia apama) moves into the kelp forests to breed. Kelp forests provide an important nursery habitat for this species. Waubs Bay, Bicheno, Tasmania.
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- Common Gurnard Perch (Neosebastes scorpaenoides). Waubs Bay, Bicheno, Tasmania.