Australian sea lions and Australian and New Zealand fur seals are the only species that breed on and around Australia’s mainland and near-shore islands. Energetic creatures, these sea lions are contributing to the recently developed national Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), which employs oceanographic instrumentation on ships, moorings and buoys to map and monitor the marine environment right around Australia.
Researchers brave the aptly named Dangerous Reef to undertake groundbreaking research on the rare – and playful – Australian sea lion.
Australian sea lions are a playful lot, roaming Australia’s southern shorelines
Known in just five areas along the Derwent River in Tasmania, this small sea star is failing to compete against introduced species
Saving Australia’s grey nurse shark is a major challenge, requiring community cooperation and ongoing research.
The miniature melo snail has a shell that’s more decorative than functional
Designer Alex Goad has developed a cheap, easy, Lego-style modular frame that speeds up the creation of artificial reefs. Called Modular Artificial Reef Structure (MARS), it can be used for recovery after a coral reef has been destroyed by storms, or for use by aquariums
In his new exhibition of an on-going series, photographer Stephen Bakalich-Murdoch explores the amazing world just below the sea
An exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney features unusual images captured with a digital radiographic machine and arranged in an evolutionary sequence. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History fish curator Sandra Raredon captured the images of thousands of fish specimens. All up, the institution, in Washington DC, has four million individual specimens representing 70 per cent of total fish diversity. The X-rays allow scientists to document internal features without ruining specimens, but they also make for unusual abstract artworks. The exhibition will be open until February 2016.
Photographer Stephen Bakalich-Murdoch explores what hides just under our view, mere inches almost, beneath the sea. In a new series, titled Ten Below, he explores the underwater world thriving just out of our sight.