Finally! A marine biology cruise out on Port Phillip Bay where the weather was mild.
Seth and I first went on a marine biology cruise in 2019. We loved it and thoroughly enjoyed getting a closer look at the type of life we normally wouldn’t find. We were keen to return to see what creatures we could find now that we were more knowledgeable. I tried to share that experience with Glenn in 2022, but we ended up getting saturated.
I don’t know about Seth, but I had to work hard to tone done my nerdiness on this trip. The cruises are targeted at beginners so I sat back and let the younger people on the boat go through the seaweed. This was quite difficult, as most of the kids were only having a quick look. I knew how many critters they were likely putting in the larger containers and overlooking.
It was still an awesome trip with a solid variety of marine life. I’m not sure if its worth doing in the future, as I waited until the end to get close up photos of the critters we found. Seth is getting really good at finding critters around Corio Bay so we didn’t see many new creatures.
I’d love to do it as a solo cruise for me and Seth. That would let us take our time and really nerd out. Was still a great cruise 🙂
The above are likely to be Ophiothrix caespitosa.
Ophiothrix caespitosa.
New Ascidian!
The above ascidian was a really interesting find. It was one of the first critters found on the cruise and my ears pricked up as soon as the main biologist said it was a colonial ascidian. Alas, it was put in the container and covered with other seaweed.
I’m not sure this is even the same one the guy was talking about. I asked for a closer look and he said “most people don’t know what ascidians are, let alone are interested in them.” I had to resist telling him about the cool stuff Team Ascidian are up to.
This was so fascinating to see up close, even though my photos turned out to be mediocre. Seth kept on pointing out that we were near the seals or close to the gannets, but I was too distracted. I hadn’t seen anything like this before. I think I’ve only seen a small variety of the ways ascidians look due to how sheltered St Helens boat ramp is. A friend thinks that this species may be Botrylloides perspicuus. This is because it looks like masses. Botryllus schlosseri is more of an ‘encrusting sheet.’
I have no idea what it is, as I still haven’t learned the basic identifiable features of any ascidians, let alone Botryllus/Botrylloides. It would have been an interesting specimen to get a DNA sample from.
