We only spent about an hour here. It was a bit hit and miss, so we returned to the main harbour area.
Mounts Bay Marine Life: April 2024
Apollo Bay
Mounts Bay After Beach Nourishment Works
Erosion of the sand around Apollo Bay seems to be a popular theme on this blog. I’ve photographed the before and after effects of sand nourishment works multiple times. It never seems to be a long term solution; at most the sand lasts a couple of months before the next tidal surge. The sand is lost and, often, the ecosystem where they took the sand from is damaged.
It is really concerning and reeks of mismanagement. I visit 2-3 times a year on average and I can see that.
Hopefully their future plans will protect the area better.
You can read more about the works at Mounts Bay and Marengo beach nourishment works begin.
Marine Life Under Floating Pontoon at Apollo Bay Harbour
Red Rock Crab
Seth loves fishing. I don’t, I find it icky and feel sorry for the fish. However, many fishing spots tend to have interesting marine critters.
This post shares photos of marine life found under one of the floating pontoons that people fish from. There was a healthy variety of marine life, but nowhere near as prolific as St Helens. I got photos of this area in 2018 using the GoPro, but at that point I wasn’t into sea squirts.
This was the first time I’d visited Apollo Bay since getting the Olympus TG. I was going to see sea squirts!
We did have a lot of luck with the sea squirts. But also found other cool speccies.
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Nereididae Worm At Apollo Bay Harbour
One of my goals this trip was to see how many different types of worm species we could find. I’ve become more active in the Marine Research Group over the past year and have learned that there are hundreds – or possibly thousands! – of marine worms found in Victorian waters.
I’ve stopped trying to identify them due to sheer overwhelm. This one looked really interesting though, especially from the underside.
iNaturalist says it is likely a Nereididae worm. Nereididae is a family that belongs to the polychaete class.
Colonial Ascidian Growing on Chiton
Seth and I were looking for critters at Apollo Bay Harbour recently when we found what looks to be Botryllus schlosseri growing on a chiton. I’ve never seen this before! Normally, I’ll find colonial ascidians growing on plants or a sea squirt. A chiton has a completely different surface.
The photos of the chiton aren’t good enough to properly identify it. Peers from the field nats suggested it may be Ischnochiton australis.
Will be interesting to see if there are any patterns with the type of species this ascidian grows on. It seems less discerning compared to Botryllids. At the same time, the botryllids at Apollo Bay appear to have different growth patterns compared to St Helens.