Today I visited a small aquarium called Seahorse World located in Beauty Point, Tasmania. They display over seven species of seahorses in addition to other local fish and invertebrates, and actively breed thousands of pot-bellied seahorses for research.


Pot-belly seahorses (Photo: Jeremy Brodt)

I also got the chance to do a dive to see a deep water temperate reef that was very similar to the habitat that we display our sea dragons in at the aquarium. The invertebrate life was pretty spectacular. There were loads of sponges and ascidians in addition to hundreds of butterfly perch and southern hulafish. Both species of fish we currently display in our exhibit. It was difficult to get a good photo of the general habitat since it was relatively dark and the visibility was low, unfortunately.

Tomorrow I head out for another dive.

Cheers,
Jeremy

During today's dive I was hoping to come across pot-bellied seahorses, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find any. However, while looking hard I did come across some other interesting cryptic species like flounder and gobies. I also spent quite a deal of time chasing this blue-lined leather jacket around a pillar in an attempt to get a full body photo, however, I had to settle with a "hide and seek" photo.

In addition to all the great fish there are lots of very beautiful and colorful invertebrates. These Australian biscuit stars are my absolute favorite. They come in a variety of different colors. In fact, it seems everyone that you come across is unique. There are also many large eleven-armed sea stars that are often 12-15" in diameter.


Eleven-armed sea star (Photo: Jeremy Brodt)

Tomorrow I head out for another good seadragon site.

Cheers,
Jeremy