Latest Additions and Updates


Cardita aviculina

This small bivalve is commonly found amongst rocks and seaweed. It is a pale to pinkish colour, long and narrow, resembling a mussel in shape. It has heavy oblique ribs, more numerous than the larger Cardita crassicosta, which it otherwise resembles quite closely.


Little Egret

Egretta garzetta

Found mostly in wetlands or on the coast, this small egret is plain white in colour, with a dark bill. Its face, between the eyes and bill is naked, and bright yellow. It is similar in appearance to the Great Egret (Ardea alba), although its smaller size and dark bill are distinguishing features.


Roe's Abalone

Haliotis roei

A smallish abalone, this species does not reach the legal size for fishing in South Australia, growing to just over 10cm in length. Although often heavily eroded, this species has distinctive overlapping cords, most apparent near the edge of the shell, but does not have any obvious radial ribs or undulations, unlike Haliotis rubra. The shell is relatively flat overall, without the high spire of H. cyclobates, and it has a light mantle, often with green or dark brown banding, similar to H. scalaris, although its shell lacks the high ridge of that species.


Catriona cf. lucerna

This species of nudibranch is probably undescribed, although it resembles C. lucerna, which is found in the tropical Indo-west Pacific. The body of the animal is translucent white, and it is covered in relatively bulbous cerata which are pale orange at the base and white at the tip, with a bright orange ring. Its smooth rhinophores are also orange with white tips, while its oral tentacles are the same translucent white as the body, but with opaque white tips. Careful examination based on the above information is needed to distinguish this species from similar species of Anteaeolidiella, Baeolidia, and others.


Dentimitrella austrina

One of the more bulbous columbellid snails, this species is usually recognisable by its colouration, which is usually cream, interspersed with uniform bands of peach or tan, often including thin subsutural tan bands and a thick band on the body whorl.


Polycera hedgpethi
directions_boat Introduced species

This nudibranch is of unknown origin, but is unlikely to be native to SA, particularly as it is associated with introduced Bugula sp. bryozoans. It has a salt-and-pepper patterned body, with a white stripe bordering the dorsal area of the mantle and one down the centre of the tail. Its rhinophores and gills are yellow-tipped, and this species also has 4-6 yellow-tipped antenna like appendages on the frontal veil of the mantle, and another 4 appendages behind the gills. This distinctive nudibranch is unlikely to be mistaken for other species found in SA.


Schizoporella errata
directions_boat Introduced species

This introduced bryozoan is one of the few that can handle areas of low salinity, making it an ideal candidate for introduction via shipping. It initially settles into a grey encrusting mat, before developing orange to brick-red branches that form tubes of varying widths. In SA, it is most similar to Steginoporella chartacea, but that species has a more regular shape, and various Watersipora, which is usually more red in colour and if it has lobes, they have a lower profile.


Australian Pied Oystercatcher

Haematopus longirostris

This long-billed shorebird is found on sandy shores along the entire coast of SA, with the exception of the far west of the state, but is rarely found too far from the coast. Unlike its close relative, the Sooty Oystercatcher (H. fuliginosus), its black plumage is complemented by a white underbelly. Its long straight beak, eyes, and legs are all brick red in colour. Juveniles are a salt-and-pepper brown in the black parts, and are missing the intense red in the bill, eyes and legs.


Trinchesia thelmae

This uncommonly encountered nudibranch is a transparent pinkish in colour, with long cerata. The cerata are pale orange to vivid red, with white tips. Its knobbly rhinophores are streaked with pale yellow.


Little Black Cormorant

Phalacrocorax sulcirostris

This small cormorant is a mostly uniform grey to black in colour, with a greenish or bronze sheen depending on season, although the margins of some feathers can be darker than the rest of the feather. In breeding season, adults may have scattered white feathers around the head and neck. Its bill is also dark in colour, and it has dark blue-green eyes. The Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) has a similar appearance, but can be distinguished by its lighter bill with yellow colouration, particularly around the eyes.