davemmdave's Favourites

Tentative at species level but undoubtedly the correct genus. Image 1 is cropped from Image 2(RHS),which explains the very limited image quality!
Snorkel from rocks at Bull Ring Bay.
Although not unexpected, I found it interesting that an adult Stigmatopora genus Pipefish was rafting aka hitch-hiking on a drift Posidonia blade so far from the mainland.
I also believe this is a Gulf Pipefish, whose common name would be inappropriate in the context of this observation, but that's just nitpicking by yours truly:)

With a Western Cleaner Clingfish on its flank. The subject appears to have displaced the magpie perch from the WCC sponge station. The subject is quite small and I don't know whether it is a juvenile or has reached reproductive stage. I'll punt on small adult.
Dodge tide, good conditions, nice dive.
I saw no Syngnathids, FTR.

With a hint of hybridisation with Bluethroat Wrasse, I suspect?
This mature individual was resting patiently in the ideal position for it to get a look at the 2 snorkellers (buddy and me) as soon as we'd entered the water on outgoing tide in near perfect conditions. It was on the shoreward aspect of the small rock pinnacle seen in the last image (included to viewers understand the habitat at this popular shore entry snorkel site, that photo was taken a few minutes before I entered and was taken from the exact entry point).Depth at pinnacle base was around 5m at this stage but at time of exit had dropped about half to 1 metre. Not drastic, but I mention it because the water clarity usually declines disproportionately as the tide here recedes.
Even on calm days with low swell forecast and actual, the cliff base is sufficiently shallow for small reduction in depth to magnify those swells greatly. One must wait for gaps between swell sets to make a safe exit at low tide,.Forewarned is forearmed as the saying goes. But the location is worth the effort, with the fish numbers and possibly diversity having already increased since the cliffs became part of this Green Sanctuary Zone. Average size of the various Wrasse species and even the two main sweep species has definitely increased also.

Collected under permit yesterday afternoon by hand during shallow intertidal snorkel in rock channel at Cape Jervis. Underwater photos of it as found crawling on fucoid brown algae have been added and were taken in natural light [This housed camera's flash often fires but does NOT illuminate subjects, unless I attach external strobe(s) which I didn't do on this snorkel] .

NB: I rarely collect invertebrates under permit, usually fish (and not nearly as often as I could given the opportunities that so often present ie small benthic fish which I don't recognize taxonomically with any confidence).

This slug is one I've never seen before, as far as I'm aware. I certainly don't have any images of one like this although it could be a colour morph of a described, even common taxon.
At first glance I thought it was a small dull blue to purple sponge aligned along the algal axis but I soon realized it was mobile, with gills at rear and rhinophores at front. I saw no sponges resembling it on this snorkel but it reminds me of a common type of sponge (possibly Callyspongia ) we often see at numerous locations in South Australia including the immediate vicinity albeit usually in the subtidal not intertidal.
Tide was incoming during the snorkel. I searched carefully for any other nudibranchs of similar appearance, to no avail.

Jetty dive. Common species in sea-grass but individuals seldom show themselves fully.

*Editing on 17-07-2021:
As flagged below in comments I agree that I've inadvertently included female(s) and male(s) in the one observation. I think it best not to backtrack/edit this too much or the comment trail loses meaning.
But I intend deleting image 3 asap (unable just now, not sure why:), especially as I've just used it as a new 'single photo' submission.
I can justify this action partly by noting the significant time gap of almost 30 minutes between the observations despite all images being taken during the same dive.
Sorry for making hard work of this!

Images supplied with consent to post on inat. Supplied by a resident whose house is on the rear slope of the secondary dune and very close to my residence.
Images taken in broad daylight and the resident photographer sees these rats in his garden during the day whenever he is home. That's been the case for many months now, prior to which he rarely saw rats diurnally on his property, and prior to which he could walk anywhere in his garden without fear of injury due the entire garden area being riddled with shallow burrows and tunnels.

No THIS is interesting. Yabby remains found at the wetlands, along the bank at the back pond. I’ve thrown a few little traps out to try catch them if they’re in there, but I’ve only caught Hardyheads. I’m definitely going to continue to try around different spots and see what happens. Someone may have thrown pet yabbies in here.

Though the Leafy Seadragon is more obvious the Tubemouth is slightly nearer to camera and is @ centre of image.
The two fish seemed very friendly or interested in each other however both may have been at a cleaning station (no host apparent in image nor at the time during scuba dive)
Depth about 6m

Snorkel in Kaurna pool Lady Bay platform reef some months after dreadful black silt catchment outflows temporarily blanketed most of littoral zone in this lower energy corner of Yankalilla Bay
Depth half a metre or so
(Makes me wonder why the black headed zebrafish adult variants became evident around that time ,after I'd never seen anything like it for preceding half decade ,approx.)

FURTHER UPDATE:- Please see most recent comment(10-07-2018) by Amanda Hay.It now appears certain that the subject fish is Heteroclinus sp 6,aka Milward's Weedfish.
[NB:Perhaps I should put this edit as a comment in its correct chronological order i.e. it perhaps it should follow Ms Hay's most helpful comment of earlier today. But then many viewers might not scroll down that far, thus remain unaware of ID @ species level.Because Milward's Weedfish has( if I understand correctly) not yet recieved full taxonomic recognition, is awaiting official acceptance of its scientific description.Once its status as a discrete species within Heteroclinus is finalized iNat can include it as species rather than the present situation where the 'final ID' must stop at 'Heteroclinus genus'.

[*from here on my description notes are thus largely obsolete, but I'll leave them isq for now in case some find them of passing interest *]

Update/Significant Edit: Initially I posted only the 1st of these 3 pics,with the notation "Probably perspicillatus but head partly obscured.Nice color. Snorkel,shallow."
I really didn't think I'd any other pics of this fish from this snorkel,but guess what,I just found 2 more. Neither is 100% sharp WRT focus,but the head is in view in both!
Apologies for overlooking these additional photos.Whether the focal sharpness is sufficient to confidently ID to species level remains to be seen but I'll ask about that in Comments below...

I've decided to post this image again, with the SUBJECT now the Western Cleaner Clingfish on the midfield Zebrafish ,because the cropped version nicely shows one of these Zebrafish clients' tricks for gaining the host's attention. The Zebrafish with the WCC on it has altered its bands so they don't match up on L and R sides. This may also indicate a degree of tactile rapture related to the contact with the host, but whatever the basis, AFAIK this 'switching' from bilaterally symmetrical bars to asymmetric bars has only been documented when Zebrafish are being cleaned. (By a WCC in this case, but possibly they sometimes also do it when being cleaned by other hosts eg Rockpool Shrimp, juvenile Moonlighter and juvenile Pencil Weed Whiting).
*If anyone has photographic evidence of any client species other than Zebrafish presenting overt morphological asymmetry (L vs R) as a transient phenomenon specific to a client host interaction, I would greatly appreciate their contacting me, or simply posting their observations on inat.

I've just noticed that this Castelnau's Wrasse which was the Subject of an earlier submission from this dive is being cleaned by a young Pencil Weed-Whiting. So, the head up bobbing posture so often associated with this Wrasse species is also used as a client posture during cleaning. (Juvenile Pencil Weed Whiting are known facultative cleaner hosts, but are harder to capture in the act than eg Western Cleaner Clingfish which are effectively full time hosts, as far as is known).

I don't often see juvenile Scalyfin in cup sponges, FWIW.
And on close zooming I think there's a (probably also juvenile) Western Cleaner Clingfish at the scalyfin's gill slit.
Makes sense, as Scalyfin adults are known to use the services of WCCs, so juveniles would surely need the same.

Juvenile, golden-green pipefish with short snout and flag tail. Indistinct striping on posterior section. Pipefish swam from one brown algae to another whilst being photographed.

Doesn’t quite match Pugnaso.

Older juvenile or "adolescent " Talma with the same small adult harlequin Fish featured in an earlier submission from this dive. The Harlequin Fish is clearly visiting a sponge station, presumably that of one or more Western Cleaner Clingfish. The Talma is likely to also be seeking cleaning by the same hosts. However there remains a niggling doubt, because I can't get the old stories about divers witnessing cleaner host behaviour by juvenile Western Talmas out of my head. It may be that whoever reported seeing Western Talma juveniles cleaning other reef fish was mistaken, but I'm keeping an open mind about the possibility.
These images keep me wondering, although they prove nothing. Talmas might even loiter to scavenge any parasite scraps missed by a WCC busily moving from parasite to parasite while servicing a valued client such as Harlequin Fish seem to be.
So many unknowns!

Investigating a delivery of firewood, having trundled along the rear of the North Normanville Dunes, heading south as is a common event each autumn in this area. Then it encountered a temporary obstacle in the form of a colorbond fence which is on heavily compacted gravel and probably underlying concrete. But it only tried burrowing under the fence briefly before moving elsewhere.

Made me feel vindicated for having a wildlife friendly steel mesh fence installed years ago on 3 of the 4 boundaries... great for reptiles echidnas etc, and the other things I like about it are how well it supports climbing plants-local climbers ground covers and chenopods all quickly covered it,so it screens out the neighbours while helping reduce **seasonal temperature fluctuations for the wirra and we occupants.

**Another chance for me to challenge the ridiculous assertion -mantra even-
unquestioned by 99.9% of the community, about the role of deciduous trees (all exotic, or at least native to areas outside of SA, with the biopaucity and woody weed problems that generates) in cooling buildings in summer while warming them in winter.
Never been proven.
The opposite HAS been proven. Evergreen trees trap radiant ground heat in winter and still cool buildings in summer. Blah...:)

On dorsal lip and head of a smooth toadfish. This male Louse was seen moving positions quite actively and frequently during the few minutes I watched, but it was adept at staying on the head end of this one individual fish despite the fish appearing to be trying to get rid of it by frequently burying almost completely in the sand and moving around while doing so. We often see this species of parasitic Louse attached firmly to various species of inshore demersal fish but I don't often see them firmly attached to any toadfish. Occasionally they are attached to juvenile (smooth et al eg prickly) toadfish but rarely adults. Perhaps the tetrodotoxin on the skin of most toadfish makes the adults uncomfortable hosts for the Louse. Toadfish might be temporary or 'last resort ' hosts when there are no other fish species available at a particular location?

With a Striped Sea Louse male on mouth. This was one of many adult smooth toadies seen on this shallow intertidal and subtidal snorkel(in image 2 a second one is almost fully buried in lower frame),but was the only one with a visible parasite externally.

Several older juveniles under a very shallow subtidal swim through in the Lady Bay Reef Watch area directly out from Lady Bay Road. They were cohabiting with tiny juvenile Sea Sweep and a few very juvenile Rough and Bigscale Bullseyes (plus juvenile Zebrafish and probably the juveniles of a few other common species of bony reef fish. )