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Pope's Eye
Pope's Eye is the uncompleted foundation for an island fortification, fort intended to defend the entrance to Port Phillip in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The undefined area of the fort, generally assessed at , is one of six separate areas that comprise the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park and is a popular site for Recreational diving, divers. Features The fort has been protected as a marine reserve since 1979 and is now part of the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park. It is located about inside Port Phillip Heads, east of Queenscliff, Victoria, Queenscliff, north of Portsea, Victoria, Portsea, and is less than south-west of the former Chinaman's Hat (Port Phillip), Chinaman's Hat. It is named after a naval midshipman and has no papal, religious connotations. Construction of Pope's Eye began in the 1880s, under the supervision of William Jervois, Sir William Jervois, by dumping bluestone boulders on a submerged deep sandbank until the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Phillip
Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel (geography), channel known as The Rip, and is completely surrounded by suburbs and localities (Australia), localities of Victoria's two largest cities — metropolitan Greater Melbourne in the bay's main eastern portion north of the Mornington Peninsula, and the city of Greater Geelong in the much smaller western portion (known as the Corio Bay) north of the Bellarine Peninsula. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly , with the volume of water around . Most of the bay is navigable, although it is extremely shallow for its size — the deepest portion is only and half the bay is shallower than . Its waters and coast are home to Pinniped, seals, whales, dolphins, corals and many kinds of seabirds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Queenscliff
Fort Queenscliff, in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, dates from 1860 when an open battery was constructed on Shortland's Bluff to defend the entrance to Port Phillip. The Fort, which underwent major redevelopment in the late 1870s and 1880s, became the headquarters for an extensive chain of forts around Port Phillip Heads. Its garrison included volunteer artillery, military engineer, engineers, infantry and naval militia, and it was manned as a coastal defence installation continuously from 1883 to 1946. The other fortifications and armaments around the Heads were completed by 1891, and together made Port Phillip one of the most heavily defended harbours in the British Empire. The first Allied shots of World War I were fired when a gun at Fort Nepean fired across the bow of the German Empire, German freighter ''Pfalz'', as she was attempting to escape to sea. The orders to fire came from Fort Queenscliff. The same gun, with a different barrel, also fired the first All ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burrunan Dolphin
The Burrunan dolphin (''Tursiops australis'') is a species of bottlenose dolphin found in parts of Victoria, Australia first described in 2011. Its exact taxonomy is debated: numerous studies support it as being a separate species within the genus ''Tursiops'' and occupying a basal position within the genus, with limited phylogenetic studies using different methodologies indicate that it is a subspecies of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (''Tursiops aduncus''). The Burrunan dolphin is not currently recognized as a species by the Society for Marine Mammalogy or American Society of Mammalogists, which cites problematic methodology in the original study proposing species status and recommends further research. however recent the studies listed supporting the species, have not been mentioned as being considered in recent reviews of the species by the Committee. There are only two known resident populations in Victoria, Australia, with an estimated total population size of less t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown Fur Seal
The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. It has a large and broad head with a pointed snout that may be flat or turned up slightly. They have external ear flaps (pinnae) and their whiskers (vibrissae) are long, and may extend backward past the pinnae, especially in adult males. The fore flippers are covered with sparse hair over about three-quarters of their length. The hind flippers are short relative to the large body, with short, fleshy tips on the digits. The size and weight of the brown fur seal depends on the subspecies. The Southern African subspecies is on average slightly larger than the Australian subspecies. Males of the African subspecies (''A. p. pusillus'') are in length on average and weigh . Females are smaller, averaging in length and typically weighing .King, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruddy Turnstone
The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plover family Charadriidae. It is a highly migratory bird, breeding in northern parts of Eurasia and North America and flying south to winter on coastlines almost worldwide. It is the only species of turnstone in much of its range and is often known simply as turnstone. Taxonomy The ruddy turnstone was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Tringa interpres''. The species is now placed together with the black turnstone in the genus '' Arenaria'' that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the ruddy turnstone as the type species. The genus name ''arenaria'' is from Latin ''arenarius'', "inhabiting sand" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black-faced Cormorant
The black-faced cormorant (''Phalacrocorax fuscescens''), also known as the black-faced shag, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. Upperparts, including facial skin and bill, are black, with white underparts. It is endemic to coastal regions of southern Australia. Description Like other cormorant species, the black-faced cormorant is a large aquatic bird, with a long hooked bill, webbed feet, and monochromatic plumage. This is one of the largest cormorants found in south-western Australia and has pied plumage with the upper half of its body black and the undersides white. Its face is naked and black, hence the "black-faced" name, and the tail, feet, and thighs are also black. The back feathers are glossy, and its bill is dark grey with a prominent hook at the tip. It has blue-green eyes. When flying, it holds its head level or lower than its body and holds its wings in a cross-shape like most cormorants. Species that are similar in appearance include the pied c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australasian Gannet
The Australasian gannet (''Morus serrator''), also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailing edge of the wing. The central tail feathers are also black. The head is tinged buff-yellow, with a pale blue-grey bill edged in black, and blue-rimmed eyes. Young birds have mottled plumage in their first year, dark above and light below. The head is an intermediate mottled grey, with a dark bill. The birds gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years. The species range over water above the continental shelf along the southern and eastern Australian coastline, from Steep Point in Western Australia to Rockhampton, Queensland, as well as the North and South Islands of New Zealand, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. Nesting takes place in colonies along the coastlines of New Zealand, Victoria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide. It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy. BirdLife International has identified 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is the official International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List authority for birds. As of 2015, BirdLife International has established that 1,375 bird species (13% of the total) are threatened with extinction ( critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable). BirdLife International p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan Bay And Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area
The Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area comprises a cluster of disparate sites centred at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula, and the southern end of Port Phillip, in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. As well as providing core wintering habitat for orange-bellied parrots, it is important for waders, or shorebirds, and seabirds. Description Sites included in the Important Bird Area (IBA) are:BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-10-27. ;Swan Bay area wetlands and barrier islands * Portarlington sewage treatment works * Swan Bay - 30 km2 marine embayment with intertidal flats fringed by saltmarsh * Edwards Point - 4 km sandspit with coastal woodland, heathland and saltmarsh * Duck Island - small sand and saltmarsh island * Swan Island - 140 ha sand island, with coastal scrub and saltmarsh * Rabbit Island - small saltmar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcyonacea
Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different from "true" corals (Scleractinia). These can be found in suborders Holaxonia, Scleraxonia, and Stolonifera. They are sessile colonial cnidarians that are found throughout the oceans of the world, especially in the deep sea, polar waters, tropics and subtropics. Common names for subsets of this order are sea fans and sea whips; others are similar to the sea pens of related order Pennatulacea. Individual tiny polyps form colonies that are normally erect, flattened, branching, and reminiscent of a fan. Others may be whiplike, bushy, or even encrusting. A colony can be several feet high and across, but only a few inches thick. They may be brightly coloured, often purple, red, or yellow. Photosynthetic gorgonians can be successfully kept in c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sponge
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them, consisting of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. Sponges have unspecialized cells that can transform into other types and that often migrate between the main cell layers and the mesohyl in the process. Sponges do not have nervous, digestive or circulatory systems. Instead, most rely on maintaining a constant water flow through their bodies to obtain food and oxygen and to remove wastes. Sponges were first to branch off the evolutionary tree from the last common ancestor of all animals, making them the sister group of all other animals. Etymology The term ''sponge'' derives from the Ancient Greek word ( 'sponge'). Overview Sponges are similar to other animals in that they are multicellular, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate subphylum Vertebrata. Familiar examples of invertebrates include arthropods, mollusks, annelids, echinoderms and cnidarians. The majority of animal species are invertebrates; one estimate puts the figure at 97%. Many invertebrate taxa have a greater number and variety of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata. Invertebrates vary widely in size, from 50 μm (0.002 in) rotifers to the 9–10 m (30–33 ft) colossal squid. Some so-called invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata, are more closely related to vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the invertebrates paraphyletic, so the term has little meaning in taxonomy. Etymology The word "invertebrate" comes from the Latin word ''vertebra'', whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_in_flight%2C_from_above.jpg "Click for more on -> Australasian Gannet")
