52 – COSMOS Issue 86
SUSTAINABILITY BIOLOGY
Unlike most anemones,
southern swimming anemones
(top;Phlyctenanthus
australis), like this one in
waters off Maria Island,
Tasmania, are mobile.
They’re able to release their
grip on a perch and swim,
albeit clumsily, to a new patch
of kelp in the surrounding
forest.Weedy seadragons (middle;
Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) are
similarly poor swimmers. This
male in Tasman Peninsula
waters carries eggs on the
underside of its abdomen –
it’s one of few species whose
males care for eggs. The loss
of kelp forests is a major
threat to these delicate reef
fish.Spotted handfish (bottom;
Brachionichthys hirsutus)
are bottom-dwellers in the
Derwent River Estuary,
near Hobart. The handfish’s
speedy decline in range and
abundance led to it being
the first marine fish listed as
endangered under the Federal
Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Protection Act
1999.Forests of giant kelp
(Macrocystis pyrifera) are
missing from more than
95% of the species’ historic
range. Among those enduring
(opposite) were communities
near the Actaeon Islands in
southern Tasmania, but recent
reports suggest that these
too may have disappeared.