Asian Diver — October 2017

64

South Australia

Thousands of giant cuttlefish gather

each winter in the shallow waters of

South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf

for their once-in-a-lifetime spawning.

Males compete for territories that have

the best crevices for egg laying and

then attract females with mesmerising

displays of changing skin colour, texture

and pattern. The Australian giant

cuttlefish aggregation is truly one of

Nature’s great events.

Divers are overwhelmed and often

underestimate the sheer numbers

that they will see on any given dive.

In less than three metres of water you

are surrounded by hundreds of giant

cuttlefish in the middle of mating, and

competing vigorously.

This event is so fragile, in 2013–14

many believed the aggregation was

over as the numbers were not returning

and the previous year saw very few

cuttlefish in the area. But you cannot

underestimate Nature, and in 2015, the

numbers were back up in the thousands

and it appeared that the cuttlefish had

UPPER

SPENCER GULF

By Scott Portelli

UNEXPECTED ASIA