Fish & Reptiles
AUSTRALASIAN Temperate Ocean
Fish
Family Serrandiae
(Milford Sound Underwater Observatory, New Zealand)Caesioperca lepidoptera, 'Butterfly/Red Perch'. Found in New Zealand and southern Australian waters.
Family Kyphosidae: 'Sea Chubs', 'Drummers'
(Rottnest Island, Australia)Kyphosus cornelii, 'Western Buffalo Bream'.
Family Pomacentridae: Damselfish
Rottnest Island)Pomacentrus milleri, 'Miller's Damselfish'.. Adults uniformly dark dull, with blueish tinge, darker edged scales and lighter blue on edge of fins. Extends into tropical areas of eastern Indian Ocean, where it is often brighter in colour.
Family Labridae: Wrasses
(Milford Sound Underwater Observatory, New Zealand)Pseudolabrus miles, 'Scarlet Wrasse'. Endemic to New Zealand.
(Milford Sound Underwater Observatory, New Zealand)Notolabrus fucicola, 'Blue Wrasse'. Found in temperate eastern Australian and New Zealand waters; in the latter region it is the largest wrasse.
(Rottnest Island, Australia)Coris auricularis, 'Western King Wrasse', juvenile. Found along west Australian coast. When at juvenile stage, often works as a cleaner fish.
Family Monacanthidae
(Milford Sound Underwater Observatory, New Zealand) Meuschenia scaber, 'Smooth/Velvet Leatherjacket'.
Class Reptilia
(off Moreton Island, Queensland)Chelonia mydas, 'Green Turtle'. Even though they do not grow as large as Leatherback or Loggerhead turtles, the individuals in cooler waters can be large and heavy, much more so than their tropical equivalents. The Green is the most widespread and commonly seen of the marine turtles, and although they are mostly tropical, they can turn up in cooler waters all around Australia.
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