Cold Water
Weedy Seadragon
Phyllopteryx taeniolatus · Bony fish, family Syngnathidae; also called the common seadragon, an Australian endemic
A weedy seadragon trades the leafy's full costume for jewelry: a slimmer, kelp-red body scattered with yellow spots and violet-blue bars, trailing a few weed-like appendages as it drifts along sponge gardens and kelp lines across Australia's temperate south. It is the more widespread and more often met seadragon, turning up on shore dives and jetty pilings as well as offshore reefs, always slightly farther away than it looks and always mid-meal, vacuuming mysids by the thousand. Males carry the brood (around 250 eggs pressed onto the underside of the tail each breeding season), and site-faithful adults let researchers identify individuals from spot patterns year after year. Give the animal right of way and resist guiding it with a hand or fin wash; a displaced dragon burns energy it budgets tightly.
Dónde y cuándo ver uno
"Residente" significa que la mayoría de las inmersiones en ese destino tienen encuentros con ellos; "estacional" significa que su presencia es fiable en los meses indicados; cualquier otra cosa es un extra, no algo con lo que contar.
| Destino | Fiabilidad | Meses | Notas |
|---|---|---|---|
| South AustraliaAustralia | Resident: seen on most dives | Todo el año |
El mejor mes, de un vistazo
| Mes | Destinos fiables |
|---|---|
| January | South Australia |
| February | South Australia |
| March | South Australia |
| April | South Australia |
| May | South Australia |
| June | South Australia |
| July | South Australia |
| August | South Australia |
| September | South Australia |
| October | South Australia |
| November | South Australia |
| December | South Australia |
Comprendiéndolos
Hábitat: Kelp lines, sponge gardens, seagrass margins, and jetty piles over sand across Australia's temperate south.
Rango: Southern Australia from New South Wales around to southern Western Australia, including Tasmania.
Comportamiento: Drifts singly or in loose pairs along habitat edges; males brood around 250 eggs pressed onto the underside of the tail each breeding season, and individuals can be photo-identified by their spot patterns.
Dieta: Mysid shrimp and other small crustaceans vacuumed continuously through the tubular snout.
Tamaño: normalmente alrededor de 0.3 m; documentado hasta 0.46 m (total length).
Cómo comportarse cerca de uno
Protected in Australian waters: no touching or shepherding with hands or fins, and photo-identification projects welcome clear, unharassed side-on images.
Conservación
Least Concern under its current assessment and protected in Australian waters; kelp decline along the southeast is the pressure researchers watch most closely.
Puntos conocidos por avistamientos
Los puntos destacados fueron registrados para esta especie por nuestros editores; los números son registros de ocurrencia de GBIF anotados en un radio de unos 5 km de un punto desde 1990.
Ver
Desde los canales oficiales
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Los vídeos son enlaces insertados a los canales de sus propios creadores. No alojamos nada y acreditamos todo.