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Seagull

DESCRIPTION

·         robust

·         broad, pointed wings and short, squarish tail

·         usually grey or black above and white below

·         legs and large hooked bills of red, black or yellow

·         the two sexes are similar in appearance

·         young birds are mottled grey or brown

·         most do not grow adult plumage for several years

·         strong legs that are adapted for both swimming and walking

DIET

·         fish, crustaceans, offal, food scraps

FAMILY

·         about 45 gull species – three live in Australia

HABITAT

·         offshore islands along the coast or isolated inland lakes

·         build nests from materials like seaweeds, grasses and sticks or making a shallow hole in the ground

SPECIES THAT INHABIT AUSTRALIA

1.       Pacific gull

DESCRIPTION

·         Adults: white with black wings and back and a black tail band; yellow bill that is tipped with red, and yellow legs

·         Juveniles: drab grey and brown feathers

·         Takes four years to get mature plumage

·         Grows to about 63cm long – making it one of the largest gulls in the world

·         Usually seen singly or in pairs

DIET

·         Fish, shellfish, molluscs, eggs and young from other sea birds, offal, scraps of food

HABITAT

·         Common around Tasmania and southern coastal mainland

BREEDING

·         Pairs nest well away from each other

·         Defend their territory until the young have fledged

2.       Kelp gull

DESCRIPTION

·         Not officially recorded in Australia until the early 1940s

·         Similar in appearance to pacific gull

·         58cm long

·         completely white tail

·         small red spot on lower bill that fades in the non-breeding season

DIET

·         mainly fish and crustaceans

·         sometimes scavenging and stealing

HABITAT

·         extremely common in New Zealand

BREEDING

·         form loose nesting colonies in breeding season

3.       Silver gull

DESCRIPTION

·         Most familiar sea bird

·         40-43 cm in length

·         plumage is white with pale grey underparts and black wing tips with white ‘windows’

·         eye ring, bill and legs are deep red

·         juveniles: mottled grey and brown underparts; do not acquire adult plumage until second or third year

·         adaptable

·         nest in colonies varying in size from a few pairs to many thousands

DIET

·         omnivorous scavenger

·         feeds on almost anything

·         away from human habitation forage on fish, crustaceans and other marine animals

HABITAT

·         coastal regions

·         large lakes and marshes

·         saucer-shaped nest on the ground lined with whatever is available

BREEDING

·         female lays one to three eggs

·         both parents incubate and feed the young

·         young fledge at around 4 weeks

Seahorse

DESCRIPTION

·         body armoured with bony plates instead of scales

·         tubed snout with small mouth at tip

·         no teeth or pelvic fins

·         muscular tail used to holding onto objects while eating and sleeping

·         anywhere from 2.5 to 35 cm long

·         most are camouflaged rather than very colourful

·         swim slowly and elegantly with their bodies held upright

·         move through the water by rapidly beating their large dorsal and pectoral fins – dorsal fin for forward and backward movement and pectoral fins for turning

·         belly often has a distended appearance

·         usually occur in pairs; several pairs may form a small group

DIET

·         small crustaceans

·         babies feed on zooplankton (once they are ejected from the father’s pouch)

HABITAT

·         weed or seagrass

·         a few live in deep water

BREEDING

·         season lasts for most of the summer

·         peak activity near the full moon of each month

·         3-4 days before mating male grows a pouch

·         male and female coil around each other and female squirts thousands of eggs into the male’s pouch

·         eggs fertilised by male

·         male carries eggs around for about 25 days – feed them with fluid secreted from the lining of the pouch

·         when father ousts the babies from the pouch they make their way to the surface, attach themselves to weeds and begin to eat

·         number of babies had depends on size of species – small species have about 50 young, larger species have about 500

Sea Lion

DESCRIPTION

·         do not have the dense underfur that characterises the fur seals

·         blunt snouts

·         small, furled ears

·         large front limbs

·         males are brown or black with lighter fur on their head; weigh about 300kg and average 2.1m long

·         females have silver-grey backs and creamy yellow bellies; weigh about 80kg and average 1.6m long

·         scientific name is neophoca cinerea

DIET

·         fish and squid

BREEDING

·         breed every 17-18 months rather than a specific season

·         different groups pup at different times

·         an embryo is normally conceived directly after the mother has pupped and begins to develop eight or nine months later

·         prefer inaccessible breeding sites on the sheltered side islands

·         pups generally hide in vegetation and rock holes

·         breeding sites have “toddler pools” where the pups learn to swim

·         both sexes can be aggressive during breeding

HABITAT

·         cold temperate and temperate seas

·         on islands along the southern coast (from The Pages off South Australia to Houtman Abrolhos off Western Australia)

FAMILY

PREDATORS

·         sharks

Sea Turtle

DESCRIPTION

·         front flippers used to swim and hind flippers used to steer

·         have lungs and have to come to the surface at least every half hour

·         takes several decades to reach maturity

·         range from 70cm to 2m in length

·         largest sea turtle: leatherback (weighs 300-500kg)

·         modified for life in the ocean by having flipper-like forelimbs without toes and lightweight shells

·         heads are too large to be withdrawn into the shell

·         All sea turtle species are declining in numbers, largely in part to the destruction of eggs (used as food in tropical regions)

·         Sea turtle meat is also eaten, and there is a market for turtle oil, hide and shell

DIET

·         carnivorous

·         sponges, corals, crustaceans, shellfish, sea jellies

BREEDING

·         only the females come on land to lay their eggs

·         mate under water

·         a single female mates with several males

·         after: male returns to feeding grounds, female remains near nesting beach until ready to lay eggs

·         nesting usually takes place after dark

·         female uses all four flippers to dig a large depression (called a body pit) then a pear shaped egg chamber with her back flippers – about 40-70cm below the surface

·         lays eggs in chamber and covers the site with sand and returns to the sea

·         female nests several times in a season (when it is over it is normally three to six years before she returns to nest again)

·         two months till eggs hatch

·         temperature of nests determines the sex of the hatchling

·         only one in several thousand survives the 30-50 years it takes to reach sexual maturity

·         hatchlings of all species are dispersed by oceanic currents

HABITAT

·         found in temperate and tropical waters all over the world

·        except for the flatback – it is restricted to the Australian continental shelf  

List of References for this page... 

·        Seagull

Reader’s Digest (1997) Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney

·        Seahorse

Reader’s Digest (1997) Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney

·        Sea Lion

Reader’s Digest (1997) Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney

Parish, S. (2000) Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife. Steven Parish Publishing Pty Ltd: Queensland

·        Sea Turtle

Reader’s Digest (1997) Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney

Parish, S. (2000) Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife. Steven Parish Publishing Pty Ltd: Queensland

www.encyclopedia.com/html/s1/seaturtl.asp

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