Part One
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Abalone
DESCRIPTION
·
Rounded or oval with a large dome towards one end
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Shell has a row of respiratory pores
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Muscular foot has strong suction power permitting
the abalone to clamp tightly to rocky surfaces
·
An epipodium ( a sensory structure and extension of
the foot that bears tentacles) circle the foot and projects beyond the shell
edge in the living abalone
·
They dispose of waste in the water that flows out
from the holes around the edge of their ear-shaped, nacre-lined shell
DIET
·
Night-feeders
·
Some species skim on algae that they scour from
rocks with their file-like radula
·
Others catch drifting algae with a specially
adapted foot
·
Young abalones feed on rock-encrusting coralline
algae and on diatom and bacterial films
·
Adult abalones mainly feed on loose pieces of algae
drifting with the current. Large brown algae, such as giant kelp, bull kelp,
feather boa kelp and elk kelp, is favoured, although other species of algae may
be eaten
BREEDING
·
At breeding time, a whole population releases
millions of sperm and eggs into the water at the same time, where they meet and
fertilise
·
After a larval stage of about a week, the young
abalones settle on the rocks amid the stems and holdfasts of encrusting algae
HABITAT
·
Abalones are bountiful around Australia’s
southern coastline
·
Some species live on wave-washed reefs just below
the low-tide mark, while others can be found at depths of more than 25 metres
PREDATORS
·
Filter-feeding fish and shellfish eat abalone eggs
and larvae
·
Predators of juvenile abalones include crabs,
lobsters, gastropods, octopi, seastars and fish
FAMILY
·
Are members of a large class of molluscs having
one-piece shells
·
They belong to the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis,
which means sea ear, referring to the flattened shape of the shell
Blue-Ringed Octopus
Three blue-ringed octopuses inhabit Australian waters. DESCRIPTION
·
Distinctive blue rings on its body and arms
·
When at rest, its pale blue circles and lines are
not particularly distinct, but when the octopus is threatened the rings become
vividly iridescent
·
Swims by spewing water from its body, a type of jet
propulsion
·
The southern blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena maculosa) has a body of 4cm long and an armspan of
15cm and weighs about 50 grams and has small rings 2-3mm in diameter on its body
and arms
·
H.fasciata,
the blue-lined octopus, is about the same size; the lines on its body and the
linked rings on its arms are clearly visible
·
The greater blue-ringed octopus, H.lunulata, is nearly twice the size of the other two; It has large
rings up to 10mm in diameter on its body and arms
·
A mollusc (invertebrate with soft body, divided
into a head, a muscular “foot” and a hump containing the body organs; a fold
of skin, the mantle, forms a pocket that may contain gills and the openings to
reproductive organs)
·
Its life span is about 1 ½ years
HABITAT
·
Lives in dens, spaces under rocks, crevices on the
sea floor, or holes it digs under large rocks – piles rocks to block the front
of its den
·
Lives in warm, shallow reefs off the coast of
Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Philippines
·
The southern blue-ringed octopus lives around
southern Australian coasts and is often found on intertidal rock platforms and
in shallow waters
·
The blue-lined octopus occurs only off the coast of
New South Wales and southern Queensland
·
The greater blue-ringed octopus occurs in northern
Australia, particularly in the waters off the Northern Territory, and throughout
the islands of the Indo-Malayan Archipelago
DIET
·
Hunts during the day
·
Eats invertebrates (GET DEFINITION) and wounded
fish
·
It hides in the reef, then catches prey with its
arms, bites with its tough beak, and kills it by delivering a poison in the
saliva
PREDATORS
·
Moray eels, etc
·
Escapes predators by squirting black ink into the
water
BREEDING
·
A mother octopus doesn’t eat during the entire 1
to 2 months she is caring for her eggs
PROTECTION/DEFENSE
·
It is the most venomous octopus, and they have
caused at least 10 human deaths in Australia
·
It
harbours bacteria in their salivary glands that produce a poison called
tetrodotoxin; this toxin affects all muscles except the heart - the victim is
conscious but cannot breathe
·
Animal victims are often fully conscious and
paralysed as the octopus consumes them
·
Humans can also be harmed, but only when they
disturb or step on one of these octopi. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation can save
victims, who seem to recover after about 24 hours
·
Also defends itself using its poison
Cat
DESCRIPTION
·
Feral cats are similar in size and appearance to
domestic cats, with the colouration and striped patterning known as ‘tabby’
being the most common type of coat
·
All cats have round heads, short muzzles, large
eyes, sensitive whiskers about the mouth and erect pointed ears
·
Have short, wide jaws equipped with long canine
teeth and strong molars with sharp cutting edges
·
Their tongues are coated with sharp recurved
projections called papillae that aid in drinking and grooming
·
Most highly adapted for hunting and devouring their
prey
·
Five toes on the forefeet and four on the hind feet
·
The fifth toe is set high on the forefoot and does
not touch the ground during walking, but it is used in grooming and capturing
prey
·
The ends of the toes bear strong, sharp, curved
claws, which are completely retractile, and completely withdrawn into protective
sheaths when not in use
·
Long tails, which they use for balance
·
The musculo-skeletal system is extremely flexible,
allowing cats to arch and twist their bodies in a variety of ways
·
Most have good vision and are able to see well in
dim light, but their colour vision is weak
·
Sense of hearing is excellent and can detect
frequencies of up to 40,000Hz or higher
·
The sense of smell is not as highly developed as in
the dog
·
Extremely agile
·
Run faster than any other mammal for short
distances
·
Remarkable jumpers
·
Good swimmers
·
Able to climb trees
DIET
·
Dominated by small to medium-sized mammals
·
Vast amounts of native wildlife
·
Young rabbits
·
Eat birds and reptiles when they are available
·
Carrion and human refuse is their stand-by in times
of drought
·
Many kill more than they are able to eat
·
Even some well fed pet cats prey heavily on
wildlife
·
Most cats stalk their victims with great stealth
and silence
BREEDING
·
May breed twice a year, usually in spring and then
again in late summer
HABITAT
·
Live successfully across the whole of mainland
Australia, in Tasmania and on many smaller islands
·
In all habitats from urban environments to the core
of the central deserts
FAMILY
·
Member of a family that includes tigers, lions, and
leopards
·
Probably evolved from the domestication of the
African wild cat in Egypt and the Middle East 8000-4000 years ago
INTRODUTION
TO AUSTRALIA
·
The first European settlers brought cats into
eastern Australia in 1788
·
Probably arrived on the north-west coast of Western
Australia several hundred years earlier than that, possibly on Dutch or
Indonesian ships
DESCRIPTION
·
Are put together by tiny, fragile polyps that look
like miniature sea anemones
·
Able to withstand the force of typhoons and
cyclones
·
Polyps ‘build’ coral reefs by taking up
dissolved calcium carbonate from seawater and laying it down as stony deposits
around them
·
Thousands of polyps may live in one colony and
colonies may mass together to form an almost continuous cover over the sea floor
DIET
·
The tropical seas are not plentiful feeding grounds
for small carnivores like corals
·
Microscopic algae called zooanthellae
BREEDING
·
Corals reproduce in three ways
·
They may produce new polyps that break off, settle
and then start lives of their own – building onto the existing reef
·
To form new colonies:
·
Broken fragments of coral, carried by ocean
currents, settle on a suitable reef and begin to grow
·
Sexual reproduction:
·
At nightfall, millions of polyps from dozens of
different coral species spawn in the same few minutes
·
Most species are hermaphrodites and produce pinkish
orange bundles of eggs and sperm about the size of poppy seeds
·
Some are single-sexed, producing either eggs or
sperm – on reaching the surface, the bundles disintegrate and the sperm and
eggs unite to form fertilised eggs (which become tiny larvae that are swept
along by ocean currents until they lodge in a suitable place to grow)
·
On the Great Barrier Reef the annual spawning
occurs in the week following the full moon in late spring or early summer
HABITAT
·
In warm tropical waters, usually no deeper than 60
metres
·
The corals are found only in shallow water where
sunlight can penetrate (due to dietary reasons)
·
Australia has the most extensive of these - the
2300 kilometre Great Barrier Reef
PREDATORS
·
Other reef creatures consume huge amounts of eggs
and sperm in the breeding season
List of References for this page...
·
Abalone
Reader’s
Digest (1997) Encyclopedia of Australian
Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney
http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/pubs/abalone.htm
·
Blue-Ringed Octopus
Reader’s
Digest (1997) Encyclopedia of Australian
Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney
www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects.invertebrates/octopus/Blueringoctopus.shtml
Parish,
S. (2000) Encyclopedia of Australian
Wildlife. Steven Parish Publishing Pty Ltd: Queensland
·
Cats
Reader’s Digest (1997) Encyclopedia
of Australian Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney
www.answers.com/cats
·
Coral Reef
Reader’s Digest (1997) Encyclopedia
of Australian Wildlife. Reader’s Digest: Sydney
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This page last updated: 17th February 2006