Molluscs of Port Phillip Bay (guide)

My iNaturalist guide, Molluscs of Port Phillip Bay, is now published and free to use!
Currently, it includes the majority of the larger marine mollusc species found in Port Phillip Bay. With little expertise in most opisthobranchs, cephalopods and Polyplacophora, help would be greatly appreciated :) – contact me if you'd like to be an editor.
I hope for this to be a long-term project where I can collaborate with others to better understand Port Phillip Bay as a whole. I'll be adding species, photos and info whenever possible.
Looking forward to the future of this guide and what we'll learn about Port Phillip's mollusc fauna!
Link below:
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/guides/14346

Publicado el agosto 23, 2021 11:20 TARDE por ben_travaglini ben_travaglini

Comentarios

I'm impressed by the amount of diversity of Opisthobranchs in such a comparatively small area.

Publicado por predomalpha hace más de 2 años

@predomalpha absolutely! We have some incredible diversity here.
I think it can mainly be attributed to the wide array of habitats in Port Phillip – the other major bays in Victoria have comparitvely less variety.

Publicado por ben_travaglini hace más de 2 años

@ben_travaglini A lot of shipping too, I assume. That can bring a wide range of beautiful, yet invasive opisthobranchs to Port Phillip Bay.

Publicado por predomalpha hace más de 2 años

@predomalpha yep, most definitely. One of my favourite localities (Shelly Beach, Portsea) is only 2 km away from the shipping channel. Pre-Covid, their constant wakes often made it frustrating to search subtidally.
I'm unaware of any marine opisthobranchs being introduced to Port Phillip, though there probably are some. The bivalve Theora lubrica seems to be a popular ballast-water inhabitant, being found in most major ports in Australia (Port Phillip, Victoria; Sydney Harbour, NSW; River Derwent, Tasmania; Swan River, Western Australia).

Publicado por ben_travaglini hace más de 2 años

@ben_travaglini Shipping channels can be annoying. I've tried snorkeling in the entrance to our Waitemata Harbour and for the most part besides the currents, you only really have to keep worry about large wakes from massive cruise ships coming in.
I would think that Polycera spp and Thecacera pennigera are invasive to Australia as they are in New Zealand, but I haven't actually checked. There are some species that noone knows where they came from with certainty, such as Myrianida cf pachycera, a worldwide species, first discovered in Australia, but found everywhere in the world spread by shipping from somewhere. Theora lubrica and Limaria orientalis are both invasive species that are very common around ports here, although they have spread to places pretty far from them and are very well established, for instance I have found Limaria orientalis in mud dredged around 65m depth offshore, far from any port and Theora lubrica is found everywhere with intertidal soft, gloopy mud in northern NZ.

Publicado por predomalpha hace más de 2 años

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