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Museum Victoria's Field Guide series aim to demystify the world of marine life. Senior Curator of Invertebrates at the Museum and author of the first book in the series, Introduction to Marine Life, Dr Mark Norman explains. |
| Having done survey work for some years along the southern Australian coastline, Museum Victoria wanted to create a tool for people to use so that they would know what they were looking at in these marine habitats.
The amazing array of creatures in the region are often overshadowed by more iconic habitats like The Great Barrier Reef.
Mark Norman believes that we have failed to release information on some of these amazing creatures.
There are cuttlefish and octopus with skin like high definition televisions, in use for 200 million years before humans 'invented' it. And snapping shrimps that click their 'fingers' and use an ultrasonic stun to overpower their prey.
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For amateurs keen to learn more about the marine life world first hand, Mark recommends a visit to intertidal areas with shallow pools by day, and returning to the rock pools again at night with torch at hand. He also suggests visiting quiet bays and just looking underneath the surface of the water with a mask. From the mid-coast of Western Australia and down, around and back up to Brisbane, elephant snails, cling fish, blennies, see-through weed shrimp cab be seen feeding in the rock pools at night, along with blue-ringed octopus, crabs, limpets, worms hermit crabs and other snails.
Museum Victoria's Field Guide books are an identification tool for theses creatures. The first book, An Introduction to Marine Life covers every group in the sea, from bacteria to whales.
The publication also includes quick guides for general categories, such as what gets washed up on a beach or what animals are dangerous. One animal, the sea tulip, has a little stalk and a leather ball at the end. These sea squirts start their life as a tadpole (with a backbone) and when ready to grow up thy glue their face onto a rock and grow their tail up, feeding by filtering the water. The book brings us the facts on these watery creatures, many of which keep our oceans clean. Mark believes that the custodianship of these creatures comes from having personal contact and that this is a way of understanding the human impact on them.
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| Museums, once showcases of dead animals, are now at the forefront of many conservation issues, providing environmental information from the past as well as the present. It is incredible to think that seals used to walk up Punt Rd in Melbourne in the 1860s but that is what the historical records show.
Together with Mark Norman, Robin Wilson and Anna Syme are co-authors of Introduction to Marine Life. Robin Wilson is Senior Curator of Marine Invertebrates and Anna Syme finished her PhD studying small crustaceans called ostracods. 'Crabs, Hermit Crabs and Allies' and 'Barnacles' are the second and third installments of the museum's Field Guide series. Both books are also available now.
Sponges will be the fourth book in the series. Despite their lack of status, sponges are bizarre creatures. Some can be pushed through mesh wiring and reassemble themselves as a complete whole on the other side. Others have hooks all over their bodies which they use to catch fish. They are very territorial, producing chemicals to poison other sponges who invade their space.
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The paper nautilus (Argonaut) with its beautiful white shell is another amazing creature. The female is the size of a football and the male is the size of a jellybean. When he mates, he breaks off a suckered arm full of sperm which keeps on living for weeks or even months, crawling into the shell waiting for the female to produce her eggs that can then be fertilised.
Mark reminds us to be careful when we explore seashore habitats. Trampling is an issue and all rocks if they must be turned over, should be carefully replaced. He also gives advice about leaving the animals in their natural environment and not taking something home simply for the sake of doing so - unless they are empty shells.
An Introduction to Marine Life is available directly from Museum Victoria and from all good bookstores, RRP$19.95. For further information, please see http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/books-and-journals/how-to-order-publications/
Images from Museum Victoria
Text: V.B. September 2009
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