The warm waters have truly descended upon Sydney, and the Eastern Australian Current (EAC) made famous by the movie Finding Nemo, continues to push warm water into the harbour, bringing with it an abundance of tropical visitors. The EAC has been pushing water down the coast at 3-4 knots at times. The reserve now has Cauliflower corals growing in easily accessible places for snorkellers to enjoy. A barred soapfish arrived and was spotted by my dive buddy Matt, the last one I saw here was 20 years ago. This fish is at it’s southernmost limit of its range. Even a painted sweetlips has showed up in the harbour. A variety of butterflyfish were spotted, resident dusky butterflyfish and eastern talma, but also some tropical ones.
The resident Sydney Cardinalfish males are busy brooding their offspring in their mouths. Periodically they spit out the egg mass to clean it before carefully concealing it again inside their wide gape.
Summer has arrived underwater and the next few months promise to bring many more surprises and new species into the aquatic reserve.
Fish of Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve, Sydney 