Mark Spencer Gallery

Coastal Horsetail casuarina trees (Casuarina equisetifolia)

Coastal Horsetail casuarina trees (Casuarina equisetifolia), planted in some locations after sand mining as erosion control, may be expanding its natural range due to this. The red rock is Banded jasper, an aggregate rock about 3 billion years old, containing silica coloured by tiny (red) iron-oxide particles. The oxygen that combined with dissolved iron in the seawater was emitted from bacterial colonies called stromatolites, that dominated the long period during which there was very little oxygen in the atmosphere and in the ocean. Red Rock, New South Wales, Australia

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Man and woman looking into rock pool

Man and woman looking into rock pool. The taller brown alga in the foreground is most likely Caulocystis or Acrocarpia, (fam.Cystoseiraceae). Zebra shells(Austrocochlea constricta) are most evident with some periwinkles (Nodilittorina pyramidalis) present. Fringing the pool border rim is the brown alga Neptune's necklace (Hormosira banksii). The Neck, Saunders Island, Falkland Islands, South Atlantic

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Tiger cowry (Cypraea tigris)

Tiger cowry (Cypraea tigris), under a ledge with mantle extended to partially cover the shell. The tiger cowrie is found on the ocean floor in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans, across the waters of Micronesia and Polynesia, the Coral Sea and around the Philippines. Along the Australian coast it is found from northern New South Wales to northern Western Australia, as well as Lord Howe Island. South Solitary Island, New South Wales, Australia

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