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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Wandering sea anemone (Nemanthus sp.)

Wandering sea anemone (Nemanthus sp.). These sea anemones attach to sea whips, hydroids and black corals, often in large numbers. Although found in deeper water as far south as Jervis Bay on the NSW coast, they are of tropical origin, the larval form being brought down by currents. They can release themselves from their host and wander through the water column to find a suitable new perching place. North Rock near Fish Soup, Solitary Islands Marine Park, New South Wales, Australia

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Underwater view of a rock pool

Underwater view of a 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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