Marine Waters

Marine Waters Marine Waters welcomes you to share experiences and knowledge with other like-minded marine educators across Western Australia, Australia and overseas.

Marine Waters contains resources for students, educators and the community who have an interest in the aquatic environment. Register FREE at http://marinewaters.fish.wa.gov.au

This bright red, recently discovered crab species is so rare it doesn’t even have a common name yet! 🦀Identified by the ...
21/08/2026

This bright red, recently discovered crab species is so rare it doesn’t even have a common name yet! 🦀

Identified by the WA Museum, Paralomis papua is a member of the king crab family (Lithodidae) which live in deep water off WA’s north west coast. 🦀

DPIRD researchers, funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, have been looking for potential commercial species living in deepwater habitats. The researchers use cameras that can illuminate deep, remote locations to get an overview of the flora and fauna that live there. 📹

Learn more about these crabs from the DPIRD media release, or go to Marine Waters website for FREE marine educational resources. Links in first comment 👉

19/08/2026

Let’s take the 2026 National Science Week theme, Seeds of Science: nurturing science for all, quite literally and grow your knowledge about seeds in the ocean!

Although seagrass lives under the water, it is a true plant, with stems, leaves, flowers, roots and seeds. 🌱🌿

WA is home to the highest species diversity of seagrass in the world. Our most common species include ribbon w**d, wirew**d, paddle w**d and eelgrass.

The giant fibreballs in the video are actually made up of the broken off stems of seagrass which has rolled around in the underwater currents of the ocean then washed up on shore by the waves. 🌊

If you look closely at these you will often find that marine debris has been tangled in them, including small pieces of plastic or even fishing line. If you come across marine debris, put it in the bin!

Learn more about seagrass with our FREE educational resource – link in first comment.

What does a beloved Sesame Street character and a ghost pipefish have in common? They both look like hairy elephants!A n...
11/08/2026

What does a beloved Sesame Street character and a ghost pipefish have in common? They both look like hairy elephants!

A new type of hairy ghost pipefish has been discovered by scientists at the Great Barrier Reef, and it looks so much like the loveable Mr Snuffleupagus that it has been named Solenostomus snuffleupagus!

Much like their close relatives, the seahorse, ghost pipefish use camouflage to hide in their reef home, and this creature’s hair-like appendages certainly help it blend right in amongst red reef macro-algae.

Learn more from the link in the first comment, or visit our Marine Waters website for more amazing FREE educational resources.

Photograph by David Harasti, via Wikimedia Commons.

30/07/2026

Ready for a tongue twister? Say ‘Big bottom bobtail squid’ fast 3 times!

Why, you may ask? West Australian scientists have captured a member of the same family of cephalopods, the rare Arctic bobtail squid on camera for the first time. Check out the video below!

With its tiny rounded body, it might just be the cutest cephalopod.

For more sea creatures, visit Marine Waters for FREE educational resources – link in first comment.

What lives in mangroves?These unique, tangled coastal ecosystems link land and sea. Their root systems form nurseries an...
23/07/2026

What lives in mangroves?

These unique, tangled coastal ecosystems link land and sea. Their root systems form nurseries and shelters for diverse species of fish and crustaceans, such as mudskippers, barramundi, mangrove jack, crabs, prawns and shrimps.

They are also visited by sea snakes on high tides, and monitor lizards who feed on insects, fish, crabs and birds.

In WA, our mangroves are mainly in the Kimberley and Pilbara, but can also be found as far south as Bunbury.

Despite the 2025 marine heatwave being one of the worst in WA history, a survey of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands after th...
17/07/2026

Despite the 2025 marine heatwave being one of the worst in WA history, a survey of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands after the event has given hope to scientists for the survival of coral in warming oceans. 🪸

It was found that the corals at the Abrolhos showed little to no bleaching, despite prolonged higher temperature of the water. Lab testing of three of the key coral species confirmed what was observed in the field. 🧫🔬

It was thought that the thermal tolerance and resistance to bleaching may be linked to a robust symbiotic algae that lived with the corals, combined with the reef’s unique location at the junction of tropical and temperate systems.

Go to the first comment for the link to ScienceDirect’s research paper and a link to our Marine Waters website, which contains FREE marine education resources for your class.

Thanks for the invite John Tonkin College! It was great to be a part of your World Ocean Day activities.
15/07/2026

Thanks for the invite John Tonkin College! It was great to be a part of your World Ocean Day activities.

10/07/2026

It’s NAIDOC Week - let’s learn how we say ‘fish’ in some of our traditional languages in WA!

🐟 ‘Kayebilitj’ Kepa Kurl Nyungar
🐟 ‘Djildjit’ Wadjak and Wirlomin Noongar
🐟 ‘Bilyguru’ Thalanyji
🐟 ‘Yurta’ Kariyarra
🐟 ‘Warrbi’ Wajarri

Source: 50 Words Project, 50words.online

25/06/2026

Have you seen one of these signs? 👀 There are more than 1,830 of them around the WA coastline, and they are there to make sure you are located more efficiently in a beach emergency.

When you see a BEN sign (Beach Emergency Numbers), note the code, and use it if you need to report a beach emergency to triple zero. ⚠️📞

For more information about BEN signs, follow the link to the SharkSmart website in our first comment 👉

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