Year Nine Marine excursion

Sorrento and Portsea

Sorrento Rock Platform

Sorrento Rock Pool

Green algae

Dog Whelk

Dog whelk are carivorous snails, they feed on sea snails and barnicles. They are able to drill holes through the shell of their prey with their long tongues.They attach themselves to rocks both in and out of rock pools.

Kelp

Kelp is found in the lowest littoral levels where it is almost always covered by tides.

Neptune’s Necklace

Dog Welk

Mussels

Sea snail

Small herbivorous snails that graze on the rock surfaces feeding on micro-algae and lichens. Found in large numbers in the supralittoral zone.

Cuttle fish mantel

Crab

Crab. As crabs grow their hard outside skeleton becomes to small and they moult. Sometimes you may find an empty skeleton on the beach.

Chiton

Elephant snail

Puffer Fish

Biscuit Seastars

They feed on encrusting organisms attached to the surfaces of rocks, pier pilings and large algae.

11 legged sea star

Sea stars Most sea stars have five arms but some have up to eleven. They move around on lots of tiny tubes with suckers on their ends. Sea stars feed in an unusual way by pushing their stomach out of their mouth and wrapping it around their prey.

Sea Urchins

Sea Urchins These animals are covered in spines, which protect their fragile bodies. They have tube feet like their relatives, sea stars. Found in the lower littoral zone . It feeds on algae and may be eaten by fish or birds.

Sea Urchin, sea star and puffer fish

Hermit crab, decorator crab, granulated seastar, biscuit seastar

Barnacles

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BarnaclesThese creatures glue themselves to a rock, a boat or even a whale at an early age, and never move again. The shell, which protects this creature, opens when the tide is in. The creature lies on its back and pull food into its mouth.

Tubeworms Sea worms come in all shapes and sizes. Tubeworms live in hard tubes attached to rocks. Some have feathered mouths to

catch tiny food particles.

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periwinkles A wide range of small herbivorous snails, such as periwinkles, limpets, and warreners, are constantly grazing the rock surfaces and in many place their activity prevent large

seaweeds from growing on the rocks.

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Small grazing snail feeding on micro-algae and lichens. Occurs in large numbers on upper shoreline.

• Carnivorous snail, the dog whelk (Dicathais orbita), have the ability to drill holes through the shells of their prey.

• Other common carnivores on the rocky shore include the Waratah sea anenome (Actinia tenebrosa) and Green anenome (Cnidopus verarter) which capture food with their stinging tentacles. Blue ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena maculosa), Sand octopus (Octopus kaurna) and Maori octopus (O. maorum) are largely nocturnal predators also found on rock platforms.