Discoveries

Marine Life of North Western Australia Project explores the marine biodiversity of the inshore Kimberley and associated continental shelf coral atolls. On this page, we plan to inform you of some of the project's new discoveries and findings. (see Videos for as-it-happened discoveries)

New record

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  Rolloliths of Adele Island

  Dr. Zoe Richards, Australian Museum

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  Portunus spiniferus

  A new record for the Kimberley and possibly for Western Australia!

New species

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  Bearded Velvetfish

  Fish curators Sue Morrison from the Western Australian Museum and Jeff Johnson from the Queensland Museum have identified a new species of fish as a result of the recent field work they undertook in the far north Kimberley.

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  Two new shrimp species discovered from the Kimberley Bioregion

  Two new species of shrimp, discovered near Cassini Island and Long Reef in the northern Kimberley, have been described and named by retired shrimp taxonomist Dr. Sandy Bruce, Honorary Associate at the Queensland Museum. Ancylomenes batei Bruce, 2011 and Typtonychus bruceorum Bruce, 2011 were collected during the WA Museum’s 2010 expedition to the northern Kimberley sponsored by Woodside Energy.

New discovery

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  Organ Pipe Coral Flourishes at Long Reef

  Dr Zoe Richards & Dr Monika Schlacher-Hoenlinger

Updates

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  Crustacean update 2011

  Identifications of the crustacean material collected during the 2009 Woodside Collection Project (Kimberley) expedition have been completed, but are still ongoing for the 2010 Kimberley expedition. Over 250 species and morphospecies have been identified to date, representing ten orders of Crustacea. Over 74 species of crabs have been identified making them the most speciose group, followed by barnacles (60 species) and shrimp (40 species). Of these, 60 species were previously unrecorded from the Kimberley.