Marine Life

  • 23 Oct 2024

    Uncovering the hidden heroes of WA’s coral reefs

    Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and vital ecosystems on Earth, but there's more going on beneath the surface than meets the eye.

    At the heart of their survival are the tiny “hidden heroes” we know as Symbiodiniaceae. Sharing a symbiotic relationship with the coral that houses them, these microscopic single-celled organisms provide vital energy to their hosts through photosynthesis. Without them, coral reefs as we know them would simply not exist.

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    News
    Jasmine Eales

  • Helicoprion fossil from Gascoyne Junction

    8 Jul 2024

    A fossil so weird it stumped scientists for decades. This is HUGE….

    Every now and again palaeontologists come across a fossil so weird it takes decades of detective work to finally understand its relationship to other organisms. The 275-million-year-old Helicoprion is one of these enigmas.

    The first glimpses of this shark-like animal came from the Gascoyne Region in Western Australia; a partial tooth whorl with 14 preserved teeth.

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    News
    Flora Perrella

  • 17 Mar 2024

    Major immersive exhibition on James Cameron’s deep-ocean exploration opens at WA Maritime Museum

    On 23 March 2024, the WA Maritime Museum opens its doors to JAMES CAMERON – CHALLENGING THE DEEP, an exhibition by acclaimed explorer and award-winning film-maker James Cameron.

    The exhibition explores Cameron’s extensive career as a deep-sea explorer and his many history-making expeditions.

    JAMES CAMERON – CHALLENGING THE DEEP takes visitors to the depths of our oceans through the lens of Cameron’s underwater cameras, as well as his other incredible technological innovations that have enabled us to see one of the least known places on Earth.

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    News
    Robyn Ambrosius

  • Alec Coles engaging in conversation candid image

    18 May 2023

    Saving the World… Museums, Sustainability and Well-being

    International Museum Day Opinion Piece by Alec Coles, CEO WA Museum

    On May 18th we celebrate International Museums Day.

    Since 2020, the theme for this annual celebration has supported the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s theme Museums, Sustainability and Well-being, focuses on the following three goals:

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    News
    Robyn Ambrosius

  • A digital rendering of a large prehistoric shark-like create with its jaws open, hunting a great white shark which appears small in comparrison, in an ocean setting

    31 Mar 2023

    Giant marine reptiles rule the WA Maritime Museum

    Millions of years ago, while dinosaurs ruled the land, ferocious reptiles over 20 metres long hunted and ruled the sea.

    Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean Predators exhibition opens at WA Maritime Museum tomorrow, Saturday 1 April, and is set to scare and amaze visitors with its life-sized casts from real specimens and fossils never-before-seen in WA.

    Sea Monsters features more than 70 exhibits and tells the fascinating story of these once land-dwelling creatures that adapted to the sea.

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    News
    Madeleine Pengelly

  • Dr Glenn Moore diving next to a cod.

    10 Nov 2022

    The fishy work of WA Museum’s fish scientist

    Dr Glenn Moore is the Curator of Fish at WA Museum and the State-recognised authority for the identification and taxonomy of marine and freshwater fish. He is regularly involved in scientific projects to grow our understanding of Western Australian biodiversity and biogeography.

    In his role as Curator, Glenn is responsible for maintaining the quality, documentation and development of the State’s fish collection, which includes almost 200,000 specimens from around the world. 

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    News
    Kasper Johansen

  • A Gastropoda, Conus Geographus or Cone Shell found near Cassini Island, Kimberley.

    12 Oct 2022

    Life as an Aquatic Zoologist: The important work of Dr Lisa Kirkendale

    Have you ever wondered what interesting facts slimy aquatic snails and underwater creatures can tell us about the world they live in?

    Also known as “molluscs”, these gastropods are the second largest phylum (or group) of invertebrate animals in the world.

    Although some can measure just a few millimetres, these mighty molluscs are powerhouses of information and provide important insights into aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

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    News
    Kasper Johansen

  • A group of scientists, rangers and Traditional Owners standing together for a photo in the Kimberley region.

    16 Sep 2022

    WA Museum fieldwork research on pseudoscorpions, assassin bugs and bandicoots on Wunambal Gaambera Country

    A recent fieldtrip with Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC), saw some of our scientists carry out exciting research on Wunambal Gaambera Country in the far north of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

    Joining the fieldtrip from the Western Australian Museum was Head of Terrestrial Zoology and Curator of Arachnids and Myriapods Dr Mark Harvey, Curator of Mammalogy Dr Kenny Travouillon, Curator of Entomology Dr Nikolai Tatarnic, and Technical Officer Jenelle Ritchie.

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    News
    Yoshika Kon

  • A gloved hand holds a large cowrie shell.

    14 Sep 2022

    Precious black cowrie shell donated to WA Museum Boola Bardip

    In a generous act of philanthropy, an incredibly rare and valuable black cowrie shell found in Western Australian waters was recently gifted to the Western Australian Museum’s Aquatic Zoology department.

    Hailing from the Mollusc phylum, the Leporicypraea geographica rewa form rovae cowrie shell was found off the coast of Exmouth in a 24-metre-deep sea sponge garden.

    More commonly known as sea snails, cowries are nocturnal by nature, living in underwater caves and hiding under rocks during the day and feeding on coral and algae at night.

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    News
    Yoshika Kon

  • An open palm shows a Ruby seadragon.

    5 Aug 2022

    Rare Ruby seadragon donated to the WA Museum

     
    It is not every day you stumble across the rare Ruby seadragon but for one Denmark local, Annika Engstrom, the perfectly intact specimen was a lucky find in March 2022.
     
    Annika spotted the colourful creature on the sand directly in front of the Denmark Surf Club and caught the eye of Bernie Wong who was on lifeguard patrol and who instantly recognised it as a Ruby seadragon.
     
    The Ruby seadragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea) was discovered and identified as a new species in 2015 by a team that included the WA Museum’s

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    News
    Yoshika Kon

  • A handcrafted puppet of an 18th Century botanist with a boat in the background.

    4 May 2022

    Follow the journey of an 18th Century botanist at the Museum of the Great Southern

    An immersive and finely crafted installation opens at the Museum of the Great Southern on 14 May 2022.
     
    The Peregrinations of a Citizen Botanist exhibition by artist Susie Vickery takes the form of a cabinet of curiosities, charting the journey of 18th Century French botanist Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière, who came to Western Australia in 1792 on the ship Recherche, captained by Bruni d’Entrecasteaux.
     
    Museum of the Great Southern Regional Manager Ms Catherine Salmaggi said this exhibition will delight visitors as they e

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    News
    Yoshika Kon

  • Healthy corals in the intertidal zone at Montelivet Island

    26 Aug 2019

    Central Kimberley reef communities survive global coral bleaching

    Remote reef communities in the central inshore Kimberley survived the 2016 global bleaching event, giving hope to Western Australian marine scientists looking to find ways to combat the effects of climate change.

    A recent publication confirms the breakthrough discovery by a team of Western Australian Museum scientists. The researchers examined the composition and health of marine organisms at 13 coral reef sites in the Bonaparte Archipelago – a largely inaccessible area of the inshore central Kimberley.

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    News
    Hillary Henry

  • World Oceans Day

    6 Jun 2019

    World Oceans Day

    The Western Australian Museum’s Aquatic Zoology department boasts a wide collection of specimens ranging from tiny crustaceans to large shark skeletons. These specimens are either wet specimens preserved in alcohol or dry specimens stored in glass jars.

    Diving head first during fieldwork expeditions, we have a dedicated team of researchers who are responsible for building and contributing to these collections and the stories behind the specimens.

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    Article

  • Barnacle Lepas anserifera

    6 Jun 2019

    Barnacles: The Forgotten Species

    Imagine spending most of your life standing on your head and eating with your feet. Sounds impossible? Well, that’s exactly how barnacles spend most of their lives.

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    Article

  • Micro-molluscs

    6 Jun 2019

    Never Underestimate The Power Of Molluscs

    Ranging from snails to clams to octopus, Molluscs are the second largest group of marine invertebrates (animals without a backbone). Dr Lisa Kirkendale, Curator of Molluscs in the Western Australian Museum describes these invertebrates as 4 groups:

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    Article

  • Goniobranchus leopardus

    6 Jun 2019

    Nudibranchs, The Rock Stars Of Our Oceans

    Brightly coloured and slow-moving, these creatures are pretty easy to identify and hard to forget once you’ve seen them. Nudibranchs are mesmerizing sea slugs that gracefully slither across our oceans.

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    Article

  • Underwater diver Dr Jane Formont

    6 Jun 2019

    Ocean Cleaners Under Threat

    When you think of sponges, the first thing that comes to mind would probably be the cleaning sponge in your kitchen. Believe it or not, those cleaning sponges used to come from the ocean. Divers walked along ocean floors plucking sponges off the sea bottom.

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    Article

  • Astrea annuligera

    18 Jun 2018

    User-friendly guide to identifying WA’s unique corals released

    Marine researchers and scientists now have a new guide to help them carry out their work to accurately identify and classify Western Australia’s hard corals. Hard corals, or scleractinian corals, are a diverse group of threatened species that are incredibly important to the growth and productivity of coral reef ecosystems in general.

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    News
    Flora Perrella

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