Great Australian Bight
The arc of the Great Australian Bight is literally like a 'bite' taken out of the southern shore of Australia. The warm Leeuwin current flows into the Bight where it prevents cooler, nutrient-rich water from welling up from the deep, making these some of the least fertile seas in the world.
Other temperate waters are characterised by immense numbers of fish, birds and mammals, but the Great Australian Bight is totally different. An incredible diversity of plants and animals have developed unique solutions to surviving in a place where food is in such short supply, and because these isolated Australian seas have been separated from other coastal waters for so long, many of these weird creatures are found nowhere else on the planet.
Australia's temperate seas have some of the highest levels of species-diversity in the world and 90 per cent of the fish, molluscs and echinoderms living here are found nowhere else. Extensive kelp gardens create ideal habitats for some of the strangest creatures in the sea. Cryptic sea dragons ghost in and out of the fronds and giant cuttlefish mesmerize their prey with fantastic light displays. Even the sea lions inhabiting this coastline are different from other seals.
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