On
this page you have the marine animals in the waters of Cape York.
When you
take your fishing boat out to the ocean or the reef, there are plenty
of chances to spot whales
and dolphins, dugongs, sharks, and large marine turtles.
There are also plenty of
less visible animals such as
jellyfish, crayfish, giant clams, sea cucumbers, sponges, mollusks,
cone shells, sea snakes, crabs (e.g. soldier
crabs), fish, and all sorts of other coral reef animals.
Most of Australia's
dangerous
animals live in the water, not on the land.
by flickkerphotos via Flickr.com
North
Eastern Australian
Whales We don't
have as many humpback whales as southern and central Queensland, but we
have six other species of whales
- Bryde's whale, dwarf minke whale, sperm whale, blue whale, short
finned pilot, and orka killer whale.
Many whales are seasonal.
by jeffk42 via Flickr.com
North
Eastern Australian Dolphins
We also have six species of dolphins
- bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, spinner dolphin, striped dolphin,
humpback dolphin and Australian snubfin dolphin.
Dolphins are easier to
spot and they are not seasonal.
by Joel Abroad via Flickr.com
Marine
Animals - Dugongs
We also have dugongs
- marine animals that are also called sea cows, because they eat sea
grass at the bottom of the ocean.
They are found in the oceans around
the coasts of northern half of Australia, as well as south east Asia
and parts of Africa.
North
Eastern Australian
Turtles
We have four species of freshwater
turtles, and five species of large marine turtles
in the waters around Cape York peninsula.
Freshwater turtles are easier
to spot, marine turtles are a lot larger.
North
Eastern Australian
Sharks
We are lucky to not to have the great white shark that is responsible
for most human deaths by Australian sharks.
But we have bull
shark and tiger shark - both killers;
plus many
other species of harmless reef sharks.
North
Australian Jellyfish
In the tropical waters of northern Australia, we have many different
species of jellyfish,
most are not dangerous marine animals, but some are, and the dangerous
jellyfish
include irukandji, and box jellyfish - known as the most poisonous
creature
on the Earth.
North
Eastern Australian
Whales
Not all
Australian whales are found in Cape York.
One of
the most popular with
whale
watchers - right whales
- are
only found in the southern, cool waters, and equally popular - humpback whales -
hardly migrate
further north than Cairns
and Port Douglas
(most individuals
not even that, so the sightings are much rarer up here, than further
south along
the coast of Queensland).
But we have other whales amongst our marine
animals.
We have blue, sperm, killer and pilot whale, and our most common ones to see are
brydes and
minke. Brydes
and dwarf minke
have some similarities in the looks. They have similarly shaped dorsal
fin - a body part that is often visible. The difference is that brydes
is grey while dwarf minke is black (on the upper side of the body -
both have lighter coloured belly).
Dwarf Minke by travisd via Flickr.com
Brydes by tim ellis via Flickr.com
Blue
and Sperm Whale
Blue and Sperm are less common to see but easy to recognise from the
typical look of the raised tail. Sperm whale's can be lifted higher as
it dives deeper (deepest of all Australian whales). Blue is the
largest.
by Heather and Mike via
Flickr.com
Sperm
Whale by doublebug via Flickr.com
Pilot
Whale and Orca
Pilot and Orca also are less common north eastern Australian
whales to
see and have similar looks,
mainly the similarly shaped heads and dorsal fins that are a
little round (not as sharp in the tip as Minke's and Brydes'). Pilot is
mostly black while orca killer whale has white patches.
Pilot by Javier Delgado
Esteban via
Flickr
Orca
Killer Whale by Bugsy Sailor via Flickr
Australian
Dolphins
All
Australian dolphins are found in Cape York.
There are
six species of dolphins
in Australia,
and in the waters around Cape York, we have them all.
They are easier to spot than whales, they are not seasonal like whales,
they come much closer to the coast than whales.
They are incredibly curious and friendly marine
animals and they often come and check your boat out and even
follow
it. Bottlenose Dolphin is the
most common
of all Australian dolphins and also the best known one for that reason.
It lives in all Australian waters.
Bottlenose Dolphin by
gr8dnes via
Flickr.com Bottlenose
Dolphin by Yuichi Sakuraba via Flickr.com
Also common is the Common
Dolphin
that likes to follow boats
and swim right in front of the boats. It is also found in all
Australian waters including Cape York. It is easy to recognise from the
yellow patches on both
sides of its
body. Common
Dolphin by ecotist via Flickr.com
Striped Dolphin has
stripes on both
sides of its body.
It is the third most common Australian dolphin, found along all the
coasts
except the waters outside Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and south
eastern Western Australia. Striped
Dolphin by
Javier Delgado Esteban via Flickr.com
Spinner
Dolphin has a
dark stripe from
the end of the eye to the start of the flipper. It has a
little
smaller distribution along
the coasts of northern
Australia between
about Geraldton in the
west and
Newcastle on the east coast of Australia.
Spinner
Dolphin by Na
Pali Riders via Flickr.com Humpback Dolphin has a
low dorsal fin that looks like a hump,
and its body is brownish grey. It is found all the way around the
coasts of northern Australia between Sydney in the east and Shark Bay
in the west. Humpback
Dolphin by Blue Dolphin Marine Tours via Flickr.com
Australian Snubfin Dolphin is the
only one
with a round head and no beak,
and it is only found in Australia. Even in Australia it has the
smallest distribution - between Brisbane in the east and Broome in the
west.
Dangerous
Australian
Sharks
There are
two dangerous Australian sharks in Cape York.
You
shouldn't
be swimming in
the ocean waters up here in the first place because of crocodiles.
But yes, out of the 180-ish species of sharks found in Australian
waters, two dangerous
species are found in the ocean waters up here. Both are found around all the
coasts of Cape York, and both come close
to the coasts to the shallow water. Tiger shark by
Willy Volk via Flickr.com Tiger
Shark is
statistically responsible for more fatalities, however Bull
Shark
is known to be one of the most aggressive Australian sharks, and it
also comes up to the coast and even into the rivers,
because it can tolerate brackish and fresh water.
Both are fatal marine
animals. Bull shark by
pterantula via Flickr.com
Just because we don't have the
Great White shark here, does not mean you are safe from sharks in the
northern waters.
Add the crocs
and the jellyfish
to the picture, and you sure know you
are best off keeping out of the ocean.
Australian
Jellyfish
Some of
Australian jellyfish is very poisonous.
There are
many different types
of jellyfish in Australia.
Some are found in cold waters, others in warm waters, some are totally
harmless but a few are
deadly
poisonous.
While there are some stingy ones even in the southern waters of
Australia,
the most poisonous ones
tend to live
in the northern, warmer waters.
They are found along the
northern,
north-western and north-eastern
coasts, and because Queensland is more populated than
Northern
Territory and Western
Australia, they have made the beaches
of Queensland famous for their 'uselessness'. Of
course, crocs
and sharks are
present here too, but they are bigger anmals that you can at least
see.
Dangerous
Australian
Jellyfish
Australian jellyfish are
mostly present during the Wet
Season - roughly between October and May - but the further
north the more frequent they are, and some have
been
reported any time of the year.
Australian jellyfish deaths are very real and definitely more frequent
than spider
deaths in
Australia.
Every few years they kill someone (often a kid), so they are
seriously dangerous marine
animals.
There are at least six different types of Australian jellyfish up in
north
Queensland.
Blubber is a
mushroom-shaped jellyfish with no tentacles that only causes minor
irritation and is treated with cold packs.
Snottie
has a large bell and hairy tentacles up to almost a metre long. It
usually only causes minor skin burning, but occasionally more severe.
It is treated with cold packs.
Fire Jelly,
or Moreton Bay Stinger,
is a large, box shaped jellyfish with four thick tentacles - one in
each corner of the bell. It causes itchy, burning pain, and leaves pink
or red marks on the skin. The stings are treated with vinegar and cold
packs.
Bluebottle,
aka Portuguese Man of War,
has an air filled sack rather than a bell or box shaped body. Its body
is blue and it has one blue tentacle, about a metre long (but can be up
to 30!). Its sting
causes burning pain, and sometimes breathing difficulty. It is treated
with salt water, hot water and cold packs - no vinegar.
Irukandji
is a very small jellyfish with a box shaped body and four, up to a
metre long tentacles. It is transparent and because it is also small,
it is almost impossible to see. Its sting is often initially not even
noticed, but about 30min later severe sympthoms arise, such as nausea,
sweating, muscle cramps, backache and anxiety. This is a serious
stinger and medical aid has to be seeked immediately. Meanwhile, the
sting is treated with vinegar.
Box
Jellyfish
is famously the most poisonous creature in the world. It has a large
box sized body with four tentacles, one in each corner of the bell. The
tentacles can be up to three metres long. Its sting has been described
as the most painful thing victims have ever experienced. The tentacles
leave burning marks on the skin. The victim may stop breathing and
loses conciousness. Ambulance has to be called immediately. Meanwhile,
the sting is treated with vinegar.
Australian
Jellyfish Treatment
As you saw the most common jellyfish treatment is cold packs and vinegar.
There are
bottles of vinegar everywhere on the beaches where stingers are
present.
Cold packs
are applied for 10 minutes at the time, but reapplied if symphtoms
persist.
Medical aid
is definitely needed with Box Jellyfish and Irukandji. With others,
only if symphoms persist.
There are stinger nets
during
the stinger months on the more popular beaches in northern Australia.
These beaches are also watched by life savers.
Stinger nets decrease the risks, however they don't provide 100%
protection.
Irukandji is small enough to come through these nets. Box Jellyfish
tentacles can come through them.
You can wear a stinger suit which still leaves your hands and face in
danger, but is definitely a pretty good protection for the rest of your
body.
You can
wear a stinger suit,
which
still leaves your hands and face in
danger, but is definitely a pretty good protection for the rest of your
body.
The best protection is
not to swim in the ocean.
Personally I think why bother with all this (plus killer sharks and
saltwater
crocodiles), when there are beautiful
freshwater swimming holes everywhere in north Queensland, including
Cape York :-)
Soldier
Crabs
And some
less known marine animals, heard about soldier crabs?
Ever
walked on the beach and
saw lots and lots of tiny
blue crabs
moving around together?
I did. I usually know about things like this but it happened to me that
I wondered what they were.
Well, they are soldier
crabs moving
around in an 'army'! I think
they look so cool as
they move
around together.
Different
from Other Crabs
There are
a few other things
that make them different from other crabs.
* They walk forwards,
not
sideways like most other crabs.
* They
have lungs
(most other crabs
have gills).
* Their bodies are round, almost spherical
while most other crabs have flattened bodies
Their tiny bodies, only 25mm in diametre, are on long jointed legs, and
they they hold their claws vertically.
Active at Low Tide
The reason why they have the
lungs is
obviously that they spend a fair bit more time out of the water than
the other, aquatic crabs.
(mind you, they have gills too, however most of the time they use their
lungs for
breathing).
They live on tidal
beaches,
often near river estuaries and mangrove
habitat.
At low tide,
they emerge from
their burrows and join to large 'armies' that can be as large as
thousands of individuals. As the
tide
starts coming in, they start burrowing holes to spend the high tide in the
burrows under the
water.
They also burrow themselves into the sand when threatened.
When burrowing, they spiral themselves into the sand, and they carry
air bubbles with them. They also leave cavities for the air to get into
the hole.
Their deepest burrows can be at a half a metre's depth, and they may
spend some time entirely under the water (which is when they use gills).
What
Do They Eat?
When they
walk in armies, they
walk to wetter sands closer
to the water,
to eat.
They eat detritus
by scooping in the sand, sucking out the organic material, and then
spitting out the rest of the sand in round pellets.
They also eat tiny microorganisms in the sand, but mostly they are scavengers so they
are good in that
they clean the beach up from small dead animal and plant material.
Who
Eats Them?
The fact
that they spend
most of their time either in burrows or on the ground (and not in the
water like aquatic crabs), saves
them
from most aquatic predators like fish.
The main predators of soldier crabs are birds like ibis,
heron, egret and
some kingfishers, but also some other crabs,
and fish if
they do find
themselves in the water.
Like with other animals that flock, their grouping habit acts
as protection
because it makes it harder to see an individual and so confuses predators.
Even if it makes the predator a little slower on catching it gives the
crabs more time to burrow themselves.
Soldier Crabs are found in eastern
Indian Ocean and western Pacific, from Bay of Bengal in
the
north to Australia in the south.
They are most common in eastern Australia and mostly north Queensland,
but are found as far south and west as Perth and Tasmania.
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This complete 300 pages
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detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
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the Cape), at least 40 best
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how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
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This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.