Apollo Species
We identified 68 species who visited our cameras on the sea floor. Learn about each of them below using 3D and Augmented Reality and see them in their habitat in video footage captured by our underwater cameras.
Hero Species
Apollo Marine Park provides a home to many amazing animals. We identified several key species during our biological surveys that we created virtual models of. Use the 3D button to see them in 3D and (via smartphone) augmented reality.
Maori Octopus | Octopus maoru
HERO SPECIES
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Can grow to an arm span of 3m and weigh up to 10kg.
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Feed on the Southern Rock Lobster which make them prone to being trapped as bycatch in lobster pot fisheries.
Sevengill Shark | Notorynchus cepedianus
HERO SPECIES
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One of a handful of living shark species with seven gills, most sharks only have five gills.
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We know so little about these sharks that they don't even have a conservation status; we still have lots to learn about our oceans.
Australian Fur Seal | Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus
HERO SPECIES
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Specialist benthic feeders, meaning they like to feed on the sea floor.
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A protected species in Australia. Threatened by human disturbance and entanglement with fishing and other debris.
Southern Rock Lobster | Jasus edwardsii
HERO SPECIES
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Can live up to 20 years of age and only produce offspring after 7-11 years old.
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Rock lobsters don't have big claws, instead they rely on a hard spiky shell to help protect themselves
Sponges
Despite being sedentary sponges are animals not plants. They represent one of the simplest forms of animal life on the planet.
In the Bass Straight and more broadly across the Great Southern Reef, diverse sponge ecosystems (often called sponge gardens) create vital habitat for marine lifecreatures.
We created 3D models of some sponges in Apollo Marine Park.
N/A | Ircinia spp.
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This type of sponges is very common and are "as tough as old boots"!
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They don't have the tiny spicules in their skeletons, making them good for use in the bath but hard for scientists to identify.
Sea Tulip | Pyura spp.
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This species is actually two animals living together, with a yellow or pink sponge wrapping around a sea squirt.
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Sea tulips are animals in the same group as vetebrates because their larvae have a precursor of a backbone.
N/A ('Fan Sponge') | N/A
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The shape of a sponge changes a lot depending on the environment. This can make them hard to tell apart.
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Sponges help clean the water! Fan shapes are good at filtering seawater, with some sponges able to filter many times their own body weight per hour.
N/A | Sycon spp.
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This sponge tends to be less colourful than other sponges, but are common in Apollo Marine Park.
N/A | Callyspongia spp.
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Sponges can grow very quickly, sometimes many centimetres per week.
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Finger-like sponges grow pretty fast which helps them to reach food particles higher in the water that shorter sponges can't.
N/A | Callyspongia bilamellata
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This sponge has collagen-like fibres in their skeleton which makes them tough and flexible in the strong water currents.
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Sponges draw in water through little holes or 'pores' that cover their surface.
N/A | Suberites spp.
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Most sponge skeletons include tiny structures called 'spicules' which come in lots of different shapes.
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A sponges spicule shape can help us identify them. This sponge's spicules look like little pins.
Lace Coral | Bryozoa spp.
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This isn't a sponge or a coral! It's a colony of tiny animals that form the larger bryozoan organism.
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Each animal is around half a millimetre long and feeds through a tiny 'crown' of tentacles.
Species of Apollo
There were many more species living in Apollo Marine Park than we could model. The following videos show the different species we discovered during our biological surveys.
