Truly Giant Cuttlefish in False Bay, South Australia

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Spencer Gulf Annotated

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September 8, 2021

Spencer Gulf in South Australia hosts the world’s biggest cuttlefish mass generating occasion.

Each winter season from May to August, countless Australian huge cuttlefish (Sepia apama) make their method to False Bay, northwest of Adelaide along the coast of SouthAustralia In this bay at the head of Spencer Gulf, the cold water and rocky seafloor supply prime conditions for the biggest recognized mass generating occasion, or “aggregation,” of cuttlefish on the planet.

Growing to almost a meter long, the Australian huge cuttlefish is the biggest of these distinct cephalopods. With unique skin cells called chromatophores, cuttlefish are masters of camouflage– efficient in immediately altering the color, pattern, and even texture of their skin. They do this to camouflage themselves from predators, draw in mates, or enthrall victim.

Spencer Gulf

September 8, 2021

On September 8, 2021, the Operational Land Imager ( OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite recorded this natural-color picture of False Bay on EyrePeninsula The light-colored swirls in the water are triggered by sediment gave the surface area when strong winds churn shallow parts of the gulf. These waters draw both scuba divers (to the well known Stony Point cuttlefish dive website, west of the wharf) and industrial fishers– one group wishing to see the elaborate cephalopods and the other wishing to capture them.

Giant Cuttlefish

Giant Cuttlefish.

In 2013, after the cuttlefish population had actually decreased by 90 percent over the previous years, a fishing restriction was executed throughout the northern reaches of SpencerGulf In 2020, that exemption zone was downsized, primarily to False Bay, after reports that the population had actually rebounded from less than 20,000 cuttlefish to about 250,000 The existing exemption zone extends throughout False Bay from the Point Lowly Lighthouse in the east, throughout the pointer of the Port Bonython wharf, to the jetty in the port town of Whyalla.

Since the early 1900 s, Whyalla has actually been a center of iron ore mining, steel production, and ship structure. Today, efforts to stabilize the financial interests of the area with the health and sustainability of the cuttlefish population continue. To promote Whyalla “as a year-round destination valued for its environment, recreation and lifestyle experiences,” the city is now establishing a Cuttlefish Coast Sanctuary Tourism & & Conservation Project, which is anticipated to be finished in 2023.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, utilizing Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey.