A group of very excited scuba divers with Great Adventures Cruises at Green Island were treated to a rare encounter with a young adult dugong. Estimated to be around 2 metres in length, this was the first dugong sighting recorded by Great Adventures divers at Green Island in several years. It was also the first ever sighting for videographer Dan Liu and two very lucky introductory divers on holiday from Ballarat Victoria. “It was so exciting to see! He was very curious swimming near us as the group were diving on a nearby coral bommie. He came close within about 4 metres, swimming away and then coming back for another look before swimming off over the seagrass beds,” said Dan Liu. Dugongs, often called sea cows, as they graze shallow seagrass meadows (eating up to 40kg a day!) are found across the tropical belt in Australia. They reach a length of 3 metres, live up to 70 years of age and can weigh as much as 400kg. Dugongs are fascinating mammals, sharing a common ancestor with elephants, and early sailors are believed to have confused them for mythical mermaids. They are most closely related to the manatee, their northern hemisphere relative. They resemble a large dolphin but lack a dorsal fin and have an upper lip covered in thick bristles. They are well designed for aquatic life, with nostrils situated on top of their heads so they can breathe, and have a large, strong tail that propels them through the water. Their eyes and ears are on the side of their heads. Although their eyesight is poor, they have an acute sense of hearing.” Dugong are threatened on a worldwide scale and in Australia, are a protected species under various legislation including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975. This important sighting will be reported to GBRMPA’s Eye on the Reef monitoring program contributing valuable information about these endangered creatures as well as the long-term protection and management of the reef. Video credit Dan Liu, Island Photography Australia

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Imagine coming face to face with the biggest fish in the sea – the whale shark. That’s just what happened to a group of lucky passengers with Great Adventures in a very rare encounter while they were seated in the semi-submarine at Moore Reef. This vision was captured by one of the lucky passengers. The whale shark, estimated to be 4 - 5 metres in length swam up close and alongside the semi-sub window as excited passengers looked on in awe. Quicksilver Group Environment and Compliance Manager Doug Baird said. “For what is the world’s largest fish, we really do know very little about them and their behaviour here on the east coast of Australia.” More often associated with the northern waters of Western Australia, whale shark encounters on the Great Barrier Reef are quite sporadic. This sighting is of great interest to researchers who have been working to identify a potential whale shark aggregation site in the far north regions of the Reef. As the largest fish in the sea reaching lengths of over 12 metres, whale sharks are docile fish feeding mostly on plankton, crab larvae and jellyfish, which they scoop up with their colossal gaping mouths while swimming close to the water’s surface. They are listed as a vulnerable species and prior to the mid 1980s there were less than 350 confirmed reports of whale sharks world-wide. Researchers are able to identify individuals from photographs by analysing the patterns of markings on their bodies - a bit like fingerprints.

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Coral Spawning 2021 Music by: Blesson

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