What’s wild in winter

Explore the marine life who are turning the heat on during winter.

At the salty tribe we love learning and sharing info about the marine life we often share the water with. While many of us are opting to stay dry and in rest and digest mode, this post is dedicated to all about the marine life who are turning the heat up during winter.

🐋Humpback Whales embark on epic migrations (one of the longest mammal migrations) north to their subtropical breeding grounds off the Queensland coast.

🦀 Spider crabs congregate in the hundreds or thousands in Port Phillip Bay to get undressed together in safety in numbers (while shedding their shells).

🐙Cuttlefish mate on mass in South Australia's Whyalla in a spectacle that leaves nothing to the imagination.

Australian Giant Cuttlefish

Imagine seeing thousands of up to 5kg flashing aliens with their tentacle arms, swimming towards you..

Except your not in a movie..

This is what it's like to swim with the Giant Cuttlefish Aggregation, one of nature's great natural events just below the surface, off the coast of Whyalla, South Australia. 

Every winter thousands of Giant Cuttlefish (aka sea chameleons) gather for this epic mating event to to their bit for the sustainability of their species. Not all of its PC either!

Some interesting ways of life of the cuttle life: 

🐙cuttles can flash like a disco ball and imitate a rocky as signals to warn predators off

🐙cuttlefish and other cephalopods use polarised light, which humans are unable to see, to communicate with each other and to distinguish objects under the water

🐙you'd never guess how they mate... the male slips his sperm package into the females mouth to fertilise her eggs (I know right!)

🐙males can even disguise themselves as a female, confusing the males around them competing for the same female

🐙you know that white cuttle bone you find on the beaches you may have given to your childhood budgie? Yep, that’s from the inside of these guys! It helps them to maintain buoyancy.

While you’ll definitely need a 7mm wetsuit to see them in southern Australia during winter, they are a marine spectacle well worth the snorkel!

Australian Giant Spider Crabs

Credit: Ivan Lee

It’s a bazaar strip tease that people flock from all over the world to witness - and it happens in Victoria’s very own Port Phillip Bay. But the spider crabs don’t only get it all off. As a type of decorator crab they are excellent at camouflaging themselves using glue and sponges to decorate their shells with.

You think they’re weird (and wonderful) during the day, can you imagine them at night?

One of my most fond memories of seeing them in the flesh was on a night dive. A friend and I headed down to Rye Pier about 9pm one evening to jump in the ten degree water to find them after hearing rumours they had finally arrived in the shallows. After swimming around for what felt like ages, there was no sign of them.

It was cold.

Then out of nowhere appeared a juvenille (baby) seven-gill shark! This was the first seven gill I had seen, and I was wrapped! It’s presence felt symbolic. He was on a mission. We trailed behind him and to our surprise he led us to the giant congregation, piling on top of each other as if a race to get to the top.

It was magic.

Some fun facts about spider crabs:

🦀they can grow to the size of an adult hand

🦀they can shed their shell in under and hour and often regularly need to do this to grow

🦀While research has started to unravel the mysteries of a spider crabs life, we still don't really know where they go when they aren't gathering here. Unfortunately there has been no commitment yet to continue to find this vital research.

May-July is their typical season they march into the bay often triggered by the full moon, but its anyone’s guess where and when they will show up.

Humpback Whales

In one of the longest mammal migrations, humpback whales migrate north to their subtropical breeding grounds off the Queensland coast to give birth. This is after they have spent the hotter months of the year, from November to May, feed in the waters of the Antarctic. Between May and July are good times to see them as they head north, and between September to November, on their way back to the Antarctic.

Whales hold so much wisdom and if you get the lucky opportunity to gaze into their eyes, it will no doubt be one of your life changing moments. Here is just a few wise attributes they hold:

🐳its the males are known for their extraordinary singing abilities to attract a female mate  

🐳they last the whole season living off their fat reserves from Antarctica for the rest of the year

🐳they can live for 80 years! 

We are so looking forward to sharing space with their wisdom at our Whale-ness retreat in September!