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| OCEAN INFORMATION |
| September |
| Australia Wide |
| The common and conical sand snails produce egg collars, often mistaken for pieces of jellyfish. When held up to the light you can see the eggs; Muttonbirds (shearwaters) gather offshore; Keyhole limpets common on rock platforms; Biscuit and Cushion seastars washing up |
| North |
| Reefs: reef fish courting; 'palola-type' polychaete worms swarm Beach: Siberian waders arrive; mullet reach great concentrations in the bays; Trichodesmium plankton rafts crash ashore. |
| South |
| Beach: yellow flowers of boneseed weed throughout coastal scrubs; strong winds; running postman flowering on back dunes and coastal scrub; sandsnails leave sand collars in shallows; mutton birds (short-tailed shearwaters) return to nest |
| October |
| Australia Wide |
| Watch for first appearance of humpback whales returning from Antarctic waters |
| North |
| Beach: green turtles and loggerheads begin mating; big tides on northern coast; barnacles start to form eggs after high tide; small prawns schooling in bays; black sheoaks flowering along dunes & beach fronts; ospreys with fledglings Reefs: giant clams breeding, marine stingers come in shore after northerlies; mass spawning or corals soon after full moon; Moreton Bay 'bugs' are breeding |
| South |
| Beach: octopus and cuttlefish eggs wash up; young gulls leave nesting islands; Nudibranch sea slugs lay egg rings in rock pools; shearwaters (Muttonbirds) prepare nesting burrows; Shaw's Cowfish washes up; Southern Right whales approach coast |
