MASTERS OF DISGUISE

BECAUSE I GREW UP IN SYDNEY, the ocean was always an intrinsic part of my life. But it wasn’t until I learnt to scuba dive in my late teens that I really began to appreciate how Australia’s ocean waters are home to so many creatures found nowhere else in the world. Among the most spectacular are the seadragons, a group of remarkable fish that have fascinated me since I first heard of them about 25 years ago. Now I’m committed to learning as much as I can about these intriguing animals and I’m using my images to help protect them.

SEADRAGONS BELONG TO the family Syngnathidae. There are just three species of seadragon and they only occur in the temperate waters of the Great Southern Reef (GSR), which spans Australia’s southern coasts (see AG 139), covering some 71,000sq.km along roughly half of the continent’s land mass from New South Wales to Western Australia. A biodiversity hotspot largely dependent