The Dwarf Lionfish may be small, but he’s still a lion - king of the ocean. Okay he's no Great White, but he can still claim his rightful place at the top of the food chain. Just like lions on land, Lionfish have no known predators.
For some unknown reason an awful lot of fish are known as Devilfish. It’s the name often used to describe everything from manta rays to octopus, to stonefish and even grey whales. The least devilish of the lot is the Eastern Blue Devilfish that is found in Sydney. A shy and completely harmless fish found only in Australia.
Eastern Cleaner Clingfish are the entreprenures of Underwater Sydney. They spotted a gap in the fish cleaning market and set up shop all over Sydney.
The Eastern Red Scorpionfish is also known as the Red Rock Cod, but we think it is safe to assume that they prefer the Scorpionfish name - it sounds far less appealing to eat. They get the name Scorpionfish because of their highly venomous spines.
The Eastern Smooth Boxfish is very, very smooth. If you look at one closely, they look like they are covered in velvet. The 'box' description isn't too bad either.
Although there are a few ugly fish in Sydney, none of them can compete with the Estuary Catfish. It is definitely no oil painting. The Estuary catfish generally keeps hidden during the day. Catfish get their name from their whiskers that they use to sense their prey. It is quite an effective strategy considering how dark their environment is.The estuary catfish has poisonous spines in the dorsal and pectoral fins. So, uh, don’t ever try and handle one, because they sure don’t purr.
The Fan-Bellied Leatherjacket is a tropical species of leatherjacket that is commonly in Sydney. It's not too fussy about the water quality so it can be found all over the place, even right up the estuaries.
The flathead really does have a very flat head. It is not the flattest head out there, (that was awarded to the Flounder), but it is still impressively flat. We are happy with this fish's name for once.
Let's face it, the Flounder should have been called Flathead, after all it has a flatter head than a Flathead.
Sydney isn’t short of moray eels. Look closely and their pretty little faces appear all over the place. It’s a well-known fact that moray eels have a very painful bite – as many an unfortunate fisherman will testify. However, only recently did we discover they actually have not one but two bites!