Celebrate South Australia’s marine life for World Oceans Day

Five major oceans con­nect our plan­et and make up 71 per cent of the earth’s surface.

South Aus­tralia bor­ders on the South­ern Ocean, which is home to the Great South­ern Reef and gives Queensland’s Great Bar­ri­er Reef a run for its money.

Hon­our our blue plan­et this World Oceans Day, 8 June, by learn­ing about the South­ern Ocean’s marine creatures.

Here are sev­en marine ani­mals you can spot in SA’s marine parks:

1. Rays

The odd­ly adorable ray is mis­un­der­stood by many. Fear has been instilled in peo­ple since the trag­ic death of Croc­o­dile Hunter Steve Irwin in 2006, but it’s actu­al­ly rare to die from a ray injury.

The most pop­u­lar species spot­ted in South Aus­tralian waters are the smooth ray, south­ern eagle ray, south­ern fid­dler ray and coastal stin­ga­ree.

Here’s every­thing you need to know about rays in SA.

2. Giant Aus­tralian cuttlefish

Every win­ter thou­sands of giant Aus­tralian cut­tle­fish con­gre­gate in SA, off the coast of Whyal­la in the Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park.

Swim­ming with them is an expe­ri­ence like no other.

Find out all you need to know to swim with giant cut­tle­fish in South Aus­tralia.

3. Whales

The annu­al migra­tion of whales to SA waters occurs dur­ing the cool­er months, which is when they mate, give birth and nurse their young.

SA whale migra­tion starts in May and fin­ish­es in October.

Find out the top spots for whale watch­ing.

4. Sharks

Most species of shark aren’t con­sid­ered dan­ger­ous and shark attacks are much rar­er than you think.

So calm any fears by learn­ing about this amaz­ing car­ti­lagi­nous fish, start­ing with the ones in SA’s backyard.

Here are 5 sharks that vis­it South Aus­tralian waters.

5. Dol­phins

SA’s marine parks are home to three dol­phin species includ­ing the Indo-Pacif­ic bot­tlenose dol­phin, com­mon bot­tlenose dol­phin and short-beaked com­mon dolphin.

Find out five great spots to see dol­phins in South Aus­tralia.

6. Leafy sea dragons

SA’s marine parks offer a chance to see these green and yel­low-brown frag­ile crea­tures in the wild – tru­ly a nature-based expe­ri­ence found nowhere else in the world.

Dis­cov­er where and when to see SA’s leafy sea drag­ons.

7. South­ern blue dev­il fish

It’s blue, has per­son­alised mark­ings, can live up to 60 years and is pop­u­lar with under­wa­ter photographers.

South­ern blue dev­ils live around reefs and are com­mon to SA’s waters, but can be found any­where along Australia’s coast from south­ern Vic­to­ria through to West­ern Australia.

Find out where to dive to see blue dev­il fish in SA.

Love learn­ing about SA’s under­wa­ter world? Find out what makes the Fleurieu Peninsula’s rocky reefsso spe­cial and how a shell­fish reef is being builtoff the Yorke Peninsula.