Saturday 7 February 2009

Bronte 13 - Blue Gropers





In 1998 the Eastern Blue Groper was made the fish emblem of New South Wales. It is well known on waters around Sydney. They are protected from spear fishing. It has been protected since 1969 because of depletion. (Actually, they're not gropers at all, but wrasse)

Blue Gropers will swim right up to divers.

All Blue Gropers start life as females and some later change into males. So a particular blue groper could breed as a female one year and then the next year turn into a male! Little is known about the factors which trigger this sex change however it is believed that they appear to change sex when they reach a certain size and age, or if the local male is removed from the reef the next biggest female will change to a male. It is also believed that if there is an increase in the female population a female may turn into a male if the threshold between the number of males and females is exceeded.

This ends the series on Bronte, at least for now. Tomorrow we are heading south aloong the coast to the next beach, Clovelly. Cloey has a very different vibe to Bronte, but is interesing in a range of different ways. So come along while it's still hot and summery for this Sydney eastern suburbs beaches exploration!

To read more, including historical notes, on the Bronte Baths and Bogey Hole, have a look at my Swimming Blog.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Sally,
    Just stumbled on your site.
    Nice blog, and I marvel that you can still go outdoors to take photos in this heat wave! :)
    Christian.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Christian
    It's the best place to be - and the temperatures on the coast are nowhere near like inland - a lovely 28 or thereabouts!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just catching up, Sally. Marvellous images. Loved your portraits the other day. And the rock pool pic. Fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. nice angle of these images. Have you done the Bridgeclimb yet on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I did it in December and it was awesome. The only downside is they absolutely do not let you take a camera up on it. Great experience though. Thanks for stopping by my website to check out the Chihuly glass art. I put a new Chihuly art photo up today.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey.... such a simple setting but such a beautiful pic!!! Love the way the pic is composed!!

    Great stuff.

    Come over and have a look at my Dubai Blog

    Hey... Gropers are the fav out here for avid anglers... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely series of beachside portraits in the past few days!

    Blue gropers changing from female to male in the course of their lives - wouldn't it be anyone's fantasy to know what it's like to make love when you're from the other sex? There's no option for becoming female again after the groper turned male however I'm afraid? I think I'm happy to stay a girl!

    ReplyDelete