PHYLUM: ECHINOMDERMATA

CLASS: ECHINOIDEA (SEA URCHINS)

CLASS: HOLOTHUROIDEA (SEA CUCUMMBERS, TREPANG)

Right: Stichopus chloronotus
Length to 20 cm.


Left: Stichopus chloronotus
Length to 20 cm.
Right: Holothuria leucospilota "Lollyfish"
Length to 50 cm.


Bohadschia paradoxa??


Bohadschia argus "Leopard Sea Cucumber"
Length to 30 cm.

CLASS: ASTEROIDA (SEA STARS)

CLASS: OPHIUROIDEA (BRITTLESTARS)

PHYLUM: MOLLUSCA

CLASS: POLYPLACOPHORA (CHITONS)

CLASS: GASTROPODA (SNAILS)

SUBCLASS: PROSOBRANCHIA

Species: Cypraea tigris "Tiger Cowrie"

With mantle extended.


Species: Cypraea tigris "Tiger Cowrie"

With mantle retracted.


Conidae (Cone Shells)

Species: Conus textile "Textile Cone"

Highly venomous.


"Sea Hare"


Tridacna sp. "Giant Clam"

ORDER: SCLERACTINA (STONY CORALS)

Porites sp.

PHYLUM: CHORDATA

CLASS: CHONDRICHTHYES (CARTILAGINOUS FISHES)

CLASS: REPTILIA

Carapace: 40 to 120 cm and highly domed. Green turtles are relatively common. They feed on seagrass and algae and breed in rookeries including Lady Elliot Island. They are more common at Heron Island where this photo was taken.

CLASS: AVES (BIRDS)

33--36 cm. The white-capped noddy is one of the world's most numerous species as anyone who has visited Lady Elliot can attest. The nest is a platform of leaves on a branch of a Pisonia or Pandanus tree. A clutch usually consists of a single egg. Their diet consists of anchovies, hardyheads, squid, and krill and the they may hunt in flocks containing up to 3000 birds.

Sterna anathetus "Bridled Tern"

42 cm. A brawn-backed tern with white forehead extending as a line over the eye. It has a black bill and black legs.

Phaethon rubricauda "Red-tailed Tropic Bird"

86 cm. Large whitish/pinkish seabird with a long red tail, short legs, and a bright red beak. Lady Elliot is a breeding ground for the endangered red-tailed tropic bird. Females usually produce a clutch of one egg (rarely two) which are incubated by both parents for about 40 days. Young are fed with fish from their parents' bills for a period of two to three months. In recent years, only one or two pairs have nested on LEI

Rallus philippensis "Buff-Banded Rail"

31 cm. Common rail with a short orange bill, with heavily barred plummage broken by a buff grey chest. Commonly found on the ground and rarely flies.

KINGDOM PLANTAE

Octoous bush has rigid, silver-hairy leaves and is a common shrubs bordering the beach. The small white flowers, the two sexes are on different plants, are on radiating branches with vaguely octopus-like coiled tips.