Port Phillip - Ecology

Ecology

Jellyfish are a familiar sight in Port Phillip, and its waters are home to species such as Australian Fur Seals, Bottlenose dolphins, Common dolphins, and Humpback whales. The smooth toadfish is one of the most common fishes in muddy areas. The bay has many endemic species including the bluedevil fish and fantastic sponge walls on the Lonsdale wall in the heads of the Bay. It also hosts breeding colonies of Australian Fur Seal.

Swan Bay, adjacent to Queenscliff is an important feeding ground for waterbirds and migratory waders. The Mud Islands, off Sorrento, are an important breeding habitat for White-faced Storm-Petrel, Silver Gull, Australian Pelican and Pacific Gull. Salt marshes in the northwestern sections of the bay, such as that in the Werribee Sewage Farm and the adjacent Spit Nature Conservation Reserve, are within the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site, listed as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, and the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot is found at three wintering sites with saltmarsh habitat around Port Phillip and the Bellarine Peninsula. A variety of seabirds, such as Australasian Gannets, nest on artificial structures in the bay.