Southern Oceans

Despite the cooler temperatures, the waters of Australia's southern oceans are rich with an abundance of marine wildlife.

The coastal waters of the southern ocean are home to a diverse array of animals, including the elegant Weedy and Leafy Sea Dragons and the odd looking Pineapple Fish. Not only does this fish look vaguely like a heavily armoured pineapple, they also have a small light on their lower jaw for communicating with other Pineapple Fish and for finding prey in the dark.

At Sydney aquarium there are many exhibits in the Southern Oceans section, containing everything from octopus, to moray eels and a colony of Little Penguins. In addition to these displays, we also have the huge Open Ocean Oceanarium, which showcases a wide variety of sharks, rays, cods and other fishes which might be encountered in the oceans off the coast of Australia. Find out more about this oceanarium in the Sydney and Surrounds section, or read on.

One of the features of this oceanarium is a pair of underwater viewing tunnels, which create a completely immersive experience. Watch in awe as huge Grey Nurse Sharks, turtles and Giant Stingrays swim majestically overhead.

The Grey Nurse Shark is one of Sydney Aquarium's flagship species. Highly endangered in the wild, this magnificent shark was once hunted ruthlessly under the false impression that it was a potential man-eater because of its large size and mouthful of protruding, snarly-looking teeth. On close examination, however, these teeth are perfectly adapted for holding onto slippery fish, its main prey.

Aside from the many other species of fishes and turtles which you will see, this oceanarium offers a rare glimpse of this disappearing species.