I managed to get a few days diving in and around Edithburg in South Australia late last year and after a day of looking finally found a pair of what have to be Australia's most exquisite underwater creatures – the very special and quite unique Leafy Sea Dragon (Glauerts Seadragon).
Edithburg is on the south-east tip of South Australia's Yorke Peninsular and is one of the best places to see and photograph "Leafy's" as just off from the town's main jetty and in less than 10m of water is an area of thick sea grass which provides the perfect habitat.
The sea grass allows the Leafy's to blend in almost completely, plus a rich source of the small crustaceans that together with plankton forms their main food source.
Only found only in the waters of Southern Australia and the south-west of Western Australia, Leafy Sea Dragons are very territorial, although they will move away from their habitat for up to several hundred metres from its habitat, they use their very strong sense of direction to return.
The underwater conditions were not too good at the time because of recent storms, which meant the visibility was not the best, but it was a great encounter when we found a male and female pair, with the male carrying a large number of eggs.
You can see the Leafy Sea Dragon image gallery from the trip on this LINK and I will be adding some detailed location pages on the Edithburg area soon as I get chance…
:)
