Port Phillip Bay is certainly a very rich and diverse environment for marione
animals, also amphipods, and a lot of new species have been described from
there. As amphipods do not have pelagic larvae---the young develop in the brood
pouch or marsupium and hatch as miniature copies of the adult-- they often have
somewhat restricted distributions. Nevertheless, a figure of 90% endemism for
Port Phillip Bay is without much doubt vastly exaggerated. The amphipod fauna
of the bay is better known than that of other areas in the Bass Strait and
S.Australia in general, and the level of endemism will no doubt decrease as the
other areas are becoming better known.
Still only five bird species on my 2008 list, six if you count the feral
pigeons. These are three crows (Noprthern Raven, Hooded Crow and Magpie) and
two gulls (Great Black-backed and Herring). Amazing! But tomorrow I fly to
Holland for a long weekend, and there the list will grow quickly enough, even
though this is a family, not a birding, visit.
Wim
Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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