The Best of Australia Book Gallery

Spotted wobbegong (Orectolobus maculatus)

Spotted wobbegong (Orectolobus maculatus), under school of Slender cardinalfish (Rhabdamia gracilis). Looks sluggish, but can be agile and temperamental, as many unwary divers have found. North Solitary Island, New South Wales, Australia

© Mark Spencer/AUSCAPE All rights reserved

Animal, Animal Portrait, Attractive Skin, Australian, Best Of Australia, Biodiversity, Carpet Shark, Chondrichthyes, Common Carpet Shark, Common Catshark, Fauna, Front View, Great Barrier Reef Species, Harmless, Japan, Large Group Of Animals, Many Animals, Miispecies, Mixed Species, Nocturnal, Numerous, Nurse Shark, One Animal, Orectolobidae, Orectolobiformes, Orectolobus, Ovoviviparous, Pacific Islands, Sea Life, Shark, Skin Flaps, Tassel Shark, Ugly, Underwater, Unusual, Weird, Wildlife, Wobbegong, Wobbegongs

Wandering sea anemone (Nemanthus sp.)

Wandering sea anemone (Nemanthus sp.). These sea anemones attach to sea whips, hydroids and black corals, often in large numbers. Although found in deeper water as far south as Jervis Bay on the NSW coast, they are of tropical origin, the larval form being brought down by currents. They can release themselves from their host and wander through the water column to find a suitable new perching place. North Rock near Fish Soup, Solitary Islands Marine Park, New South Wales, Australia

© Mark Spencer/AUSCAPE All rights reserved

Abandoned cement works that operated between 1900 and 1995

Abandoned cement works that operated between 1900 and 1995, providing raw materials from its own quarries and making world-quality cement. The first cement works in Australia led to the establishment and naming of the town of Portland. The industrial landscape is regarded as important heritage for the State, as a long-term, single-industry town. Portland near Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia

© Nick Rains/AUSCAPE All rights reserved