What is the Bonney upwelling?

The Bonney coast upwelling is a predictable, seasonal upwelling bringing cold nutrient rich water to the sea surface and supporting regionally high productivity and high species diversity in an area where such sites are relatively rare and mostly of smaller scale.

Where is the Bonney upwelling?

The Bonney Upwelling, part of the Great Southern Australian Coastal Upwelling System, stretches from Portland, Victoria, past Robe toward Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

Why is the blue whale called Balaenoptera musculus?

Nomenclature. The genus name, Balaenoptera, means winged whale while the species name, musculus, could mean “muscle” or a diminutive form of “mouse”, possibly a pun by Carl Linnaeus when he named the species in Systema Naturae.

How big is a blue whales spout?

30 feet high
The spout of the blue whale can reach more than 30 feet high. Females are bigger than males. The lengthiest blue whales are 110 feet, but they are more commonly between 70 and 80 feet.

Why is it called the Great Australian Bite?

For about 40,000 years, the Australian Aboriginal people, particularly the Spinifex and Wangai, hunted along the Great Australian Bight coastline and Nullarbor Plains. However, it was not until 1672 that the first European, Francois Thijssen, encountered the Bight when he sailed along its western edge.

What ocean is off the coast of South Australia?

the southern Indian Ocean
To the south it fronts the Great Australian Bight, a marginal sea of the southern Indian Ocean (called the Southern Ocean in Australia).

How many blue whales are left in the world 2021?

25,000
While its believed that blue whales in the Southern hemisphere are seeing an ‘astonishing’ rebound in recent years, their worldwide population isn’t widely believed to number more than 25,000 as of 2021.

Can a human fit in a whale’s mouth?

Though a humpback could easily fit a human inside its huge mouth—which can reach around 10 feet—it’s scientifically impossible for the whale to swallow a human once inside, according to Nicola Hodgins of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a U.K. nonprofit.

Why is it called a bight?

The term is derived from Old English byht (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”) and is not etymologically related to “bite” (Old English bītan).

Was Antarctica connected to Australia?

Australia began to separate from Antarctica 85 million years ago. The separation started slowly — at a rate of only a few millimetres a year — accelerating to the present rate of 7 cm a year. Australia completely separated from Antarctica about 30 million years ago.