Victoria's marine habitats
The marine habitats found within Victoria's marine boundary are the result of climatic and geomorphological processes. The western Victorian coast bears the full brunt of the southern ocean storms and experiences some of the highest wave energy in the world. The eastern coast is sheltered from these storms by Tasmania and the shallow waters and islands of Bass Strait, and receives some of the warmer currents that flow south along the eastern Australian sea board.
Many of the features of the current coastline and sea floor reflect the cumulative effects of processes that began with the breaking up of Gondwanaland 50 million years ago, especially changes in sea level over the last 100,000 years. The 30 or more bays, inlets and estuaries along the coast were formed by the inundation of coastal river valleys after the end of the last Ice Age.
The Victorian marine boundary extends three nautical miles offshore with the depth varying from 30 metres to just over 100 metres.
It is comprised of a variety of habitats including:
 |
A characteristic rocky shore community is present where rock is exposed at the shoreline. In Victoria this habitat occurs mainly on rocky headlands from Portland to Wilsons Promontory, with some minor occurrences in the far east. |
 |
Victoria’s subtidal reefs occur either as extensions of intertidal rocky shores or as isolated offshore reefs. They can take the form of banks of stones or cobbles, large underwater boulders, cascading shelves of rock, or as canyons, caves and arches carved out of the seafloor. |
 |
Seagrasses meadows cover the seafloor in many of our bays and inlets and also occur in sheltered patches along the open coast. |
 |
A distinct marine community inhabits the water column above the seafloor. Unlike the air above land, the very medium of the marine environment supports a multitude of life. |
 |
Beaches and soft substrates form a distinctive group of marine habitats with their own suites of organisms. |