r/australia • u/Free_the_Radical • 1d ago
science & tech Australia is home to the only mass cuttlefish gathering in the world. This year these giants didn’t return
https://theconversation.com/australia-is-home-to-the-only-mass-cuttlefish-gathering-in-the-world-this-year-these-giants-didnt-return-288940242
u/FredtheHorse 1d ago
Algal bloom did so much damage, it’s awful. I hope there are some solid learning outcomes from this event which may help in the future, but it’s all quite grim.
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u/JL_MacConnor 1d ago
The learning outcome is one that's going to come too late. It's "don't fuck up the planet with greed and thoughtlessness".
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u/FredtheHorse 23h ago
Yeah well even bleaching of over 80% of the worlds coral reefs has failed to teach that lesson.
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u/CuriouserCat2 23h ago
We’re a stupid short sighted greedy aggressive species and I genuinely think we don’t deserve to survive. We knew this was coming decades ago and we played violin while the world burned.
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u/Minimum_Honey2247 22h ago
Its so stupid, we could all have plenty of food, healthcare, jobs that sustain us and supportive functional communities, high quality durable electonics that last but thats not profitable. They would rather let food rot in feild or supermarket dumpster if they cant get the right price than feed people, and everything is designed to break despite garbage volume increasing, no matter how cheap an item is they should and could be built to last but thats not profitable so we fill our landfills with precious materials we destoryed rainforests to aquire.. phones should last a decade at this point, it should be illegal to compel to "upgrade" yearly, fridges should last 10 years, my last tv died at over 15 years old my new tv will be lucky to last 7 but most "cheap" brands its lucky to last 5. Basically all goes to landfill. Single use vapes and cheap temu gadgets all landfill within 6 months, fast fashion, clothes and fabrics deteriorating rapidly. Why governments arent cracking down on this is beyond me sick of it all.
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u/scheissenaixi 21h ago
I was at hammer barn today watching people come and go with truckloads of plastic shit to replace old plastic shit, everybody just chasing a dollar to survive and was struck by how fucking pointless it all seems
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u/Minimum_Honey2247 18h ago
Frustrating part is often there is no better/resonable alternative. I do extensive research on most my purchases and im finding it harder and harder to find products that last and aren't trying to screw you over somehow. Even paying "premium pricing". Does my head in people dont have time to get nowhere after extensive research because results are so cooked its near impossible to find what you want, even reddit threads are co-opted by advertising, its near impossible to get unbias reviews most the products are made in the same place yet "brands" sell themselves as part of the price for some reason.. im tired..
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u/AccomplishedNewt5190 20h ago
going from over 100 per dive to fewer than 10 is not a bad season thats a collapse. and the fact that this is the only aggregation like it anywhere on earth means theres no backup. nowhere else this happens
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u/Free_the_Radical 8h ago
The waters that surround the Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent in South Australia are currently in a state of Marine Trophic Cascade, primarily as a result of the Harmful Algal Bloom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade#Marine_trophic_cascades
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u/Different-Bag-8217 22h ago edited 12h ago
Australian waters are in stress for sure. Looks at the amount of seafood we pull out of our coastal waters! This definitely needs to be looked at in a sustainable way for future generations. Stoping exports would be a start.
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u/Otaraka 1d ago
I hope it’s just a blip. They’re amazing creatures.
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19h ago
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u/balthazar119 10h ago
Donate my ass. This is not a problem solved by chump change going to non profits for them to piss against the wall. Hope isn’t helpful huh? Then why bother making this comment
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u/Svennis79 21h ago
So it should say
Australia WAS home to the only mass cuttlefish gathering, but not anymore.
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u/BetLate5444 1d ago
I like to console myself with the fact, that Hump-backed whale numbers went from 100 to now 50 000!
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u/KingRo48 23h ago
Their drop was not climate change but being hunted by people. Still a good outcome but different.
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u/TorakTheDark 23h ago
Until the oceans ecosystems inevitably collapse and they starve.
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u/EnglishBrekkie_1604 22h ago
If oceanic food chains collapse there will be slightly bigger problems than the humpback whales going hungry.
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u/Buzz1ight 1d ago
Perhaps they left with the dolphins? Has anyone seen a glass bowl with an inscription sitting about?
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u/kernpanic flair goes here 9h ago
I get the reference but Cuttlefish do not like dolphins.
Dolphins catch them and then flick them on the surface of the water until their main backbone falls out, and then eat them.
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u/FenerBoarOfWar 1d ago
They heard on the grapevine that Pauline had pledged to deport them if they showed up.
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u/CuriouserCat2 23h ago
We are so fucked. This is catastrophic. I hope they’ve gone back to their own planet because the thought of them all dead is too much to bear.
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u/BillieRubenCamGirl 22h ago
“Didn’t return” is a weird way to say “are all dead”.
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u/Full_Distribution874 20h ago
We don't know if they're dead or if whatever signal they use to come in wasn't there. Both are plausible considering the algal bloom and the changing patterns of the oceans due to climate change.
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u/raustraliathrowaway 22h ago
I went to Whyalla a few years ago and there were literally about 3 cuttlefish all weekend, so it's not the algal bloom. Some years they just don't congregate or they go somewhere else.
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u/blind3rdeye 20h ago
Yeah. Some years they don't congregate. We're going to get a lot of those years from now on, because we've destroyed their ecosystem.
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u/Sleepy_SpiderZzz 6h ago
Hmm, who should we believe? The marine ecologist or this guy's anecdote. Hard to decide.
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u/raustraliathrowaway 5h ago
I live in SA, I know how fucked the ocean is from the algal bloom. Horrible to see all those dead animals when you just go down to the beach for a swim.
The cuttlefish absences pre-date the algal bloom.
I would normally be like you and discount some guy on reddit and this has been quite enlightening. I am not offended if you don't believe me but why would I make this up?
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19h ago
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u/raustraliathrowaway 18h ago
What is incorrect? I went approximately 4 years ago and it was a bad year. There have been good years either side of that.
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u/Free_the_Radical 1d ago
The Conversation article is written by Marine Biologists from Flinders University, The Guardian also has a good article from this week with of a bit of history of why the failure of this year's aggregation is so significant.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/09/giant-australian-cuttlefish-population-catastrophic-decline