Underwater treasures

Rocked by waves, I’m peering through a partly fogged snorkel mask at an eastern blue groper. The magnificent topaz fish is browsing the sea floor with its peglike teeth and seems oblivious of the snorkellers in the narrow embayment. Here at Clovelly Beach, one of the most popular snorkelling spots in Sydney, the creatures have become accustomed to people.

Naturally inquisitive and tame, gropers are particularly vulnerable to spearfishing; however, the blue groper, which can grow to a metre in length, is banned from commercial sale and has been protected from spearfishing since 1969.

As I venture farther around the rocky mouth of the inlet, an octopus peers back at me with eerily intelligent eyes then slithers away. It’s an unnerving yet rewarding encounter with a creature deemed one of the most intelligent on the planet.

With one of the biggest coastlines and some of the most varied oceanic ecosystems on Earth, Australia has much to offer the underwater adventurer. A quarter of the nation’s fish species