Biodiversity Strategy - Gosford City Council - NSW Government

Figure 6.11 Weedy Seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) ( Sam Degabriele).
Rocky coastlines
Gosford's rocky reefs and intertidal rock platforms contain a high diversity of invertebrate and
fish communities. Whilst many of these habitats have been studied for academic purposes,
there is no real inventory of species for Gosford. Given the recorded sightings of threatened and
endangered species along the Gosford coastline, this data gap is very significant and needs to
be bridged is these species are to be protected in the area.
The University of Newcastle produced a report entitled Monitoring of Central Coast Rocky Reefs
(Gladstone and Owen, 2002). The report presents the results of the Monitoring of Central Coast
Rocky Reefs project for 2002. The major findings of the monitoring are summarised below:
Fish assemblages of near-estuarine reefs differed from reference reefs in Brisbane Water.
Density of all fishes was less at Lion Island, compared to reference reefs in both sampling
periods (autumn and spring). There were 122 recorded species of fishes representing 39
families and two classes (Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes).
Thirty-seven species of mobile macroinvertebrates (representing two phyla, molluscs and
echinoderms) were monitored over the autumn and spring periods. The majority of species were
uncommon. Assemblages of mobile macroinvertebrates in near-estuarine reefs also differed
from reference reefs in Brisbane Water.
Whilst assemblages of encrusting benthic organisms near-estuarine reefs generally differed
from reference reefs in Brisbane Water, some showed no difference (filamentous algae and
sponges). The study monitored 146 taxa (representing 7 phyla).
Biodiversity - Technical Report Page 146