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Bakkies, the elephant seal, has returned to the Cape
Cape Town's shores have long played host to some fascinating (and rather large) visitors from the South Atlantic Ocean: Southern elephant seals! Most recently, a repeat visitor, called Bakkies, has returned.
The Two Oceans Aquarium family waddled for the African penguin
On International African Penguin Awareness Day, our Two Oceans Aquarium family waddled together in support of the African penguin!
Orbicular batfish
The orbicular batfish is a large, disc-shaped fish with a flattened dusky silver body. Its anal and dorsal fins are symmetrical, giving the adult batfish a spade-like appearance. Its dorsal, anal and tail fins are translucent yellow with black margins, and its pectoral fins are yellow.
Bluefin gurnard
Bluefin gurnards are a common bottom-dwelling fish that is a common throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Sergeant major
The sergeant majors are small, oval damselfish. It has a grey body with a yellow dorsal area.
Steentjie
The steentjie (Spondyliosoma emarginatum) is a blue-grey fish that has an oval-shaped body with several faint yellow horizontal stripes on its flanks and dark blue-grey fins. It has several sets of both incisors and a row of molars. They use this combination of teeth to pick up bottom-dwelling invertebrates and crush their shells. As they mature they become more omnivorous and will graze on algae. During spring and summer months, male steentjies will take on brighter blue and yellow colours and will construct nests in the sand. Once spawning has taken place, the males will remain at the nest to guard the eggs until they hatch. The steentjie occurs in large shoals above shallow, rocky reefs on the coasts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal.
Hottentot
The hottentot is a small bronze-grey seabream with small dark fins that occurs along the coast of Angola, Namibia, and the South African West Coast to Cape Point.
John brown
The janbruin is a robust-bodied sea bream with an orange-brown body and deep blue eyes set into a blue-brown face.
Dassie
The dassie is a deep-bodied, oval-shaped fish with a silver body, black patch on its tail peduncle and red-pink tint to the tips of its fins. Juveniles also have several dark vertical bars on each side.
Panga Fish
The panga (Pterogymnus laniarius) is pink with horizontal stripes made up of small blue spots on its sides. It has a prominent mouth with fleshy lips and large canines. These canines help it to prey on small crustaceans, squid and other small fish. Small hairs on its lips allow it to feed over soft sediment without swallowing any. It inhabits rocky reefs and sandy bottomed shores along the coast of southern Namibia and South Africa.
Carpenter
The carpenter is a small, elongated sea bream with a silver-pink body and faint, pale blue spots arranged in several horizontal bands along its sides.
Frogfish
Frogfish are so named because their bodies and fins are covered with wart-like bumps.