Mike Irvine is a ranger for Parks Victoria and he looks after Cape Conran Coastal Park.

Part of Mike’s role is to protect the marine sanctuary in the sea nearby and to protect the coastline. He takes people on tours of rock pools and explains about the creatures and plants that live there.

There are some rules when exploring rock pools

1. No running on the rocks - because you can fall over and hurt yourself.

2. Don’t put your hands where you can’t see them

This is to make sure you are safe and do not harm accidentally any creatures living in the rock pools.

There were four tides in a day - two low tides and two high tides.

Kelp or seaweed that is washed up on the shore is broken down in a week or two by sand hoppers - they hide under the kelp as birds and others animals like to feed on them.

Seaweed comes in brown green and red colours and some live in the rock pools and some live in the open sea.

The seaweed is so strong that the rocks they attach themselves to can get pulled up with the tide.

Most sea creatures that live in the rock pools move very slowly.

There are lots of shell creatures.

Some shell creatures use razor like tools to scrape the algae off the rocks to eat.

There are carnivorous shells which mean they eat other shells - they use a little drill looking tool to drill into the shell of other creatures and feed.

Rockpooling is a rewarding way to understand and appreciate the diversity and beauty of marine life.

For more information go to Parks Victoria website.