Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park includes an escarpment which is part of an ancient coastline. The park includes representative examples of habitats and ecosystems of the Spencer Gulf Shelf. Seasonal winds and ocean currents interact with seafloor features to produce a number of small seasonal upwellings that are important for biological productivity. The area is noted for its diverse seafloor communities, productivity hotspots and aggregations of marine life associated with the seasonal upwellings of nutrient-rich water.

Western Kangaroo Island is located off Kangaroo Island, about 230 kilometres south-west of Adelaide and adjacent to the South Australia Kangaroo Island Marine Park. It extends south to the edge of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone and covers 57,944 square kilometres. The park has National Park, Multiple Use, Special Purpose and Special Purpose (Trawl) zones. – Parks Australia

Western Kangaroo Island ranges from 40 to 154 metres depth, with an average depth of 110 metres. The majority of the park (98%) falls within the rariphotic zone (70-200 metres) [view on map].

Based on annotations from publicly available seafloor imagery (Squidle+), the five most dominant seafloor categories in this Park are:

• Mesophotic: no public imagery available
• Rariphotic: unidentified bare substrata (66%), sponges (24%), mixed invertebrate community (5%), non-coral cnidaria (2%), bryozoans (2%)