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Whales have been caught on camera enjoying a bit of 'me time' at a marine version of a day spa off the Gold Coast and it's all about the exfoliation, darling.

Griffith University whale researcher Dr Olaf Meynecke has for the first time documented how humpbacks use the tourist strip's golden sands to rid themselves of dead skin and irritating ocean hitchhikers.

Dr Meynecke didn't set out to uncover this. He and his colleagues were trying to shed light on the behaviour of competing pods of humpbacks that use Gold Coast waters to rest, breed and socialise.

But over two southerly migration seasons, in late 2021 and 2022, video-equipped sensors stuck to the back of a handful of whales captured five of them rolling around in the sand on the sea floor.

"They were doing these bizarre rolls, going fully on their back and on their side," the marine ecologist says.

"You could actually see the skin flying off. And then fish would come in and eat it. The fish were also picking skin off the whale, not just the floating skin."

The whales even seemed to seek out roughly the same area - about 10km from Main Beach, at a depth of 40-50 metres.

Dr Meynecke says he'll use this year's southerly migration to look for more evidence of the same behaviour and get samples of the sediment.

He thinks the area where the behaviour has been observed is likely to have a good mix of sand and fine rubble to help with the shedding process.

"If the skin stays on too long, then barnacles can settle. Obviously, they start very small, and while they are small they're easy to remove," Dr Meynecke says.

"But once they become bigger they are very hard to remove for the whale. They can get really quite big, and they are heavy and not good to have around because it impacts their movement."

The video footage also revealed another secret.

Just like humans, humpbacks appear to think time at the sandy day spa is an excellent way to get quality time with their friends or partners.

"The five individuals were doing this in a very similar context, in a socialising context," Dr Meynecke said.

"We had two whales that were swimming with each other for several hours. They clearly had a very good relationship and they were both rolling on the ground together and having a great time."

The phenomenon has been detailed in the journal Marine Science and Engineering.

© AAP 2023

With the lure of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Shayna Jack outsprinted a top-quality field to take out the women's 50m freestyle at the Australian Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast.

After the disappointment of losing to Mollie O'Callaghan in the 100m the night before, Jack touched the wall first in 24.45 secs on Tuesday ahead of Meg Harris (24.55) and Cate Campbell (24.88), who is eyeing a fifth Olympics appearance.

Determined not to repeat her errors from Monday, Jack set down the marker with Australian team selection just eight weeks away.

"Tonight was really good, it was nice to get my hand on the wall first," said the Queenslander.

"Last night was a bit disappointing because I made the wrong decisions, so it was nice to correct it and get my hand on the wall first.

"The women in Australia are the best in the world and it's great to have so many people from around Australia that we can verse at these competitions, see where we're at and then continue to progress forward to (World Championship) Trials.

"Since 2021 and me coming back every strategic plan has been building up to Paris, so every lesson learnt, every race and all those opportunities we get to practise and fine tune it's all leading up to that trials for Paris," she said.

Kaylee McKeown won the 100m backstroke in 57.90 beating O'Callaghan (58.42) and Jaclyn Barclay (1:01: 31), while Jenna Forrester took out the the 400 IM in 4:35:05.

In the 200m butterfly, Elizabeth Dekkers powered her way to victory in 2:06:55, beating Brianna Throssell (2:07:08) and Emma McKeon (2:09:40).

Abbey Harkin (1:07:077) was victorious in the 100m breaststroke, followed by Jenna Strauch (1:08:16) and Talara-Jade Dixon (1:08:60).

In the men, 19-year-old Sam Short, who had clinched the men's 400m freestyle 24 hours earlier by going quicker than Australian all-time great Grant Hackett, was ultra impressive again.

Short took out the 1500m in style, delivering a sub 15 with a time of 14:58.90.

"I've never gone sub 15 (minutes) untapered, I did 60 kms last week, three main sets," said Short, adding he was pleasantly happy with his early form.

"In 48 hours I've done two solid 400s (freestyle) and 200 (freestyle) this morning. It's been a big 48 hours and to go sub 15 after that, I'll take it.

"It was a surprise, I knew I could go a very good time, I've been training really well, I didn't think I'd PB," he said.

Kai Taylor clinched the 200m freestyle in 1:46:65 while Zac Stubblety-Cook added the 200m breaststroke title to his 100m win in a time of 2:09:03.

Ben Armbruster, who turned disappointment into triumph in the men's 50m butterfly on Monday after being disqualified in the heats but was re-instated into the final, was victorious again.

Armbruster won the 50m backstroke in 25.27 ahead of Mark Nikolaev (25.43) and Bradley Woodward (25.44).

With the event doubling as Australian team selection for the Para Swimming World Championships to be held in Manchester from July 31 to August 6, dual Paralympian Katja Dedekind claimed two gold medals to book her spot.

The Australian team for the World Championships will be named on Thursday.

© AAP 2023

A public health alert has been issued for the fatal Australian bat lyssavirus after a flying fox was found with the disease on the Gold Coast.

Anyone who came into contact with the animal found at the Southern Beaches Community Garden in Tugun should seek urgent medical assistance, Gold Coast Public Health said on Tuesday.

The sick bat was found hanging low in a tree in the garden on April 11.

"The Public Health Unit has contacted those people who reported the bat, as well as those who cared for it, to determine if they were scratched or bitten," said Vicki Slinko of Gold Coast Public Health.

"Once the bat was rescued, it was only handled by trained and vaccinated carers," she said.

Dr Slinko said bats should not be handled by members of the public under any circumstances, even if they appeared to be dead.

"Only people who are trained and appropriately vaccinated should handle bats."

The virus is potentially deadly to humans and is part of a group that includes rabies. It is regarded as endemic among Australian bats.

The health unit said three cases of human infection of lyssavirus have been recorded in Queensland.

All three were fatal after patients were bitten or scratched by a bat.

© AAP 2023