22 species found at Flinders Reef - Eastern side (SE of Aladdin's), off Cape Moreton, Southern Queensland.
Terry, Julie & David on this excursion comprising 1 x 68 minute & 1 x 62 minute dives in water depths of 14m to 19m. 12m viz, 21C water temp (cool for this time of year).
The Weather Gods were still smiling upon us so we decided to take Mischief out to Flinders Reef to see what we could find. We enjoyed a dead calm crossing of Moreton Bay but ran into short steep seas on the northern face of Moreton Island. Our concerns of inhospitable conditions on the eastern side of Flinders Reef because of this were unfounded although a small swell was running but happily no current. We decided to dive on a slightly deeper site to help mitigate the surge.
The species count was not high but we believe we have found an undescribed species of Halgerda new to our list.
Number of species sighted: 1st dive/2nd dive
*Species with highest specimen count.
Aegires flores -/1
Bornella anguilla 1/-
Chelidonura inornata 1/1
Chromodoris elisabethina 2/2
Chromodoris lochi 4/-
Dermatobranchus cf. primus 2/-
Doriprismatica atromarginata -/1
Goniobranchus roboi -/1
Halgerda cf. willeyi -/1
Halgerda sp. 2 1/- (New species)
Hexabranchus sanguineus 1/1
Hypselodoris jacksoni -/1
Hypselodoris maculosa 1/-
*Jorunna sp. 3 2/3
Mexichromis trilineata -/1
Phyllidia ocellata -/1
Phyllidiella lizae -/1
Phyllidiella pustulosa -/1
Phyllidiopsis fissurata -/1
Thorunna daniellae -/1
Thuridilla cf. gracilis 1/2
Thuridilla neona 2/-
Surface conditions - west towards the reef
Cape Moreton
Bornella anguilla
Chromodoris elisabethina
Chromodoris lochi
Hypselodoris maculosa
Phyllidiopsis fissurata
At the end of the reel
The substrate
Hexabranchus sanguineus - juvenile
Jorunna sp. 3
Phyllidia ocellata
Hypselodoris jacksoni
Goniobranchus roboi - juvenile
Halgerda cf. willeyi
Halgerda sp. 2 - new species
Dermatobranchus cf. primus
Thuridilla cf. gracilis
Thuridilla neona
Mexichromis trilineata
Aegires flores
Chelidonura inornata
