Terry & David on this single shore entry dive of 107 minutes in water depths to 5.5m. Viz up to 3m, 21C water temp.
Our original intention was to dive the Pumicestone Passage but reduced visibility dissuaded us from the attempt due to the concern of inadvertent contact with some of the large population of Stone Fish and other Scorpaenidae known to be there. Plan B was to dive the Mooloolah River so off we went just missing the run up to high tide but experiencing acceptable viz nevertheless. We entered the water at the very end car park towards the river mouth. The recent channel profiling of the river bed has not seriously affected the habitat we explore closer to shore so most of the usual species were sighted with one significant exception. There were no Unidentia angelvaldesi to be seen whatsoever. Most strange given the high numbers of previous dives.
Number of species sighted
* Species with highest specimen count
Cratena lineata 1
Dermatobranchus cf. primus 2
Facelina sp. 3 1
Goniobranchus daphne 9
Goniodoridella sp. 1 9
Hypselodoris obscura 3
Noumea simplex 1
Phidiana bourailli 1
* Pteraeolidia ianthina 34
Trinchesia sibogae 6
Goniodoridella sp. 1
Noumea simplex
Trinchesia sibogae
Dermatobranchus cf. primus
Goniobranchus daphne
Pteraeolidia ianthina
Cratena lineata
Facelina sp. 3
Facelina sp. 3
Phidiana bourailli
