Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Species List: Flinders Reef, East, 14-12-2013


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