Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Species List: La Balsa, Mooloolah River, Sunshine Coast, 22-03-2014

16 species found on a single night shore dive at La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, Sunshine Coast.
Julie, Terry & David on this 130 minute dive in water depths to 5.5m. Variable viz to 2m & 26C water temp.
The type of substrate we had observed in previous dives at this site convinced us that a night dive would be rewarding and we were not disappointed. Entering the water at about half flood tide, just after 8:00 pm, we worked upstream and were not overly bothered by the tidal current. From this excursion we have added 3 species new to our list (see below) two of these as a direct result of the nocturnal timing of our search. Many thanks to Julie for her perseverance with the navigation, keeping us all together and leading the dive with the safety float not to mention finding many of the species.

* Species with highest specimen count

Austrocylichna sp. 1 (shell) 1
Chelidonura fulvipunctata 1
Eubranchus sp. 10 1 (our 565th species)
Euselenops luniceps 2 (our 566th species)
Flabellina rubrolineata 1
Goniobranchus daphne 4
Hoplodoris nodulosa 2
Hydatina physis 1
Philinopsis gardineri 1 (our 567th species)
Philinopsis pilsbryi 1
Philinopsis speciosa 2
Philinopsis taronga 1
Pteraeolidia ianthina 5
Trinchesia sibogae 1
Trinchesia diversicolor 1
*Unidentia angelvaldesi 21

Austrocylichna sp. 1

Philinopsis speciosa

Euselenops luniceps (our 566th species)

Hoplodoris nodulosa

Chelidonura fulvipunctata

Goniobranchus daphne

Philinopsis gardineri (our 567th species)

Philinopsis taronga

Philinopsis taronga

Hydatina physis

Unidentia angelvaldesi

Trinchesia diversicolor

Philinopsis speciosa

Philinopsis speciosa

Euselenops luniceps (our 566th species)

Trinchesia sibogae

Hoplodoris nodulosa

Eubranchus sp. 10 (our 565th species)

Eubranchus sp. 10

Eubranchus sp. 10 

Eubranchus sp. 10 - cerata detail

Eubranchus sp. 10