Julie and Terry on this single shore entry dive of 99 minutes. Maximum depth 6.0 m, 24 C water temperature and 1 m viz. Stupid David left his weights at home so had to sit on the bank and watch bubbles and dream of missed opportunities. Granted he did have other things on his mind that day with his beloved Mischief being sold and shifted up to Kepple Bay by the new owner.
The viz was not good but this in no way hindered the slug search. Two new species were discovered in situ by our intrepid hunters - Plocamopherus sp. 1 and Noumeaella sp. 1. Additionally a small clump of bryozoan was collected and four new species crawled out of that over the subsequent 48 hours - Okenia sp.1, Colinatys sp. 1, Retusa sp. 3 and Kaloplocampus sp. 1 - keeping David busy and being some compensation for the missed immersion. This brings the total for our survey area to 630 species.
Number of species sighted
* Species with highest specimen count
Analogium amakusanum - 1
Chelidonura fulvipunctata - 2
Colinatys sp. 1 - 1 New species (formerly Diaphana)
Cratena lineata - 3
Doto sp. 3 - 8
* Flabellina angelvaldesi - 20+
Flabellina rubrolineata - 2
Gymnodoris sp. 10 - 1
Haminoea sp. 9 - 2
Hypselodoris obscura - 1
Kaloplocamus sp. 1 - 2 New species
Noumea simplex - 1
Noumeaella sp. 1 - 1 New species
Okenia cf. mija - 1
Okenia sp. 1 - 1 New species
Philinopsis gardineri - 1
Plocamopherus sp. 1 - 1 New species
Pteraeolidia semperi - 5
Retusa sp. 3 - 1 New species
Trinchesia cf. yamasui - 4
Starting the dive
Surface conditions - 'diver below' flag on the float
Analogium amakusanum
Hypselodoris obscura
Flabellina angelvaldesi
Noumea simplex
Plocamopherus sp. 1
Pteraeolidia semperi
Flabellina rubrolineata
Cratena lineata
Philinopsis gardineri
Noumeaella sp. 1
Okenia sp. 1
Colinatys sp. 1
Okenia cf. mija
Haminoea sp. 9
Retusa sp. 3
Chelidonura fulvipunctata - colour form
Chelidonura fulvipunctata - another colour form
Plocamopherus sp. 1
Doto sp. 3
Kaloplocamus sp. 1