Terry, Gary and David on this excursion consisting of 1 x afternoon dive of 84 minutes and 1 x night dive of 77 minutes in water depths from 15 m to 18 m. 12 m viz, 23 C water temp and no surge.
It has been quite some time since we last undertook a night dive on the offshore reefs of the Sunshine Coast. Terry floated the idea and we jumped at it. His suggestion that we try Nudi Ledge was an inspired choice. Conditions were absolutely perfect with calm seas, very little swell and a moonlit night. Currimundi Reef is certainly back to its best with the diversity of slugs we are sighting. The find of the excursion is no doubt the pair of extremely large Mariona rubra. When the focus is on searching for small slugs in the 5 - 20 mm range it comes as a complete surprise - no, astonishment, to realise that the piece of soft coral you think you are looking at is actually a living slug. It also takes a conscious effort to control the breathing rate as the recognition sinks in and the manoeuvring for photographing it takes place. This is a new species to add to our list. The other find of note is the large number of Atys semistriatus that had emerged from the crevices to feed after dark.
Number of each species sighted: 1st dive/2nd dive
* Species with highest specimen count
Aegires villosus -/1
Ardeadoris sp. 2 3/3
Atys semistriatus -/8
Bornella anguilla 1/2
Chelidonura inornata 6/2
Chromodoris elisabethina 3/2
Chromodoris kuiteri 2/2
Chromodoris striatella -/2
Dermatobranchus oculus 1/-
* Dermatobranchus ornatus 3/13
Dermatobranchus sp. 7 1/-
Dermatobranchus tuberculatus 1/-
Discodoris cebuensis 1/-
Doriprismatica atromarginata 2/8
Elysia pusilla -/1
Goniobranchus geometricus 2/1
Goniobranchus reticulatus 1/-
Goniobranchus splendidus 1/3
Goniobranchus tinctorius 1/-
Glossodoris vespa 3/1
Hexabranchus sanguineus juvenile 1/-
Hypselodoris bullockii 1/-
Hypselodoris jacksoni 2/3
Hypselodoris obscura 1/-
Marionia rubra 2/- New Species
Nembrotha purpureolineata 2/-
Phyllidia ocellata 1/-
Phyllidia picta -/1
Phyllidia varicosa 2/-
Phyllidiella annulata -/1
Phyllidiella lizae -/1
Phyllidiella pustulosa 1/1
Pteraeolidia semperi 4/2
Roboastra luteolineata -/1
Sagaminopteron ornatum -/2
Trinchesia diversicolor 1/-
Tritoniopsis alba 1/-
Bornella anguilla
Chelidonura inornata - tailing
Hypselodoris jacksoni
Chromodoris elisabethina
Surface conditions
Marionia rubra - New species - with shrimps
Dermatobranchus oculus
Phyllidia varicosa
Hexabranchus sanguineus - juvenile
Chromodoris kuiteri
Phyllidia ocellata
Pteraeolidia semperi
Goniobranchus reticulatus
Glossodoris vespa
Goniobranchus splendidus
Phyllidia picta
Sagaminopteron ornatum
Phyllidiella annulata
Ardeadoris sp. 2
Atys semistriatus - feeding after sunset
Substrate - heavy cover of soft corals
Looking along the ledge
Approaching Goniobranchus geometricus
Goniobranchus geometricus - up close
Discodoris cebuensis
Nembrotha purpureolineata
Hypselodoris bullockii
Dermatobranchus ornatus
Tritoniopsis alba
Marionia rubra - compare to hand size
Marionia rubra
Aegires villosus
Chromodoris striatella
Roboastra luteolineata
