Terry, Gary and David on this excursion consisting of 1 x 85 minute and 1 x 75 minute dives in water depths from 10 m to 13 m. 20 m viz, 21 C water temp and some surge that gradually built during the second dive.
With a change coming through on Wednesday and expected to last until after the week-end we took advantage of the excellent conditions and motored a little further up the coast to the Hancock Shoal. Our last trip up here netted 51 species but we had 6 divers searching that time and overall we have noticed a downturn in the number of species this winter. Good finds included: Discodoris cebuensis, Discodoris coerulescens (only the 2nd sighting), Tenellia sp. 3 and Aplysia parvula.
Number of each species sighted: 1st dive/2nd dive
* Species with highest specimen count
Aplysia parvula 2/1
Ardeadoris sp. 2 2/3
Chromodoris sp. 1 1/-
Discodoris cebuensis 1/-
Discodoris coerulescens 1/-
* Doriprismatica atromarginata 10/8
Flabellina sp. 1 1/-
Glossodoris vespa 2/3
Goniobranchus geometricus 1/-
Goniobranchus leopardus 2/3
* Goniobranchus splendidus 12/6
Gymnodoris alba 1/1
Hexabranchus sanguineus -/3
Hypselodoris jacksoni 2/1
Hypselodoris maritima -/1
Hypselodoris obscura 7/5
Hypselodoris sagamiensis 1/-
Hypselodoris whitei 3/1
Miamira magnifica -/1
Phyllidia coelestis -/1
Phyllidia ocellata -/1
Phyllidia varicosa 1/1
Phyllidiella pustulosa -/1
Tenellia sp. 3 -/1
Thorunna daniellae 2/-
Thuridilla carlsoni -/1
Thuridilla splendens 2/2
Tritoniopsis elegans 3/-
Getting ship-shape
Tritoniopsis elegans - a feeding pair on soft coral
Thuridilla splendens
Discodoris coerulescens
Flabellina sp. 1
Thorunna daniellae
Goniobranchus geometricus
Discodoris cebuensis
Hypselodoris sagamiensis
Hypselodoris whitei
Happy with their critter finds?
Emu Mountain - centre
Surface conditions
Miamira magnifica
Glossodoris vespa
Hypselodoris maritima
Aplysia parvula
Tenellia sp. 3
Hexabranchus sanguineus
Phyllidia coelestis
Discodoris coerulescens
Aplysia parvula
Chromodoris sp. 1
Goniobranchus leopardus - feeding
on dark purple sponge
Hypselodoris obscura
Gymnodoris alba
Thuridilla carlsoni
Bommies
Ledges
Phyllidia varicosa
Doriprismatica atromarginata
Ardeadoris sp. 2
Hypselodoris whitei - a pair
Goniobranchus splendidus - orange colouration
Goniobranchus leopardus - a pair
Phyllidiella pustulosa
Discodoris coerulescens
Goniobranchus geometricus
Aplysia parvula
Hypselodoris obscura
