Julie, Terry, David and Gary on this excursion consisting of 1 x 77 minute and 1 x 59 minute dives in water depths up to 18.5 m, up to 15 m viz, 21 C water temp.
After making our way to Old Woman Island we found many surfers surfing which put us all off so we steamed over to The Trench. It has been a while since we dived here so off we went. The wind direction placed us on the south side of the gutter.
As we descended the chain with my eyes sweeping the substrate there in a groove was Aegires minor. I was pleasently surprised since this species is very tropical. We never thought we would find it in our region. Another species we thought we would never see here is Phyllidiopsis shireenae with our second sighting. A little blue juvenile Nembrotha purpureolineata has us all excited as well.
Number of each species sighted: 1st dive/2nd dive
* Species with highest specimen count
Aegires gardineri 1/-
Aegires minor 1/- NEW SPECIES
Bornella anguilla 1/-
Cadlinella ornatissima -/1
Chromodoris elisabethina 2/3
Chromodoris kuiteri 2/3
Chromodoris strigata 1/-
Cratena simba -/1
Dermatobranchus ornatus 1/-
Dermatobranchus sp. 8 -/1
Dermatobranchus tuberculatus -/1
Doriprismatica atromarginata 13/3
Glossodoris rufomarginata 2/2
Goniobranchus sp. 6 1/-
Goniobranchus splendidus 4/2
Hexabranchus sanguineus 1/-
Hypselodoris emma 1/-
Hypselodoris jacksoni 3/3
Hypselodoris obscura 2/2
Hypselodoris sp. 2 1/1
Hypselodoris sp. 4 – 1/-
Nembrotha purpureolineata juvenile -/1
Phyllidia ocellata 1/2
Phyllidia picta 1/-
Phyllidia varicosa -/1
Phyllidiella annulata 2/-
Phyllidiella pustulosa 1/2
Phyllidiopsis burni 1/1
Phyllidiopsis shireenae -/1 Second sighting
Pleurolidia juliae 2/-
Pteraeolidia semperi 1/-
Tambja tenuilineata -/1
* Thuridilla splendens 13/6
Tritoniopsis elegans -/1
Tyrannodoris luteolineata 2/1
Verconia simplex 1/-
Verconia sp. 2 1/-
About to leave harbour
Surface conditions looking back to Mooloolaba
Substrate
Hypselodoris obscura
Substrate
Hypselodoris jacksoni
Goniobranchus sp. 6
Thuridilla splendens
Aegires minor NEW SPECIES
Pleurolidia juliae
Phyllidiopsis burni
Chromodoris elisabethina
Thuridilla splendens
Phyllidiella annulata
Dermatobranchus ornatus
Pteraeolidia semperi
Hexabranchus sanguineus
Dermatobranchus sp. 8
Flabellina rubrolineata
Phyllidiella pustulosa
Phyllidia ocellata
Goniobranchus splendidus
Cratena simba
Phyllidiopsis shireenae Second sighting
Doriprismatica atromarginata
Cadlinella ornatissima
Pleurolidia juliae
Verconia simplex
Hypselodoris sp. 2
Tritoniopsis elegans
Dermatobranchus tuberculatus
Substrate lots of soft corals
Hypselodoris emma
Glossodoris rufomarginata
Verconia sp. 2
Aegires gardineri
