Species List: La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, 3-08-2014

11 species sighted at La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast.

Julie and Terry on this single shore entry dive of 89 minutes in depths to 5.5m. 10m viz and 18C water temp.

Julie’s new drysuit arrived and she was champing at the bit to try it out, so with the boat temporarily out of action we headed off to La Balsa Park to try out the suit, oh and to look for nudibranchs of course!  A word of warning: when diving in a drysuit always make sure you have a buddy who does up your zip properly.   The visibility was lovely and perhaps a little too bright for some of the critters which seemed to be tucked away out of the glare. We covered a slightly different area this time and all of the usual suspects were there. We did notice that there was an increase in filamentous algae and it was very silty. The reason is not known as we had not had rain and the water is still cold.  Critter list follows.

Number of species sighted
* Species with highest specimen count

Analogium amakusanum 2
Doto sp. 3 1

Goniobranchus daphne 5
Goniodoridella savignyi 2
Goniodoridella sp. 1 4
Hypselodoris obscura 2
Phidiana bourailli 1

Pleurobranchus weberi 4
Pteraeolidia ianthina 10
Trinchesia yamasui 1
*Unidentia angelvaldesi 14

 Analogium amakusanum

 Trinchesia yamasui

 Pleurobranchus weberi

 Substrate - Julie in the new dry suit

 Unidentia angelvaldesi

 Goniodoridella sp. 1

Phidiana bourailli

Species List: La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, 10-07-2014

10 species sighted at La Balsa Park, Mooloolah River, Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast.

Julie, Terry, and David on this single shore entry night dive of 101 minutes in depths to 5.5m. 6m viz and 19C water temp.

We returned to the river following a hiatus of several weeks in the hope of finding some more "gems" amongst the silt and silt-covered growths on the river bed and we were not disappointed. Three new species have been added to our list and a new size record for Pleurobranchus peronii at 80mm. The aeolids Unidentia angelvaldesi and Pteraeolidia ianthina continue to dominate the count. The Tamanovalva sp. 1 (a bi-valved sacoglossan) is a juvenile however the protoconch (larval shell) is very prominent on the apex of the left shell being characteristic of the genus. It appears very similar to Tamanovalva babai but being very juvenile (the "rhinophores" aren't yet fully developed) and somewhat out of the known distribution this can only be conjecture. The Trinchesia sp. 24 were found on the very shallow sand spit at our exit point in the last couple minutes of our dive probably feeding on the small opportunistic athecate hydroids growing there.  They react very aggressively with a startle response when aggravated by quickly raising and spreading their cerata towards the perceived threat. The third of our new additions presented more of a problem but we are of the belief that it is different to both our existing undescribed Lomanotus - sp. 1 & sp. 2 with both light and dark coloured forms represented in the same colony.

Number of species sighted
* Species with highest specimen count

Facelina sp. 3 - 1
Goniobranchus daphne - 2
Hypselodoris obscura - 1
Lomanotus sp. 3 - 10 (New species)
Pleurobranchus peronii - 1
Pteraeolidia ianthina - 10
Tamanovalva sp. 1 - 1 (New species)
Trinchesia sibogae - 4
Trinchesia sp. 24 - 2 (New species)
* Unidentia angelvaldesi - 11

Pteraeolidia ianthina

Hypselodoris obscura

Unidentia angelvaldesi

Trinchesia sibogae

Pleurobranchus peronii - 80 mm 

Goniobranchus daphne

Facelina sp. 3 - in situ

Facelina sp. 3 - under the microscope

Lomanotus sp. 3 - (New species) 

- on its hydroid (with 9 others)

Lomanotus sp. 3 - (New species) 

- under the microscope 

- darker form

Lomanotus sp. 3 - (New species) 

- under the microscope 

- lighter form

Tamanovalva sp. 1 - Juvenile (New species) 

- note prominent protoconch on left shell

Trinchesia sp. 24 (New species) - on the sand

Trinchesia sp. 24 (New species) 

- under the microscope

Trinchesia sp. 24 (New species) 

- under the microscope 

- exhibiting startle response

The Straddie Nudi Fest, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island, 28th & 29th June 2014.

The Nudibranch Team were invited to present a nudibranch talk and join in the diving during the recent Nudi Fest run by Manta Lodge & Scuba Centre at Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island. Julie, Terry & David attended with David sitting out the actual dives whilst recovering from a back ailment. Julie and Terry partook of 4 dives on Rigid II at Shag Rock (3 dives) and Boat Rock (1 dive) pointing out and identifying nudibranchs to the other enthralled divers. Different slugs were sighted at each of the sites and listed below are the species found during those dives. Surge and currents probably prevented a larger count being achieved so that sites will be more carefully chosen to suit the intention in future.

At the Saturday night presentation David explained how to recognize the different types of sea slugs and included information about their behaviour. Julie spoke of recent finds by The Team in the Mooloolah River illustrating just how rewarding a new habitat can be (11 new species to the list in just eleven dives) whilst Terry presented images of and spoke about the Branchs found during the dives that day. All round, very well received by an attentive and appreciative audience hungry for information.

Chromodoris elisabethina
Cratena lineata
Cratena simba
Dermatobranchus cf. primus
Dermatobranchus rodmani
Dermatobranchus tuberculatus
Diversodoris aurantionodulosa
Doriprismatica atromarginata
Elysia verrucosa
Flabellina bicolor
Flabellina rubrolineata
Goniobranchus cf. reticulatus
Goniobranchus rufomaculatus
Goniobranchus splendidus
Hexabranchus sanguineus
Hypselodoris bennetti
Hypselodoris obscura
Miamira magnifica
Noumea simplex
Phidiana indica
Phyllodesmium crypticum
Thuridilla vataae

Trinchesia sibogae

Phyllodesmium crypticum

Miamira magnifica

Goniobranchus cf. reticulatus

Phidiana indica

Diversodoris aurantionodulosa

Diversodoris aurantionodulosa

Dermatobranchus rodmani

Hypselodoris obscura

Noumea simplex

Chromodoris elisabethina

Goniobranchus rufomaculatus

Hexabranchus sanguineus - juvenile

Cratena simba

Dermatobranchus tuberculatus

Flabellina bicolor

Elysia verrucosa

Elysia verrucosa

Hypselodoris bennetti

Hypselodoris bennetti - mating pair

Goniobranchus splendidus

Cratena lineata

Flabellina rubrolineata

Flabellina rubrolineata - different colour form

Thuridilla vataae

Dermatobranchus cf. primus

Doriprismatica atromarginata

Trinchesia sibogae

Species List: TJ’s Boulders, Currimundi Reef and Shelly Reef, Caloundra, Sunshine Coast, 21-06-2014

29 species sighted at TJ’s Boulders, Currimundi Reef and Shelly Reef, Caloundra, Sunshine Coast.

Julie and Terry were joined by Sue Churchill & Rogan Draper for two dives of 80 minutes and 78 minutes respectively in water depths to 19 metres on the first dive and to 11 metres at the second site.  20 metre + viz on at the first site and 10 metres at the second site, 20C water temp and a slight surge.

Near perfect surface conditions were enjoyed on these dives.  We cannot recall having the visibility at TJs Boulders that we experienced on this dive.  Although conditions were not quite as pleasant at the second site, it was still an enjoyable dive.

Number of species sighted: 1st dive/2nd dive
* Species with highest specimen count

Ardeadoris aff. averni 4/-
Ardeadoris rubroannulata 1/-
Bornella anguilla -/5
Cadlinella ornatissima 3/-
Chromodoris sp.1 -/1
Dermatobranchus cf. primus 1/-
Dermatobranchus ornatus 1/2
Dermatobranchus tuberculatus -/1
Doriprismatica atromarginata 6/2
Flabellina bicolor 1/-
Flabellina rubrolineata 4/-
Goniobranchus albonares 1/-
Goniobranchus geometricus 2/-
Goniobranchus splendidus 7/-
Hypselodoris jacksoni 2/3
Hypselodoris kanga -/1
* Hypselodoris obscura 8/3
Hypselodoris zephrya -/1
Mexichromis trilineata -/2
Miamira magnifica -/1
Phyllidia ocellata 2/-
Phyllidia picta 3/-
Phyllidiella lizae 1/-
Phyllidiella pustulosa 4/2
Phyllodesmium magnum -/1
Pteraeolidia ianthina 4/1
Sagaminopteron ornatum 4/-
Tritoniopsis alba 1/1
Tylodina corticalis 1/-

 Goniobranchus geometricus

 Flabellina bicolor

 Surface conditions

 Dermatobranchus tuberculatus

 Hypselodoris zephra

 Miamira magnifica

 Substrate at TJ's Boulders

 Dermatobranchus cf. primus

 Flabellina rubrolineata

 Ardeadoris aff. averni

 Goniobranchus albonares

 Cadlinella ornatissima

 Ardeadoris rubroannulata

 Hypselodoris jacksoni

 Phyllidia picta

 Substrate at Shelly's Reef

 Mexichromis trilineata

 Phyllodesmium magnum

 Chromodoris sp.1

Hypselodoris kanga