COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

The good weather continues and we got the boat out today. We headed for Innaminka Rocks hoping that the critter abundance would be high. We had a slight current today which was more annoying than anything else but the area that yielded the high diversity last time is now covered in dense, tall, algae, making the search really difficult. We moved slightly closer in and slightly east for the second dive and found more coral and rubble patches with not as much algae. Although we found a few critters the species count was still disappointingly low.

Taxonomic Diversity:
All 18 of the species sighted were nudibranchs, and all were dorids comprising 8 x porostome, all phyllidiids (suctorial feeders), 1 x phanerobranchs (non-retractile gill), 9 x cryptobranch, all Chromodorodidae family (retractable gill). If diet is considered 17, of the total of 18 species, were spongivores.

Our Historical Data:
– We have now completed 4 surveys and have recorded 36 species at this site since our first survey here on 4/03/2024.
Ignoring the undescribed phyllidiids, which we still have under review:
– This is the first time we have recorded Chromodoris sp. 6, Goniobranchus aureopurpureus, Goniobranchus decorus, Hypselodoris emma, or Phyllidiella granulata ? TBC, in the Whitsundays;
– This is the first time we have recorded Hypselodoris obscura or Trapania vitta at this site.
– We last surveyed this site on 4/03/2024.

Note on phyllidiids:
The Phyllidiella sp. a in the species lists below refers to a taxonomic-cryptic species delineated in the paper:
Papu, A., Bogdanov, A., Bara, R., Kehraus, S., Konig, G., Yonow, N. & Wagele, H. (2022). Phyllidiidae (Nudibranchia, Heterobranchia, Gastropoda): an integrative taxonomic approach including chemical analyses. Organisms Diversity & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-021-00535-7
At the time of publishing this report we are in the process of reviewing all of our Phyllidiella records to align them with the findings of the above paper.

Key to symbols
+++ New Species
+ First time sighted at Whitsundays
# Most commonly sighted at this site with %

TOTAL SPECIES SIGHTED: 18

DIVE IMAGES GALLERY

PUT CURSOR ON IMAGE FOR SPECIES NAME
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE & SCROLL