COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

Tuesday was looking like the pick of the days and so it proved to be as we motored out of the Mooloolah River and headed south to Currimundi Reef encountering ideal surface conditions that persisted throughout the day. We were unsure of the visibility we would encounter this close in after last week’s trip but that too was excellent. The species count was high and it is not often that we sight as many on the second dive as the first.

Taxonomic Diversity:
Twenty-one out of the thirty-one species sighted (more than two thirds) were dorids comprising 5 x phanerobranchs, 6 x porostomes (all belonging to Phyllidiidae) and 10 x cryptobranchs (all belonging to Chromodorididae). The other ten species comprised 5 x aeolids, 2 x dendronotids, 1 x cephalaspidean, 1 x pleurobranch and 1 x umbrella-shelled slug. The diversity encompassed four of the major orders of the Sub-class Heterobranchia.

Our Historical Data:
– This survey is number 106 at this site since we first dived here on 30/10/2011
– Last surveyed on 13/03/2021
– 216 species have been recorded here
– No first time sightings on this survey, however some species sighted during this survey are only rarely sighted here e.g.:
 – Aegires citrinus  has only been recorded by us here on 3 previous occasions,
 – Phyllidiella coelestis, Tambja victoriae and  Samla bicolor on 2 previous occasions;
 – We last recorded Ardeadoris averni here in January 2017.

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

TOTAL SPECIES SIGHTED: 31

DIVE IMAGES GALLERY

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