COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

Being Easter Sunday, we decided to jump in for a quick shore dive rather than take the boat out as we were heading to Hook Island on Monday. We entered the water a couple of hours before high tide, and the earlier start meant parking was a breeze. We headed North-east to find a depth of 6m on the sand off the edge of the reef. Turning NW we continued over incredible amounts of coral and wove our way amongst the large boulders in this area. We were surprised to find a very large gorgonian fan in this area and although there were no pygmy seahorses, we did find a very cool shrimp hanging out amongst the branches. Although the sea slug species count is not high, we did find an undescribed Polycera which we have not recorded anywhere else and a Verconia, although pale and juvenile, to our mind best matches our Verconia sp. 05  which we have only recorded once, on the Sunshine Coast.

We emerged from our dive to find the beach and park swarming with people enjoying the beautiful conditions at this location.

Taxonomic Diversity:
All 5 of the species sighted were nudibranchs, with 4 being dorids comprising 3 x phanerobranchs (non-retractile gill) and 1 x cryptobranch (retractable gill) and 1 x cladobranch comprising 1 x dendronotinid.

Our Historical data:
– We have now completed 7 surveys at this site since our first on 12/06/2018.
– 16 species have been recorded at this site.
– Polycera sp. 07 is a new and undescribed species not being recorded on any of our previous dives in Australia or elsewhere.
– Three of the other species, Gymnodoris sp. 10, Tritoniopsis elegans and Verconia sp. 05 have not been recorded by us at this site previously.
– Verconia sp. 05 has only been recorded by us on one previous dive on the Sunshine Coast at North East Reef, Mudjimba Island on 16/10/2011 so it was nice to come across this pale juvenile;
– This site last surveyed on 20/02/2023
(Historical data courtesy of Terry Farr, who extracts it from his comprehensive database.)

Guide to Symbols:
+++ New Species
+ First time sighted at this site
# Most commonly sighted at this site with %

TOTAL SPECIES SIGHTED: 5

DIVE IMAGES GALLERY

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