COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

With the winds finally swinging around to the North and North-west the swell had dropped off at Horseshoe Bay so a night dive was in order, even though it was low tide. The visibility was limited to around 3m but at night that is about as far as you can see anyway. The remaining slight swell, combined with the low tide, meant exploring the big rocks on the way out was not conducive to macro photography so we moved on and headed past the big rocks and over the patch of Acropora and around the corner into the rubble patch. We added a few new critters to our Whitsunday list and Julie was rather excited to find a Colpodaspis thompsoni, the first time she has ever found one of these. This is the third time we have found Chromodoris lineolata, with the first time being at Grays Bay only a few days ago.

Taxonomic Diversity:
Four of the six species sighted were nudibranchs, with only 1 being a dorid comprising 0 x phanerobranch (non-retractile gill), 0 x porostome (suctorial feeder),  1 x cryptobranch (retractable gill) and 3 were cladobranchs comprising 3 x aeolids, 0 x dendronotinid, 0 x arminid. 2 x cephalaspideans (head-shield slugs) complete the species count.

Our Historical data:
– We have now completed 10 survey dives at this site since we commenced fully recording data here on 12/06/2018.
– We have recorded 31 species at this site.
– Our most commonly recorded species here are Samla bicolor (40%), Gymnodoris citrina (40%), Jorunna funebris (30%), and Cratena simba (20%).
– On this survey, our first night survey at the site, 5 of the species were new finds for the site.
– Of those, we had not recorded three of the species – Atys semistriatus, Colpodaspis thompsoni and Godiva sp. 01 – in the Whitsundays previously and the other two – Chromodoris lineolata and Samla sp. 01 – are firsts for this site.
– Cratena simba, the remaining species recorded during this survey, was recorded by us at this site for the first time on our last dive here.
– This site last surveyed on 26/10/2023.

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

TOTAL SPECIES SIGHTED: 6

DIVE IMAGES GALLERY

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