COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

An early start, up before the sun, and down to Rose Bay. Being holiday season the place is quite busy at the moment and Horseshoe Bay tends to get a bit crowded, hence we came back here. It also has BBQ’ s so we brought some breakfast to cook after the dive. The air temperature was a brisk 13 degrees as we geared up in our leaky semi-dry suits and headed off into the beautiful sunrise and 21 degree water. Today we aimed for the furthest rock and headed around the rock to the north. A slight easterly current made the trip effortless and once again we managed to find a few different critters, including some that we have not recorded at this site before. This area just north of the bay is rather interesting and we will be back to investigate it further. The cold water drove us back to shore, but not before we were joined by a chilled out Olive Sea Snake which seemed to like swimming underneath Terry. We exited to a brisk chilly westerly, perfect BBQ weather, and enjoyed breakfast in the sun overlooking the beautiful bay.

Taxonomic Diversity:
Seven of the eight sighted species were nudibranchs, with 6 being dorids comprising 3 x phanerobranchs (non-retractile gill), 2 x porostome (suctorial feeders  of the Phyllidiidae family), 1 x cryptobranch (retractable gill) and 1 x cladobranch comprising 1 x aeolid, 0 x arminid and 0 x dendronotinids. A single sacoglossan completed the species count. If diet is considered then only 3 of the 8 species sighted were spongivores.

Our Historical data:
– We have now completed 7 survey dives at Rose Bay since our first survey here on 21/11/2022.
– We have now recorded 31 species at this site.
– This is the first occasion on which we have recorded Tapania toddi in Australia.
– This is the first occasion we have recorded Goniobranchus leopardus in the Whitsundays.
– We have not recorded Phyllidiella sp. d or Samla bicolor at this site previously.
– Our last survey at this site was on 12/07/2024.

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

TOTAL SPECIES SIGHTED: 8

DIVE IMAGES GALLERY

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