COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

The Trichodesmium has finally cleared out of the bays and the visibility has improved. Today’ s hunt had another slow start in terms of locating critters but we did manage to find some after 30mins of searching. Hypselodoris emma won the day in terms of abundance and when checking the photos we noted that a few of them were hosting copepods, something we have not noticed here before. Terry was on fire coming back across the coral reef, locating several small critters, including the Hypselodoris bullocki. Interestingly we only saw 2 phyllidiids today much to Julie’ s delight. The water has warmed up as well and the slight surface chop did not create too much surge which made conditions rather pleasant.

Taxonomic Diversity:
Eight of the ten species sighted were nudibranchs, six being dorids comprising 2 x porostomes (suctorial feeders), 0 x phanerobranchs (non-retractile gill), 4 x cryptobranchs (retractable gill); and two cladobranchs comprising 1 x aeolid, 0 x arminids and 1 x dendronotinid. One Sacoglossan and one Headshield Slug complete the count. A total of 20 specimens were sighted. If diet is considered, six of the ten were spongivores.

Our Historical data:
– We have now completed 29 survey dives at Rose Bay since our first survey here on 21/11/2022.
– We have recorded 90 species at this site.
– Our most commonly recorded species at this site are Hypselodoris tryoni (45% of dives), Jorunna funebris (45% of dives), Gymnodoris suggens (45% of dives), and Phyllidia coelestis (41% dives).
– The most prevalent species we record here are Hypselodoris emma (1.7/dive), Gymnodoris suggens (1.7/dive), Hypselodoris bullockii (1.3/dive) and Haloa wallisii (1.1/dive).
– Unusually, we found no new species at this site during this survey.
– Our last survey at this site was on 7/10/2026.
(Historical data courtesy of Terry Farr, who extracts it from his comprehensive database.)

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

TOTAL SPECIES SIGHTED: 10

DIVE IMAGES GALLERY

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