COMMENTS & OBSERVATIONS

A quiet morning 06:45 at the La Balsa ramp on the Mooloolah River. Very little swell and no chop due to westerly influence made for a fast and smooth trip south to Currimundi Reef. 9/10 conditions and good visibility. Unfortunately David’s flash trigger failed and Harvey’s strobes too, such that our images were badly underexposed. Apart from the sea slugs sighted the general marine life is in good condition. Other marine life included dolphins around the boat as we geared up – whales heard while below – very large turtle resting among the boulders, large fire urchin, large pin-cushion sea star, a pair of large tiger cowries. Soft corals, ascidians, sponges and hydroids were healthy and abundant. No second dive due to those technical failures. We are not happy with the photographic results either. Apart from exposure issues requiring subsequent correction and resulting in image degradation, we were unable to check and correct focus.

Taxonomic Diversity:
Thirteen of the fourteen sighted species were nudibranchs, with 9 being dorids comprising 0 x phanerobranchs (non-retractile gill), 1 x porostome (suctorial feeder), 8 x cryptobranchs (retractable gill – all 8 belonging to the Chromodorididae family) and 4 were cladobranchs comprising 3 x aeolids, 0 x arminids and 1 x dendronotinid. A single cephalspidean (headshield slug) completes the species count. A total of 29 specimens were recorded. If diet is considered 10 of the 14 species are spongivores.

Our Historical Data:
– This excursion brings the number of survey dives to 122 at this site since we commenced fully recording data here on 26/07/2009.
– 246 species have been recorded at this site.
– The most regularly recorded species at this site are: Doriprismatica atromarginata (97%), Phyllidiella ocellata (88%), Hypselodoris jacksoni (84%) and Sagaminopteron orantum (83%).
– The most abundant species recorded at this site are Doriprismatica atromarginata (12.2/dive), Sagaminopteron ornatum (3.6/dive) and Hypselodoris jacksoni (2.8/dive).
– This is the first time we have recorded this particular Coryphellina sp. on the Sunshine Coast.
– This site last surveyed on 18/03/2023.
(Historical data courtesy of Terry Farr, who extracts it from his comprehensive database.)

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

TOTAL SPECIES SIGHTED: 14

DIVE IMAGES GALLERY

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