Sea Slug Census VIII The best census ever!...(Note: Scientific teams had prior knowledge of nudibranch distributions from surveys conducted in the census lead up) A summary of the

Nelson Bay Sea Slug Census VIII Results – 12th September 2015

Nelson Bay Sea Slug Census VIII was a joint partnership between Southern Cross University (SCU) http://scu.edu.au/ and the Combined Hunter

Underwater Group (CHUG) http://combinedhunterunderwatergroup.weebly.com For more information email: [email protected]

Sea Slug Census VIII – The best census ever!

Nelson Bay Sea Slug Census VIII set a whole host of records; we cracked the 100 mark, with 100 different

divers taking part in censuses since they started in December 2013; we found the highest number of species

on a census (88 vs 68 in SSCII); we had the most species found on a census by a Citizen Science team (35

vs 28 in SSCII); and the most species by a Scientific team (48 vs 45 in SSC II).

Thanks to everyone who took part and made this our most successful census ever!

Ashley Smith, Bec Neil, Bob Staddon, Cath Shorthouse, Charlotte Elliott, Cherie Dodd, Daryl Ditton, David

Atkinson, Di Pacey, Duncan Heuer, Edi Payrleitner, Ian Marriner, Ian Shaw, Jacqui Ashby, Janet Michael,

John Turnbull, Kate Tinson, Margo Smith, Matt Nimbs, Meryl Larkin, Mick Milton, Nicola Davis, Peter

Davey, Peter Ryan, Ron Bowditch, Steve Smith, Susan Rowe, Tom Davis, Tom Mair, and Tommy Zhang.

Results:

The highest number of species found by a ‘Citizen Science team’ in SSC VIII was 35 species found by

two teams: (Cath Shorthouse & Kate Tinson) and (David Atkinson, Peter Davey & Tommy Zhang).

The highest number of species found by a ‘Scientific team’ in SSC VIII was 48 species found by Steve

Smith & Matt Nimbs. (Note: Scientific teams had prior knowledge of nudibranch distributions from surveys conducted

in the census lead up)

A summary of the number of participants and species found in all censuses to date is shown in the table

below. In total 100 people have taken part since censuses started, and 148 species have been found including

21 species that were not in the list of species for Port Stephens compiled at the start of the censuses (i.e. new

species).

Census Date Number of

participants

Sea Slug

Species found

on censuses

New

Species

Most species

by Citizen

Science team

Most species

by Scientific

team

VIII 12/9/15 31 88 6 35 48

VII 6/6/16 22 46 0 19 25

VI 7/3/15 42 68 3 25 28

V 13/12/14 43 65 1 20 28

IV 13/9/14 38 51 2 16 26

III 14/6/14 21 48 2 20 19

II 8/3/14 22 69 4 28 45

I 8/12/13 24 53 3 16 35

Total all censuses 100 148 21

http://scu.edu.au/

http://combinedhunterunderwatergroup.weebly.com/

mailto:[email protected]




The 6 new species from SSC VIII were;

Aplysia oculifera* (found by David Atkinson,

Peter Davey, and Tommy Zhang)

Kaloplocamus cf. ramosus (found by Tom

Davis and Margo Smith)

Spurilla sp.RB1* (found by Ron Bowditch)

Tritonia sp.IS1* (found by Ian Shaw and Tom

Mair)

Cerberilla asamusiensis (found by Charlotte

Elliott and Duncan Heuer)

Elysia furvacauda (found by Margo Smith, Ian

Marriner, Steve Smith, and Matt Nimbs)

*IDs to be confirmed by nudibranch experts

http://scu.edu.au/






Photos of all species sighted are given in the album below. The photos are in order from “most sighted” to

“least sighted”. The photos below were taken by participants in the census, but are not necessarily the best

shot from the day as photos were selected for ease of collation.

Ceratosoma amoenum

(14 sightings)

Flabellina rubrolineata

(14 sightings)

Hypselodoris bennetti

(14 sightings)

Pteraeolidia ianthina

(14 sightings)

Flabellina bicolor

(13 sightings)

Ceratosoma brevicaudatum

(12 sightings)

Goniobranchus splendidus

(11 sightings)

Phyllodesmium poindimiei

(11 sightings)

Aplysia extraordinaria

(9 sightings)

Austraeolis ornata (9 sightings)

Cratena lineata (9 sightings)

Doriprismatica atromarginata

(9 sightings)

http://scu.edu.au/






Pleurobranchus peronii

(8 sightings)

Plocamopherus imperialis

(8 sightings)

Aplysia parvula

(7 sightings)

Berthellina citrina

(7 sightings)

Goniobranchus daphne

(7 sightings)

Goniodoridella savignyi

(6 sightings)

Kaloplocamus ramosus

(6 sightings)

Phidiana indica

(6 sightings)

Euselenops luniceps

(5 sightings)

Rostanga arbutus

(5 sightings)

Tritonia sp. 1 (Carijoa)

(5 sightings)

Ceratosoma tenue

(4 sightings)

http://scu.edu.au/






Dermatobranchus sp. 1

(4 sightings)

Doris cameroni

(4 sightings)

Dunga ocellatus

(4 sightings)

Goniobranchus aureopurpureus

(4 sightings)

Pleurobranchaea maculata

(4 sightings)

Aeolidiella alba

(3 sightings)

Aphelodoris varia (3 sightings) Aplysia juliana (3 sightings) Gymnodoris alba (3 sightings)

Kaloplocamus acutus

(3 sightings)

Nembrotha purpureolineata

(3 sightings)

Petalifera ramose

(3 sightings)

http://scu.edu.au/






Philinopsis lineolata

(3 sightings)

Plocamopherus ceylonicus

(3 sightings)

Trinchesia sibogae

(3 sightings)

Aplysia argus

(2 sightings)

Dendrodoris fumata

(2 sightings)

Dendrodoris nigra

(2 sightings)

Elysia tomentosa

(2 sightings)

Favorinus tsuruganus

(2 sightings)

Flabellina sp. 2

(2 sightings)

Goniodoris sp. 1

(2 sightings)

Hypselodoris obscura

(2 sightings)

Jorunna ramicola

(2 sightings)

http://scu.edu.au/






Kaloplocamus peludo

(2 sightings)

Phidiana newcombi

(2 sightings)

Polybranchia orientalis

(2 sightings)

Polycera capensis

(2 sightings)

Syphonota geographica

(2 sightings)

Trapania brunnea

(2 sightings)

Kaloplocamus cf. ramosus

(2 sightings)

Elysia furvacauda

(2 sightings)

Aplysia sydneyensis

(1 sighting)

Atagema intecta (1 sighting)

Dendrodoris gunnamatta

(1 sighting)

Dendrodoris krusensternii

(1 sighting)

http://scu.edu.au/






Dermatobranchus

dendronephthyphagus

(1 sighting)

Elysia coodgeensis

(1 sighting)

Elysia maoria

(1 sighting)

Flabellina sp. 1 (1 sighting) Glossodoris angasi (1 sighting)

Sakuraeolis nungunoides

(1 sighting)

Goniodoridella sp. 2 (1 sighting) Hallaxa michaeli (1 sighting) Hancockia burni (1 sighting)

Janolus sp. 1 (orange) (1 sighting)

Jorunna pantherina (1 sighting) Jorunna sp. 1 (1 sighting)

http://scu.edu.au/






Lamellaria sp.trd (1 sighting)

Mexichromis festiva (1 sighting)

Okenia harastii (1 sighting)

Oxynoe viridis (1 sighting)

Plocamopherus tilesii (1 sighting)

Polycera melanosticta (1 sighting)

Thorunna daniellae (1 sighting)

Rubba luresii

(1sighting)

Trinchesia sp.trd (1 sighting)

Hermaea evelinemarcusae

(1 sighting)

Aplysia oculifera

(1 sighting)

Hancockia sp. 1

(1 sighting)

http://scu.edu.au/






Spurilla sp.RB1

(1 sighting)

Tritonia sp.IS1

(1 sighting)

Cerberilla asamusiensis

(1 sighting)

Tularia bractea (1 sighting)

http://scu.edu.au/



Documents

Sea Slug Census VIII The best census ever!...(Note: Scientific teams had prior knowledge of nudibranch distributions from surveys conducted in the census lead up) A summary of the