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Frev went on the inaugural Sunreef 'Survey Dive' on 17th December 2023 just off Mudjimba Island. The weather was very hot and humid and a light NE breeze was blowing with a small short period swell.
The max depth we got to was around 8m, so Kev was able to stay down for the full 45m of each dive. We both dived on nitrox which I really like to do.
Kev had his Olympus Tough camera in its fancy housing and got some nice shots which you can see below.
The survey dive itself was a bit challenging as there was some surge which made it tricky to stay in the same place. We had to swim along a line placed by the dive master and observe the corals every meter. We compared the lightest and darkest colours to a colour chart that we were given and recorded them on a slate. These are then entered into the CoralWatch.org website as a record that can be viewed over time for signs of deterioration in the health of the reef.
Beautiful 'Little Cowry'. What striks me about these is it appears that the shell is on the inside of the creature, so an 'endo-skeleton'. I had always assumed that shells where always on the outside?
I saw a number of these on the dive, all sitting in these coral heads. I initially wondered if they were fat nudibranchs. iNaturalist identified them immediately.
Glossodoris Vespa Nudibranch - the only nudi we saw that day. Unfortunately the image is a bit blurry, I'm still getting my head around how to use the camera.
iNaturalist link here
There were many of these pebbly star fish, I'm not 100% sure but the best I fit I can find is a "Pebbled Sea Star". Here is the link my post on iNaturalist.
