Summary of the 5th Coffs Coast Sea Slug Census
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the 5th Coffs Coast Sea Slug Census . Together, we submitted 562 observation and found the most species of any of the Coffs Coast events to date, with a total of 135 species. While this number is higher than the total in the summary table for the Project (121), this is because taxa identified to a taxonomic level higher than species are not included in the auto-generated totals. I have been through each submission to make sure we included all discrete species, for both the total species count and for the discrete species found by each observer.
Twenty-one participants submitted their observations, but were assisted in their searching by other team members as spotters. In total, over 40 people took part in searching for, and photographing sea slugs over the 10-day Census. It was great to see quite a few new contributors to the Coffs event – hopefully we’ll get more and more participants each year!
The most species were found by @profmollusc (82), followed by @divercraig (43) and @nicklambert (31). Observations were submitted from Minnie Water in the north to Bonville Headland in the south, covering a great selection of sites within, and just outside, the Solitary Islands Marine Park including: shore sites - Minnie Water, Station Creek, Arrawarra Headland, Mullaway Headland, Safety Beach, Woolgoolga Headland, Sandy Beach, Emerald, Bonville Headland; dive sites – North Solitary Island, North West Solitary Island, South Solitary Island and Muttonbird Island.
Thirty-two species were recorded for the first time in a CCSSC event. These new records bring the total number of species recorded in the 5 years of the CCSSC Program to 235! While some of these new records have been found in the survey area outside Census periods, there were also some notable “firsts” for the region, with some of these representing considerable range extensions:
Dendrodoris carbunculosa found by @lizzydem at Minnie Water. This is the southernmost mainland record for this large, but rare, species with the previous record being Cook Island on the Tweed Coast. It has also been recorded at Lord Howe Island.
Halgerda albocristata found by @profmollusc at Woolgoolga Headland. This is the southernmost record for this species with the previous record being the Sunshine Coast, Qld.
Halgerda tessellata found by @ralfmagee at North West Solitary Island. This species was also found before the Census at South Solitary by @nathan_fripp. These records in the Solitary Islands represent a range extension from the southern Great Barrier Reef, Qld.
Julia cf. exquisita found by @profmollusc at North West Solitary Island. This tiny, green, bivalved sea slug probably has a wider distribution as it is easily overlooked. However, this observation represents a southern range extension on mainland Australia (previously the Sunshine Coast, Qld.).
Philine trapezia found by @profmollusc at Woolgoolga Headland. There are very few global records for this species. This represents the northernmost record for Australia, but it has also been recorded from New Caledonia.
Samla rubropurpurata found by @nathan_fripp and @divercraig at South Solitary Island. There are only 16 global records of this species on GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), mostly from the tropical Indo-Pacific and Oceania. With the exception of one (spurious?) record from Melbourne, this is the first record for Australia.
Other species of particular interest were:
the very small and spectacular Siphopteron sp. – found by @kchris1 at Sandy Beach. This species is currently undescribed and seldom seen in the area.
Two species of Lamprohaminoea bubble shell found by @nicklambert at a new site for the CCSSC ( L. ovalis and L. cymbalum);
And finally this great shot of Okenia hallucigenia at South Solitary Island taken by @divercraig. There are 2 pink species of Okenia in this area and this is the least common.
One major advantage of using iNaturalist as the platform for image submission is the opportunity for open peer-review of identifications. I would like to thank, in particular, @hsini_lin, @adrian2370, @traceyhowley, @drmattnimbs, @cynthia_c who each provided more than 40 species identifications (and to the other 37 identifiers too of course!).
You can view all of the images submitted for the Census on the Project Page. It’s worth checking back to the image collection from time to time as updates to species names are published in the scientific literature.
Yours in slugging
Steve Smith (profmollusc)
