Sea Slug Census: March/April 2021
Welcome to our 4th Sea Slug Census which will run from March 5th to April 4th, from Green Cape to Kiama
During March and April we encourage everyone to get down to the coast and hunt for sea slugs. Any images and sightings you make will contribute to our efforts to record as much of our coastal biodiversity as we can.
There are many places you can hunt for sea slugs – in shallow estuaries, lagoons, rock pools and in the sea from very close to the surface down to many metres. The Sea Slug Census is for coastal walkers, snorkelers and divers and we want you to share all your sightings with us to help build our database.
On our Atlas of Life website in the Sea Slug Census section you can see the pictures of the species of Sea Slugs that we found last year. You can also look at all the sightings we have recorded so far on and where they were found. You can see all the Sea Slugs we have found in our region in our database - here is our Nudibranch page in iNaturalist to help you identify what you find. Register and add your sightings to iNaturalist, or send your images to us and we will add them for you.
You can help with the Sea Slug hunt. We will shortly be sharing a calendar with a few organized activities during the month. Watch out for details of different activities, details, what you need to know and how to book your places. There is a Budawang Atlas of Life Bioblitz at Guerilla Bay on 5th and 6th of March and a few of us will be snorkeling and rocky shore rambling to add Sea Slugs to the list. We hope you will also help explore the coast yourselves and at the end of the informationis a list of some good places to search.
Contact us if you have any questions, need any help recording what you see or if you have any suggestions. Good hunting!
Libby Hepburn
0458 798 990
libby@atlasoflife.org.au
South Coast Sea Slug Census – guided activities
** We've really had bad luck with our Sea slug Census this year and because of the storms and floods of the last week we have to CANCEL the estuary walk with Alan Scrymgeour which would have been on Monday 29th March at 3:30pm at Spencer Park, Merimbula. Alan has done a recce and says all the creatures we would normally be finding have either been washed away or the high proportion of fresh water has killed them so it will be a few weeks before there is anything to see. We are so sorry and will be suggesting another date for this event in a few weeks time.
For more details of Dive Eden and Jayde see: https://www.diveeden.com.au/
For more detail of the Nature Coast Marine Group activities (NCMG)
Where to look
Possible locations and activities for your individual Sea Slug Census searches
Please let us know if you know of any good sites for Sea Slugs
|
Possible location |
Activity |
|
Spencer park to Bar Beach |
estuary walk |
|
Merimbula Wharf |
snorkel/dive |
|
Bar Beach (Merimbula) |
snorkel/dive |
|
Merimbula Lake entrance |
snorkel |
|
Short Point (Tura Beach) |
snorkel/dive |
|
Turingal Head (near Wallagoot Lake) |
snorkel/dive |
|
Lagoons/Lakes - Bournda, Wallagoot, Tanja, |
walk/snorkel |
|
Eden Shelly Beach and Cannery |
rock pools/snorkel/dive |
|
Edrom (from the Navy wharf to Fisheries Beach) |
snorkel/dive |
|
Quarantine Bay (Twofold Bay) |
rocky shore ramble/snorkel |
|
Lennards Island (on the way to Eden from Pambula) |
rocky shore ramble/snorkel/dive |
|
Bermagui Blue Pool |
snorkel/swim |
|
Camel Rocks (near Bermagui) |
rocky shore ramble |
|
Narooma Wharf |
walk/snorkel? Careful of strong tide flow all round Narooma sites |
|
Narooma Australia Rock |
Rocky shore ramble |
|
Mill Bay Boardwalk |
Rocky shore ramble/snorkel |
For useful information see these pages from the Nature Coast Marine Group website: NCMG Snorkeling Guide and Snorkelling the Batemans Marine Park
If you are an estuary or rocky shore searcher, you will want to time your search around low tides to see the maximum. Here is a link to tide tables along our coast: Tide times South Coast: https://tides.willyweather.com.au/nsw/south-coast.html
Whatever you do, please take care, and observe all usual safety precautions and be aware of the tides and wave conditions if you are searching in rockpools or snorkelling or diving.
This is an exciting sighting from a few weeks ago on a snorkel led by Jayde Rankin (Dive Eden). The photo is by Stuart Martin.
This nudibranch was found 12/02/21 at Eden Wharf in about 6metres of water. It is about 25mm long, found on a silty bottom and we had difficulty identifying it from our usual sources. Finally Thomas Mesaglio and Matt Nimbs who both help ID Sea Slugs on iNaturalist, agreed it is Polycera fujitatai, and this is we think, the first record of it in Australian waters. It is usually found around Japan, so well done Stuart and Jayde!
