Point Lonsdale 27-02-2010 – 4.20-5.30
Tides were good for Point Lonsdale after i finished my dive at St Leonards…so as knackered as i was, i couldn’t resist seeing what nudi’s were around in the rockpools. I saw about 5 species, but generally its been very quiet their lately.
First nudi was a Ceratasoma brevicaudatum, which i’ve only seen once or twice before in the rockpools. Much more common in the bay. This one was only about 30mm and very pale in its markings.
While i was photographying this slug, a small Sea Sweep decided to have a taste of this slug. They always seem to have a go at nudi’s only to work out that they taste like crap and quickly spit them out.
The next slug i saw is a small dorid, but i’m not sure what species. Its superficially like Doris Cameroni, but the purple blotches have got me stumped???
Another tiny 10mm nudi there was Halaxa Michaeli:
It was a day of smaller versions of usually much bigger species, this time a small version of Echinopsole breviceratae, one of my favorite species, and what i think is an endemic species to southern waters.
My attention was diverted from nudi’s when i saw a mullet cruising around with something in its mouth. I first thought it was a egg cluster, but soon realised it had a mouthful of Cleaner shrimp! He didn’t seem to be trying to swallow it, so it might have been a bit of a choking hazard.
A big old Seacarp watched all the action from beneath a small legde:
