Ardeadoris carlsoni

Patrik Good It was never my intention to do stats on my branching - too much work. Not very motivated, I still started it in September 2011, at the beginning of my Gold Coast Seaway branching career. I always thought that I did these stats in order to gain an understanding on branchs. A couple of months ago, and with the imminent danger of loosing my dive site to a cruise ship terminal, I started to realise that I am actually doing site research and branch epidemiology. Diving became more and more interesting with pattern showing in the relatively short time of this research. Today, I was very excited about having my stats available as a reference. Last week I found the pictured critter. I instantly knew that it resembles the very abundant Noumea simplex but that it was different, just a gut feeling first. I am confident that I found the correct ID. It is Ardeadoris carlsoni. I think this critter is not often spotted at the Seaway. My stats show only show one record of it. The really amazing detail is that this was almost exactly one year ago. This might not sound that world changing to many branchers. But to me it seems to confirm my hypothesis that there are indeed patterns in branch occurence at the Gold Coast Seaway that repeat every year (or at least in years with heavy Summer rains). With a data basis of only two years of amateur research no robust findings can be presented yet. But I'd like to encourage serious, professional or amateur branchers to recognise the importance of dive site related research and their stats. Also, but I am a bit biased there, I would postulate that the Gold Coast Seaway is an exceptionally important place for research. The suspected eradication of the whole branch population in rainy years and its following repopulation might give an excellent baseline not only for researching branchs but also for research into biodiversity and climate change. I am not sure if marine biologist have already developed an understanding on how a repopulation occurs, how branch migration works and if the pattern that I (and I think the other one or two serious Seaway experts too) am finding at the Seaway are indeed not just coincidence. I would certainly encourage interested people into having a closer look at what happens at the Seaway, share and coordinate their findings. I would encourage you to have a closer look at your dive sites, maybe start stats and figure out what the interesting questions are, trying to find answers and maybe share it here. Branch names, descriptions, DNA analysis and reclassifications are one thing, site observation and research a different one. And they might both inspire each other. Details of this find: No. 65; Ardeadoris carlsoni; 3/5/2013; 15:49 hrs; size 12mm; depth 4.4 metres; 24 degrees water temperature; 10 metres visibility.

Gary Cobb Yes Patrik I would agree!

Ashley Missen That is why I created Nudibase in the first place any why stats and full info is so important. Cheers Ash