Thanks to everyone who participated in the 6th Sydney Sea Slug Census. This year we received
data from 24 participants who covered sites including Bare Island, Clifton Gardens, Blue Fish
Point (North Head), Camp Cove, Inscription Point and Long Reef rock platform. Participants
spread their efforts over the 2 days of the census with many covering 2 different sites. With 53
species photographed, the count was much higher than last year (29 in 2019 – but terrible sea
conditions!)
BEST NUDI SPOTTERS (with the highest count for the Census) – Team Party Boy (see below for
the team list) blitzed it with a massive 40 species. Some great spotters in this team and some
very nice images too!
BEST PHOTO – Many good images were submitted, but the title of best photo was awarded to
Team Party Boy for a face-on image of Janolus sp. Syd6 (see page 5).
MOST INTERESTING SPECIES – There is no doubt about the most interesting species found this
year – the incredibly beautiful Janolus sp. Syd6 (below, left). This undescribed species has not
been found in any other census event (including outside Sydney). Judging by the fact that it was
found by 3 teams, it was present in reasonable abundance amongst its host bryozoan. A very
close runner-up was the colourful Okenia janjukia photographed by Minh Tran (below, right).
The format of the 2020 report is a little different to previous years, with species presented in
their phylogenetic order. This means that species are grouped by their broad taxonomic
classification which means that it is easier to compare similar animals. We also provide the
total number of groups that recorded them as well as the initials of the photographer/team.
Participants/Teams: Charlie Elliott (CE), Monique Lissen (ML) & Allyson Groth (AG); Chris Ross
(CR); Eric Schlögl (ES); John Turnbull (JT), Lou de Beuzeville (LdB) & Martin Puchert (MP); Jon
Wilson (JW); Josh Batchelor (JB) & Lindsey Gilbert (LG); Kris O’Keeffe (KoK) & Kim Dinh (KD); Minh
Tran (MT) & Belinda Thompson (BT); Salvatore Gambacurta, Adad Were, Felipe Malbec & Steve
Coutts (Team Party Boy - TPB); Shelley Xia (SX) & David Painter (DP); Suzanna Cowling (SC3);
Victoria Gray (VG) & Nuria Rubio (NR) and Daniel Vaughan.
Finally, a very big THANK YOU to:
All of you for your enthusiastic participation and to the URG organising team who once again put on a great and popular event.
Our sponsor - Marine Explorer (John Turnbull) - www.marineexplorer.org
Happy slug hunting and hope to see you all again for the 2021 event in Sydney. Remember, there are also events in other parts of the country – notification of these will be made through the network of Facebook and web sites (the main one, Sea Slug Census, can be found at this address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/seaslugcensus/
You might also be interested in 2 recent publications that provide illustrated lists for: i) the coastal species of NSW; and, 2) the species occurring at Lord Howe Island. Both can be downloaded free of charge at the following links:
Coastal NSW - www.publish.csiro.au/rs/pdf/rs16011
Lord Howe Island - www.publish.csiro.au/rs/pdf/RS20002
Steve Smith and Matt Nimbs
seaslugcensus@scu.edu.au