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New colony of Protea dorid Noumea protea.
This rare dorid nudibranch lives on a specific pink encrusting sponge, and apart from a single sighting in the Atlantic, they have only been seen on a single sponge at Pinnacle, south of Gordon's Bay. SURG member Peter Southwood now has found another colony, north of Pinnacle.
For more details click here.
Range extension for purple lady nudibranch Flabellina funeka.
Previously only known from Cape Point and further east, SURG member Andrew Taylor saw many on Vulcan Rock, just south of Hout Bay.
For more details click here.
Myzostomid described!
Named Myzostoma fuscomaculatum.
For more details click here.
Juvenile black musselcracker
An unusual sight on SCUBA in Cape Town, this juvenile black musselcracker was seen at the wreck of the "Clan Stuart", near Simon's Town.
For more details click here.
Shaggy sea hare population explosion in Knysna lagoon.
This species, known to sporadically occur in large numbers, is currently abundant.
For more details click here.
Puffadder shyshark with lunch.
On a dive at Castle Rocks some commotion between two shysharks attracted our attention, and we noticed that one of them had a rather large attempt at lunch in its mouth: a rocksucker!
For more details click here.
World Ocean Day underwater cleanup
World Ocean Day was celebrated by holding an underwater cleanup on Saturday 7 June. Organized by the Save Our Seas Fundation, and assisted by the Two Oceans Aquarium, SURG and sponsors Bright Weights and Reef, over 80 divers participated in cleaning up part of Simon's Town harbour.
For more details click here.
New species of Okenia discovered at Windmill!
SURG members discovered this probably unknown and undescribed species of Okenia on algae-covered sand at Windmill.
Update: further searches in the area 2 weeks later revealed none - where did they go? For more details click here.
Cniderian Tree of Life Researchers visit South Africa
Researchers working on the Cniderian Tree of Life visited South Africa to collect cniderians (anemones, octocorals, hydroids and similar), and in Cape Town SURG helped them with dives and collections.
For more details click here.
Rostanga sp. at Vulcan Rock.
This rare nudibranch is one of many white black-spotted dorids, but it does have some distinguishing characteristics allowing it to be identified easily.
For more details click here.
Unusual Nudibranchs at Tafelberg reef
A number of dives at Tafelberg reef, near Vulcan rock south of the Hout Bay sentinel, revealed a number of unusual nudibranchs: a bright colour variant of the wide-ridged nudibranch, another dinosaur nudibranch, a good number of Andrew Taylor's "spike" - the spiky dorid, and one which has not been consciously seen in 24 years: Siphopteron alboaurantium
For more details click here.
Melibe liltvedi
This unusual nudibranch has been found again, off Vulcan rock!
For more details click here.
Juvenile Tiger catshark Halaelurus natalensis at Long Beach
This juvenile of about 10 cm length was seen swimming actively at Long Beach. An adult was seen 2003 at nearby Glencairn. Known to occur from Cape Agulhas to East London, but may also range to Saldanha, which could explain the sightings in Cape waters.
For more details click here.
Dr. Terry Gosliner in Cape Town
Dr. Gosliner and a team visited Cape Town to collect nudibranchs for scientific research. SURG members went along to help, and a number of interesting nudibranchs were found.
For more details click here.
Eubranchus sp. found at Oudekraal.
This probably new species of, we believe, Eubranchus, was previously only know from False Bay, but has now been found at Oudekraal.
For more details click here.