Australasian Fishes's Journal

Frequently people of my generation, Baby Boomers, had a stock standard response upon hearing that a friend’s relationship with another had suddenly fallen apart. In those days, it was common for someone to say upon receipt of such bad news, “There’s plenty of fish in the sea.” Of course, this was before overfishing, global warming and ocean dumping made this statement increasingly less accurate. Perhaps use of this oceanic reference played a small role in the growth of the Australasian Fishes project, as it may summarise the optimistic perspective that there’s plenty of observations for the project to be made in the sea.

For those of us who are frequent visitors to the marine setting, we often notice it is inhabited by marine creatures, other than fish. Under the waves resides a universe of sea plants, crabs, worms and other strange and unworldly creatures on display for the citizen scientist. While the Australasian Fishes project does not collect images of sea creatures other than fish, I would guess there are many in our project who upload their non-fish images to iNaturalist so experts can assist in their proper identification. An examination of other marine related projects shows that many Australasian Fishes participants who regularly contribute to our project, also load observations of other interesting examples of sea life. Occasionally, I too have found myself, on a 'low fish’ day resorting to photographing sponges, urchins and my favourite back up: sea slugs. Like most engaged in citizen science, I am eager to learn their names and greatly value the assistance I receive from specialists, through the global iNaturalist community. For the most part, those who identify my non-fish observations are people completely unknown to me, but who have taken the time and effort to provide me with an identification.

One of the pleasures I receive from using iNaturalist, is that it introduces me to many other knowledgeable citizen scientists, who display a very keen interest in the observations of others. Many have formed their own projects, both inside and outside of iNaturalist, where groups of people meet online to identify and study images of their favourite classes of sea creatures from all over the planet. In my discussions with Australasian Fishes participants, this access to global professional and citizen scientists is frequently cited as one of the most significant benefits of iNaturalist.

As mentioned, like many, I find nudibranchs, or sea slugs, very interesting. They are colourful, cryptic and tend to hold still for photography. Their numerus shapes, sizes and patterns make them unique residents to our Australian and New Zealand waters. While I post my images in iNaturalist, I am often gratified to receive the proper identification from people like the subject of this Bio Blurb, Hsini Lin. After several years of support from Hsini, I wanted to learn more about her, and her response to me was:

“I’m a classical music concert performer, Professor of Piano and Cello as well as a diver and citizen scientist with special interests on sea slugs. I moved to Italy more than 30 years ago for a Piano Performance Masterclass after university in Taiwan, and there I remain.

Many years ago, while diving, I found a nudibranch in the Maldives but had no idea what it was. With some research, I found Neville Coleman's e-mail and sent him an ID request plus a question about advice for a good sea slug book. Well, Neville sent me his Nudibranchs Encyclopedia and I fell in love with these wonderful creatures. It opened up a world to me. I then started studying them by reading scientific literature (more than 2500 papers in my folder), looking at as many photos as possible to train my eyes and diving.

After years of dedication on Nudibase, the biggest sea slugs identification group on Facebook, I’m currently building a database of these amazing creatures for Taiwan (1000+ species) with the intention to attract more Taiwanese young people to be passionate about sea slug taxonomy. Taiwan is located in a particular position where the cold current from the north meets the warm water from the equator, resulting in a wealth of species. Lately, specimens collected by my group members have been confirmed to be Ceratodoris plebeia (Bergh, 1902), a species that has hardly been found since its original description. In Paz-Sedano et al., 2024, they showed for the first time scanning electron microscope images of cuticles, radulae, and penis of this species, and a complete description has been provided. Moreover, I'm managing the Seaslugs of the World project on iNaturalist, a program created to continue the great work done by the Sea Slug Forum. Digital photography and the internet have given a great hand to taxonomy, and iNat offers a valuable platform for grouping photos and various information of each species from which many studies can arise.”

For those project members unfamiliar with the iNaturalist project of Sea Slugs of the World, it currently contains over 390,000 observations of 2,331 species of sea slugs. It has observations submitted by over 24,000 observers. The names of many of those observers would be familiar to Australasian Fishes project members. Of course, Hsini leads the project in identifications, with a current total of 141,642 identifications, however, she has well over 151,000 identifications for iNaturalist users, me included.

While familiar with the iNaturalist science environment, I am also familiar with several marine related Facebook sites, and sometimes find the discourse on these sites distressing. Recently, on a Southeast Queensland Facebook sea slug site, ongoing harassment and abusive behaviour has caused strong supporters of the site to leave the group and close their own sea slug identification websites. This is unfortunate. Of the many objectives we had in establishing the Australasian Fishes project, one was to create a community which could nurture and support those interested in marine science in general and fish in particular. Knowing how hostile the online community can be, it was important that Australasian Fishes develop into a project which nurtures interest in the marine environment, and is safe for everyone to join and participate in. I have always been gratified by project members who are under 18-years-old and have worked to make the project successful. We want them to enjoy marine science in an online environment focused on learning, without fear of abuse, harassment or trolling issues.

As mentioned, I am very grateful to Hsini for her support and assistance with my non-fish observations and I admire her desire to set up an online resource for the youth of Taiwan, to enjoy the beauty and diversity of their unique marine environment.

This journal post was written by Australasian Fishes member, Harry Rosenthal.

Sara Ebsworth (@squirrelychops) recently celebrated her 40th birthday in an extraordinary way. Along with her partner, Dave, she embarked on a 2-day dive trip in Piopiotahi (Milford Sound), an adventure filled with awe-inspiring marine encounters.

The unique underwater world of Piopiotahi

Piopiotahi's fiords offer a unique diving experience where deepwater species are sometimes seen at accessible depths. This phenomenon is due to reduced light penetration due to the following factors.

• An average annual rainfall of 7m, resulting in a thick layer of freshwater forming at the surface.
• Limited sunlight - about 182 rainy days per year.
• Deep shadows cast by the steep surrounding mountains.
• Tannins leached from the surrounding beech forests that stain the water.

An encounter with a juvenile dogfish

Diving with Descend Scuba Diving, Sara and Dave were part of a group of four exploring depths down to 24m. During the dive, at a depth between 10m and 20m, Sara had a memorable encounter with a little dogfish, which slowly swam around her.

“The area has been a protected marine reserve since 1993, so the animals there are quite tame,” Sara explained.

Not knowing much about the species, Sara turned to the iNaturalist community for help with an identification. Clinton Duffy, who with Peter Last re-described and resurrected the species in 2007, identified the fish as Squalus griffini, the Northern Spiny Dogfish. View distribution and depth information on Fishbase.

“It was pretty cool to have Clinton Duffy identify it, especially since he played a significant role in the species' rediscovery,” Sara said. “I was lucky to get such a clear shot of it, although the camera struggled in the low light.”

Clinton Duffy praised her photo, noting, “There aren't many underwater images of this species, especially none of juveniles. They usually occur below diving depths.”

A dive to remember

Reflecting on her experience, Sara felt privileged to have seen a species of fish that is so rarely observed. “I’m pretty sure I saw another dogfish the next day, but I didn’t manage to get a photo. I highly recommend diving Piopiotahi, where you might also be privileged to see a deepwater species!”