{"id":343816,"date":"2024-09-20T13:28:22","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T11:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=343816"},"modified":"2024-09-20T13:28:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T11:28:25","slug":"which-turtle-and-where-was-vw-the-mega-grouper-part-5-inaugural-megafauna-expedition-september-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=343816","title":{"rendered":"Which Turtle, and Where was VW \u2013 the Mega Grouper? \u00a0Part 5. Inaugural Megafauna Expedition, September 2024\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Jennifer Marohasy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0jennifer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is one of the best wreck dives in the world, arguably one of the top ten dive sites in the world \u2013 and yet we know so little about it.   Who did the last inventory of the megafauna at the Yongala?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was there earlier this year, on May 6th<\/sup>, 2024, I got to swim with a rare stingray, a Megatrygon microps<\/em>.   The largest stingray species in the world.  Apparently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months later, on September 3rd<\/sup>, 2024, as part of the inaugural Megafauna Expedition, there were no M. microps. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em>I was hoping that at least one of the photographers on the expedition would find and photograph perhaps the largest fish at the Great Barrier Reef, nicknamed VW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW is the nickname for the largest of the resident Queensland Groupers reportedly at the Yongala, with the scientific name Epinephelus lanceolatus<\/em>.  Reportedly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle car \u2013 that would make this fish four metres long.   Is that an exaggeration?   I\u2019ve never seen VW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How big is VW really \u2013 and exactly, and when is he at the Yongala?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em>Fifteen of us got into the water the very first morning of the inaugural Megafauna Expedition.  But not a VW in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which begs the question for me: when is that fish reliably at the Yongala shipwreck?  Does VW move with the season, as well as the time of day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of our team photographs, Dave Baxter, photographed a very large Queensland Grouper, not VW.  I estimate the fish that he photographed to be 2.3 metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Queensland Grouper photographed by Dave Baxter at the Yongala on 3rd September, 2024. This is one of a series of photographs by Dave of this mega fish.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More about this fish soon \u2013 hopefully with some information about other Queensland Groupers photographed by Dave.  Perhaps even some historical photographs taken by Dave of VW back 25 years.    Has VW really been around that long?  .There must have been a census of the fishes of the Yongala shipwreck.   When was that \u2013  when was the last census?  I know that the Australian government undertakes an annual census of the penguins at Antartica.  And where is the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) on all of this, the census of the fishes of the Yongala?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, I am just wanting a turtle ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rookie underwater photograph, Laura Boderke, trying out her rig for the first time on that first dive on the first morning at the Yongala \u2013 the very first morning of the inaugural Megafauna Expedition \u2013 Laura photographed, and also shot some video of her scuba buddy Sebastian Falk swimming with a turtle.   A large turtle, but which species?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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