Ecology of the Sea Slug Cuthona divae

[ligersandtions]

I am an undergraduate marine biology major currently attending CSUN. The study is ongoing and I hope to do a master's thesis on population dynamics of nudibranchs in Southern California. (Will have to narrow this topic down a bit.)

I do the surveys with help from my dive buddies Nick and Mike. Jeff Goddard, professor of nudibranch biology at UCSB, is supportive and helps with identification, food sources and other background research. Max is the inspiration that led me from a passion for hunting lobsters to a passion for hunting creatures much more exotic. Thanks all!

We have located and identified approximately 70 species is SC. I am guessing that 40+ of these are found with some regularity. Reefs are well represented in surveys. Canyon heads are less well represented though surveys are done approximately once a month in this habitat. Surveys of pier pilings are new to the study and will be regularly surveyed in the future.

I have not yet calculated the numbers for each species and will not do so until I can compare 3-4 years of solid research. There are too many variables to attempt to isolate a pattern after only 18 months.

If there is a species in particular that you would like to find, ask. I am happy to help. Please, no inquiries on collecting for aquaculture. Nudibranchs do not survive well in tanks due to short life span, specialized feeding and other details associated with the recreation of a microhabitat.

Craig

That's very cool, Craig! Best of luck with your continued study

I like to do my own mini, totally informal "studies" on the nudibranchs out at Vet's. It seems to be very seasonal with some of the species we see out there. For a while, we were seeing hundreds of Hermissenda crassicornis....and then they disappeared. That happened for a couple years in a row, so now I keep a note of it in my dive log to see if there's some sort of pattern. There are a handful of other ones that I only see occasionally (in reasonably large numbers), so I like to keep track of that as well....

And then there are nights like the other night where we saw a whopping three nudibranchs (two different species)....very strange!