Little Blue Nudie?

[Teamcasa]

I was diving Catalina's Casino Dive Park yesterday and saw this tine <1" long blue thing. Ideas?

 

[Desert_Diver]

Chromodordidae Durvilledoris? (page 202 Nudibranchs of the World, Debelius and Kuiter)

Art

 

[Teamcasa]

Maybe but they don't thrive in our colder SoCal waters do they?

 

[DevonDiver]

Have a look at nudipixel.net

It's a great rescource for nudibranch identification.

 

[Vie]

I was diving Catalina's Casino Dive Park yesterday and saw this tine <1" long blue thing. Ideas?

Do you have other pictures that show other angles, maybe looking down at the animal? Seeing the yellow lines configuration and the gills clearly would help a lot. You describe the animal as blue but it looks very violet to me...

Just from the one pic you posted, I think it's probably Chromodoris macfarlandi (violet rhinophores and mantle with yellow lines).

Mexichromis porterae is similar but have a much darker (and "bluer") colouration.

 

[Desert_Diver]

Maybe but they don't thrive in our colder SoCal waters do they?

Good point. My book says Indo West-Pacific. And both example pictures came from the Marshall Islands.

Art

 

[drbill]

The color looks a bit washed out but it looks like Mexichromis porterae (Porter's chromadorid). They are reported to reach a maximum size of about 1.3" and are relatively frequent sightings in some parts of the dive park. I've shot footage of them that yielded a color similar to the one in your image although they are usually a deeper blue. Disclaimer: I'm not a nudibranch specialist since we don't see that many out here on Catalina. If someone else suggests it is another species, they may well be right.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think it's a McFarland's ... I photo'd this one at Casino Point two years ago ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Teamcasa]

The photo is indeed washed out and the color was more vibrant. All I had was my lovely brides little point and shoot instead of my video camera.

Isn't that always the case. Leave the good camera at home thinking conditions would not support the bother of all that extra gear and I see a ton of stuff that would have been great for video.

Thanks Bill, I think you are right - it looks like the Mexichromis porterae on slugsite.

 

[Teamcasa]

I think it's a McFarland's ... I photo'd this one at Casino Point two years ago ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)

The color is close but this one lacked the large rhinophores, they were much smaller.