Waters cold, Nudibranchs are cool... Jervis Bay, NSW, Australia

[Marriard]

12 degree C, but the Nudibranchs were out. Gotta love that (and my drysuit).

Phyllodesmium macphersonae

Chromodoris thompsoni

Hypselodoris bennetti

Neodoris chrysoderma

Chromodoris splendida

Blue Dragon Nudibranch - Pteraeolidia ianthina

Enjoy,
M

 

[DennisW]

Now seeing that would be worth the messing with a dry suit thing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[devolution365]

Okay, I see a lot of people posting pics of "nudis" and they look really cool -so many different colors, etc. I'm wondering -how big are they? -where can you find them?

Forgive my newbie-ness. The water doesn't look like that where I live

 

[kapula]

Cool pics and I could add cold aswell. To Erica: small. Largest ones can be something like 20cm or so but most buggers are tiny. 1-3cm.

 

[Marriard]

Okay, I see a lot of people posting pics of "nudis" and they look really cool -so many different colors, etc. I'm wondering -how big are they? -where can you find them?

Forgive my newbie-ness. The water doesn't look like that where I live

Well... now this is a tough one...

You can find them in pretty much any ocean, and in most environments. There are thousands of species of every size, colour and shape. Visit www.seaslugforum.net to see a species list and to get information on all the different varieties. If you just like images you can check out my some of my galleries at http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibrary/showgallery.php?cat=631

The Caribbean does have its share of species, but they are not as common as in the Indo-Pacific or Australia. If you want to guarentee seeing some, head over to The Philippines. There are many species I just swim right past now they are so common.

The ones in this post range from 10mm to about 80mm (The Blue Dragon Nudi). However they can be much bigger or smaller... For example (although this is technically a sea slug not a nudibranch pictured)

These guys were about little fingernail sized from Bimini. Naked eye it was hard to even tell they were Nudi's when I was underwater:

Two pieces of advice:

1. Buy an ID book on where you are diving and read websites such as the Sea Slug Fourm BEFORE you go diving. Learn what the local species look like and possibly what they might eat or where they might be found
2. Go SLOWLY. The slower the better. I have done drift dives where the main group went a couple of miles and me and my buddy went less than 100 feet (which was during the ascent) because we found a cool spot to explore.

Hope this helps some....

M

 

[devolution365]

That helps alot! Thanks! I found: http://www.medslugs.de/E/mssmain.htm that shows sea slugs by region, which was helpful.

Yep. Diving, I suspect, is just like hiking. Some people go so fast they don't get to see anything. Me, I go slow. If I didn't, I would have never saw some of the most meorable things I've seen (hiking). An example: I saw this oddly shaped tree root and stopped dead in my tracks. "I need long thin rocks" I said to my boyfriend. He looked at me like I was crazy, but eventually I found my rocks. The outcome: http://ericasworld.logic.net/gal/v/Personal/Canada2005/dscn0691.jpg.html



-I intend take the same approach to diving.

Thanks again for the info.

 

[Mel.B]

Fantastic pictures Marriad, I love nudis

Gosh the water is cold in JB at the moment...I don't think it's even that cold down here in Victoria now. Although, I do remember those thermoclines in JB from my last time there - I'd never experienced anything like that before!

Mel.b

 

[justleesa]

OH how colorful! and all in one day??? I wish I were that lucky in finding them

 

[calypsonick]

Awesome shots all!! Color combo and the crispness of the gills on the Hyselodoris makes it my favorite. Thanks for bringing these little guys to us.