October 29, 2016 ~ Happy Sea Slug Day 2016! A day to honor some of our favorite inverts that coincides (not accidentally) with the birthday of nudibranch expert, Dr. Terry Gosliner. Search on “Sea Slug Day” or Twitter #seaslugday2016 for more offerings from around the net.
Spots, stripes and sex! My offering is video of three nudibranchs from Anilao in the Philippines that were new to me. The two Thecacera species were pointed out by our guide, Kim Manzano. The purple one with orange spots is unusual but I was more excited about seeing the striped ones – they were mating!
I found the third, a tiny Okenia rhinorma, after being blown off the dive site by a strong current. Resigned to drifting along too fast to hunt for anything, I spotted the the nudi as I sailed over it and clawed my way over the sand back to it. By the time everyone caught up with me, the current died enough to spend a little time with it.
Here’s the video: