Usually a dive at Sugar Beach is just a mission for nudibranchs. On this lucky dive we spotted something else very cool to find. Nate found this juvenile Commerson's Frog Fish wedged into a huge head of coral. This is one of my favorite fish to spot. Frogfish will stay perfectly still and are often perfectly camouflaged with their surroundings. The juveniles, which are often bright yellow, can usually be found near yellow coral or sponges. I like the way they always look grumpy with their beady little eyes and perpetual frown. Their mouth is actually quite huge and with moves faster than the eye can see they can gobble up passing prey.
Perhaps the reason we found so many nudibranchs is because we had two more nudibranch enthusiasts diving with us. Our good friends Nate and Kelly from CIMI days are out for a visit and really wanted to see some sea slugs. Now they are living in Miami both getting their masters degree which doesn't give them too many chances to spot nudis. Maybe this dive will inspire them to look harder back home. You can find nudibranchs from some of the coldest waters to some of the murkiest waters. You would be surprised what might be crawling around your local dive spots.
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| We may need a little assistance in identifying this sea slug. It has foiled us so far. |
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| This is the size of many of our nudibranch finds |
As usual this spot did not disappoint with the amount of nudibranchs. This turned out to be our most diversified nudibranch dive ever, with 16 different species counted on the hour and fifteen minute dive. This was a good dive to send Heidi off after on her big 6 week sailing adventure with S.E.A.
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| White Margin nudibranch posing |
Usually a dive at Sugar Beach is just a mission for nudibranchs. On this lucky dive we spotted something else very cool to find. Nate found this juvenile Commerson's Frog Fish wedged into a huge head of coral. This is one of my favorite fish to spot. Frogfish will stay perfectly still and are often perfectly camouflaged with their surroundings. The juveniles, which are often bright yellow, can usually be found near yellow coral or sponges. I like the way they always look grumpy with their beady little eyes and perpetual frown. Their mouth is actually quite huge and with moves faster than the eye can see they can gobble up passing prey.
Perhaps the reason we found so many nudibranchs is because we had two more nudibranch enthusiasts diving with us. Our good friends Nate and Kelly from CIMI days are out for a visit and really wanted to see some sea slugs. Now they are living in Miami both getting their masters degree which doesn't give them too many chances to spot nudis. Maybe this dive will inspire them to look harder back home. You can find nudibranchs from some of the coldest waters to some of the murkiest waters. You would be surprised what might be crawling around your local dive spots.
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