My First Alaska Nudibranch!

Archidoris Montereyensis

   Well, it was only a matter of time, but I finally found my first nudibranch in Alaska! I've been asking the guides every time they snorkel (which is once a week usually) to find and bring back a nudibranch to no avail. But this week I took a turn at the treasure hunt and set myself up for success by planning our snorkel for a pinnacle rock jutting out in the middle of the mouth of freshwater bay, aptly named Heidi Rock. When I first jumped in it was an underwater cacophony of colors. Sea stars, sunflower stars, sea anemones, sea urchin, flowing kelp, drifting jellies, and sea cucumbers litters the rocky underwater surface.

  This snorkel spot blew all others out of the water that I've seen so far in Southeast Alaska. I had three intrepid snorkelers with me and was ecstatic that they were witnessing this cold water spectacle. We even had a few underwater swim by's from a couple of curious harbor seals.

  About thirty minutes into the snorkel tour I zeroed in on a bright yellow nudibranch crawling across some of the smaller algae. I snagged the piece of algae with the nudibranch on it and brought it back to the boat for all to see. One of my coworkers is also a nudibranch fan who actually did her master's work identifying nudibranchs.

   It turns out that this nudibranch can be found all the way from Alaska to Baja, although it gets deeper and deeper the farther south you go, living at depths of 700+ft in Baja, where as I found this one in about ten feet here in Southeast Alaska. It's name is Archidoris Montereyensis, or the False Lemon peel Nudibranch. To me I will always remember it as the first Alaskan nudibranch species to add to my list.