Capturing the Moment

White bumped nudibranch   It had been some time since Heidi and I had been nudibranch hunting in our old diving grounds on Maui. The weather tried to foil us by flooding Kihei with late season downpours and sending surf from the south, but we still managed to find more species of nudibranchs on a few dives than most dive instructors working in Maui see all year. It's all about where you look, and it's not always where you would think to look. Thecacera pacifica, or pokemon guy   We spotted some of our old favorites like imperial nudibranchs, white bump nudibranchs, and gloomy nudibranchs. We were also pleasantly surprised to see some of the rarer species like our little orange nudi that we affectionately call the 'orange pokemon guy.' Tambja morosa with green gills The green gilled new-comer   We found quite a few gloomy nudibranchs ( tambja morosa ) at our secret nudi dive spot but we did notice a much higher percentage with greenish gills than o...

Anna's Chromodoris Chromodoris lochi    There are over 3000 species of nudibranchs throughout the world's oceans. For scuba divers and marine biologists, nudibranchs form the essence of the underwater treasure hunt. It can take a lot of patience and a trained eye but the reward is definitely worth it. These sea slugs can be tiny but with striking forms and every color imaginable. They are one of my favorite underwater photo subjects for this reason. Colorful Hypselodoris Creamy Chromodoris   We were looking for nudibranchs on every dive during our stay in Lembeh, Indonesia. The muck diving here provides many opportunities to cross paths with these colorful creatures. For the sheer number of nudibranch species that can be found here I consider Indonesia to be one of the best places in the world to find nudibranchs. Crested Nembrotha Gabriela's Tambja The beautiful colors and patterns on the body of a nudibranch are often accentuated by the frill...

Unidentified Discodorid #9    I talk to other scuba divers here on Maui and they've seen a couple different kinds of nudibranchs, maybe a dozen. Dive masters leading trips every day may have seen twenty or so over their years here. Heidi, Felipe, and I just found twenty nudibranch species...in one dive! Who says you have to go to Indonesia or the Philippines to go muck diving for the strange and rare? Aldisa pikoko Some of the more common species of nudibranchs made appearances like the trembling, imperial, snow goddess and spanish dancer. We had a couple of new species spotted on this dive as well. It is easy to see from the pictures why we search out these sea slugs. There is just nothing else out there quite like them. Catriona sp.1 And I feel like despite their best efforts at being brightly colored and wildly patterned they still are not seen by many divers due to their small size, lack of fast motion, and the brightly colored sponges and coral that a...