A red-tipped sea goddess nudibranch crawling on the sand. The main body is white with a ribbon of yellow around the edges and a line of red inside that. The rhinophores and gills are both tipped with red.

I had seen Red-tipped Sea Goddess nudibranchs only once or twice before, but I saw probably 10 of them on this trip to the Bahamas.

Captured with my Olympus OM-1 + 60mm macro + AOI +20 diopter

Prints: buff.ly/Hd7lQco

#nudibranchs #underwaterphotography #macro #sand #olympus #om1 #nauticam 🦑 📷

A photo of an undescribed Goniobranchus Nudibranch from Abu Dhabi. It’s mainly white but covered in claret spots

A photo of an undescribed Goniobranchus Nudibranch from Abu Dhabi. It’s mainly white but covered in claret spots

A photo of an undescribed Goniobranchus Nudibranch from Abu Dhabi. It’s mainly white but covered in claret spots

A photo of an undescribed Goniobranchus Nudibranch from Abu Dhabi. It’s mainly white but covered in claret spots

So this was the result from this mornings dive in the Abu Dhabi Marina. Very poor visibility and masses of silt did not mar good conditions - but was much better than what was going on up in the sky at the time.

The so-called Pikachu nudibranch (Thecacera pacifica) going about its business

Costasiella ocellifera cruising across the sand. Like other sap-sucking slugs, these little dudes eat algae and steal their photosynthetic cells so they can generate their own energy from the sun.

I was looking in the sand for some other tiny slugs when I spotted this little Costasiella ocellifera. It was about the size of a grain of rice!

#nudibranchs #underwaterphotography #macro #bahamas #scuba 🦑 📷

Nudibranch Chromodoris leopardus
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #seaslug #nudibranch

An undescribed Goniobranchus sea slug from Abu Dhabi. It has a white mantle with large claret patches across its back and a mantle edge interspersed with yellow, red and purple markings

An undescribed Goniobranchus sea slug from Abu Dhabi. It has a white mantle with medium purple patches across its back and a mantle edge that is yellow. The rhinophores and gills are orange

An undescribed Goniobranchus sea slug from Abu Dhabi. It has a white mantle with small claret patches across its back and a mantle edge interspersed with yellow, red and purple markings

An undescribed Goniobranchus sea slug from Abu Dhabi. It has a white mantle with medium purple patches across its back and a mantle edge that is yellow. The rhinophores and gills are orange

Life can be quirky. That sliding doors moment when I decided to not do biology at school - and have regretted it ever since. I now find myself 38 years later about to collaborate as a citizen scientist with a post-doc researcher on collecting and naming some Nudibranch. 2026 seems suddenly brighter.

Nudibranch Chromodoris leopardus
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #seaslug #nudibranch

Nudibranch Halgerda batangas
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #seaslug #nudibranch

Nudibranch Glossodoris
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #divestay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #seaslug #nudibranch #glossodoris

Nudibranch Chromodoris reticulata
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #seaslug #nudibranch

Pleurobranch
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #trawangan #holidays #sealife #marinelife #ocean #nudibranch #pleurobranche #nightdive #seaslug

Nudibranch Chromodoris leopardus
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #seaslug #nudibranch #chromodoris

#SeaSlugDay

Chelidonura hirundinina is looking for food
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #trawangan #scuba #giliair #ocean #pets #sealife #marinelife #padi #Chelidonura #seaslug #nudibranch #indonesia

#SeaSlugDay

#SeaSlugDay

The smallest but the most dangerous octopus : Blue-ringed octopus - Hapalochlaena
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #octopus #padi #camouflage #poisonous

A photo of a sea slug that is predominantly ivory in colour with a yellow margin. Its body is interspersed with red circular patterns with some tinted blue inside.

So apparently it’s #MolluscMonday so here is one of our local star #Nudibranch in the UAE. Hypselodoris dollfusi is relatively common but no less spectacular.
#Invertebrates #MarineLife #SeaSlugs

A photo of a Nudibranch that is light apricot in colour with worm like cerata that are orange with hints of blue

So first dive in over a year - and first dive in the UAE in about 4 years. A few Nudibranch were around which makes it nice. Here is the first one - an undescribed Phyllodesmium down at 21m.

A photo of a bright White Sea slug with longitudinal lines along its body. The mantle is fringed with blue spots and edging. Rhinophores and gill is bright red. The picture is taken from above looking down on the creature.

So this is one that shows up a few times here in the UAE - was historically referred to as Hypselodoris capensis - but is now more likely to be undescribed. This was found on a wreck down at 21m.

#invertebrates

Giant nudi!

Leaf sheep

This is Costasiella kuroshimae, the sea sheep.

It's not a nudibranch, it's a sacoglossan, another mollusc clade. The green color is a tip-off: sacoglossans are herbivorous where nudis are carnivores.

Like nudibranchs they can eat things and then repurpose cells from them, in this case chloroplasts

And to finish if off, here's some miscellaneous critters I only got one or two shots of, from left to right: a three lined aeolid nudibranch (Coryphella trilineata), a baby rock scallop (Crassadoma gigantea), a brittle star (Ophiothrix spiculata), and a Heath's dorid (?) (Geitodoris heathi) 🦀🦑

A very strange nudibranch Cuthona kanga in Lombok
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #gilimeno #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #cuthona #padi #kanga #nudibranch #seaslug #indonesia

head of a nudibranch during a scubadive in gili islands

Nudibranch in Lombok - Gili - Indonesia
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #gilimeno #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #diver #padi #coral #reef #nudivember #nudibranch

a banana nudibranch is yellow bright

Banana Nudibranch in Lombok - Gili - Indonesia
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #gilimeno #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #diver #padi #coral #reef #nudivember #nudibranch #banana

Cute nudibranch in Lombok - Gili - Indonesia
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #giliair #gilimeno #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #diver #padi #nudivember #nudibranch #seaslug

Nudibranch Glossodoris verrieri
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #seaslug #nudibranch

Leaf scorpionfish - Taenianotus triacanthus
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #Leafscorpionfish