Northwest Nudibranchs

Fish & Invertebrate sightings and descriptions, hosted by resident NWDC ID expert Janna Nichols (nwscubamom).
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Jan K
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Jan K »

Scott G wrote:Dusty, I saw the "sudden stop" behavior quite a few times on one dive with those nudi's... Do you know what that is? It was funny looking... pardon my white balance.
The trailing behavior is quite common, nobody knows for sure the significance. Some think it has to do with mating, others think it is way to find food, in some instances it is a predator slug tracing a prey (in tropical species).
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Dusty2
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Dusty2 »

Ya beat me to it Jan! Oh well, your a better teacher anyway.

Yep it's called trailing. It's not knowen if it is social or just mating behaviour. They follow like that until they deside to mate then they turn side to side /head to tail for mating
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Scott G »

Thanks guys!

I hear no speculation that this is a spousal relationship ? ;)
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PS.

Post by Scott G »

Since you guys might be likely to enjoy some nudibranch trivia.

When i did this dive my buddy was an academic studying nudibranches... after the dive i asked her about the behaviour, i never got an answer because that conversation got sidetracked when she said "oh, the watermelon dorids?"...

She said she called them that because they smell like watermelons, wierd...

Anyway they loosely look like a watermelon.
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Jan K
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Jan K »

Interesting. I never thought about smelling nudibranchs. I read somewhere that Melibe leonina, the Hooded nudibranchs smell like lemon... I don't like water in my nose, so I keep my mask on and just take pictures of them :pale:
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Dusty2
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Dusty2 »

Scott G wrote:Thanks guys!

I hear no speculation that this is a spousal relationship ? ;)
Since each is both male amd female and gay marriage has been banned I think I'll just say it MAY be social behaviour. [-X [-X
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Dusty2 »

Jan K wrote:Interesting. I never thought about smelling nudibranchs. I read somewhere that Melibe leonina, the Hooded nudibranchs smell like lemon... I don't like water in my nose, so I keep my mask on and just take pictures of them :pale:
:laughing3:

Since they do not have eyes they must have smell how else would they find each other. but then again do they have noses?? :dontknow: However I'll let the academics ponder those deep thoughts. I just like taking pretty pictures and have a strict no touchy policy.
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dphershman »

Nudibranchs are hermaphrodites-- they have both male and female sex organs so they fertilize their mate and are fertilized at the same time. This of course makes things very convenieint for them as every nudibranch is able to mate with any other nudibranch that they run (crawl) into.

They don't really have eyes like we do, but they do have eye spots that are sensitive to light. You can see it just below the rhinophore on this spanish shawl as a pinpoint black spot.
spanish shawl.jpg
They do have noses as well, that's why they're called Rhinophores.
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dwashbur
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dwashbur »

Cadlina modesta, the first one we've seen in Puget Sound. We found one this past summer down at Point Lobos near Monterey, but we hadn't found one up here yet. Kathy and I saw this guy today on the pipeline at Point Whitney.
cadlina1.jpg
cadlina2.jpg
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Dusty2 »

Wow, Very cool find and nice photos
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dwashbur »

Cuthona divae, also a new one for us. Found him on a piling at Titlow on 11/3/08. He/she's in the process of laying an egg ribbon, so hopefully in the near future there will be more of them.
cuthona1.jpg
cuthona2.jpg
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dieseldude »

I'm a novice ID'er-could someone name these for me? Found them at Mulkilteo today appx 50yds apart-one shallow & one semi deep(50ft or so)-nice color on both
MUK11302008 019.jpg
MUK11302008 048.jpg
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dwashbur »

Top one's a Noble Dorid or Noble Sea Lemon, Peltodoris nobilis. The lower one is a Monterey Dorid, Doris montereyensis. The quick way to tell them apart is the color of their plumes: the noble is white, the Monterey yellow. There are other differences to go to when they don't have their plumes out (they can retract them) but that's not necessary thanks to your very nice photos.
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Grateful Diver »

I took these on China Wall the other day ...

alabaster nudi (white-lined dirona)
Image

... and a dendronotus diversicolor with a dive buddy (?) ...
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Dusty2 »

Grateful Diver wrote:I took these on China Wall the other day ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Love the white line shot. it's tough to catch that frosted glass look on camera.
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Grateful Diver »

Here's a teensy little flabellina verrucosa that I took on Waterman's Wall on Sunday ...

Image

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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dphershman »

Its been kind of a slow winter for nudibranchs (at least for this diver). The last few dives I didn't see any at all. Yesterday I went to Titlow and despite the mediocre visibility I found these fellows.

Image
Shaggy Mouse Aeolidia papillosa

Image
Triopha catalinae

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Flabellina triophina
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Dusty2 »

Nice to see you back Dan. You just need to hit Port Townsend when I'm there. I can show you lots of nudie's and come to think of it Redondo and 3tree have been pretty good too. Oh and I think your last shot is a flabellina verrucosa not triophina
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by Dusty2 »

Some from last week at Port Townsend
Dirona albolineata
6080net.JPG
Dendronotus rufus
6061net.JPG
Dendronotus Albus or at least I think it is though this one is a little different then I'm used to seeing
6136net.JPG
Dirona albolineata with a Flabellina verrucosa
6160net.JPG
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eliseaboo
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by eliseaboo »

Oh my gosh, this is my new favorite thread!!

Here are a few unidentified nudibranchs from Edmonds....sorry the pictures aren't the greatest:

Image

Image
Possibly a Nanaimo?

Also, can someone tell me - are these guys white-and-orange-tipped Janolus fuscus, or Opalescent nudibranchs, Hermissenda crassicornis (erm...I think this is the scientific name...there are like six listed next to the photo...)

Image

Image
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by nwscubamom »

Where's the nudi in the first pic? Not sure what I'm looking at...sneaky little bugger...

Second pic is the Red Gilled Dorid, aka Nanaimo Dorid, aka Nanaimo Horned Dorid, etc.- Acanthodoris nanaimoensis)

The last two shots are Hermissenda crassicornis, or the Opalescent Nudibranch.

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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by nwscubamom »

Mystery nudi!

I saw this at Sunnyside on Saturday. It looks almost like there's two in the photo, and I think I can see a little teensy egg mass below them. Both are on top of a clam siphon (the hairy outside of one). I thought it was an anemone at first, but wasn't sure, because it didn't look quite right. Took the shot, got home, blew it up on my monitor, and wow, that's a nudi for sure.

But which one?!?

Image

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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by eliseaboo »

nwscubamom wrote:Where's the nudi in the first pic? Not sure what I'm looking at...sneaky little bugger...

Second pic is the Red Gilled Dorid, aka Nanaimo Dorid, aka Nanaimo Horned Dorid, etc.- Acanthodoris nanaimoensis)

The last two shots are Hermissenda crassicornis, or the Opalescent Nudibranch.

- Janna ;)

My bad...perhaps the first isn't even a nudi :uh: ...I'm wondering about that pink spiky blob-looking thing sort of to the upper right of center in the photo (the forum cut off these photos, I wish they were centered better)

Thanks for the other IDs! I was thinking that's what these guys were, but sometimes it's so hard to tell!
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dphershman »

eliseaboo wrote:
My bad...perhaps the first isn't even a nudi :uh: ...I'm wondering about that pink spiky blob-looking thing sort of to the upper right of center in the photo (the forum cut off these photos, I wish they were centered better)

Thanks for the other IDs! I was thinking that's what these guys were, but sometimes it's so hard to tell!

The spiky looking thing is a tunicate. (strawberry tunicate perhaps?)


Janna-- that is an unusual looking nudi you've got there! It doesn't look like anything in Lamb's book :questionmarks: It does have a couple of parasitic egg cases protruding from its back though. I've often seen those on Janolus fuscus
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Re: Northwest Nudibranchs

Post by dwashbur »

Elise,
There's a handy way to post your photos so the whole thing is there, resized and clickable to get the whole pic. See the thread "easy way to post your photos" or something along those lines in the critter forum listing.

Good pix! You're doing great!
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