Help with identification

[ffdiver]

This isn't in the northwest but from the northeast.

Yesterday I did a dive on the Panty wreck which is 7 miles off shore and in 120 ft of water. Viz was great and the water was warm-ish at 48-52 degrees.

If I didn't know better I would have thought I was in the Pacific Northwest. Our pout fish look just like wolf eels, I saw sea stars I only have seen in Seattle, sea anemones galore. I don't know if I was narced or not but I thought I was in the wrong ocean.

Then I noticed two nudibranchs that I have never seen nor knew existed in the northeast. I honestly had no idea they could be found in NY waters. So I got a crappy video of them and I'm looking to get an answer from the experts on which nudis these are...

http://youtu.be/6J8afFRFkTU

[YellowEye]

Hi
Interesting!
Kind of looks like our Red Gilled Aeolid or Three Lined Nudibranch?
Look those up and let us know. Could be a related species.
-Eric

[ffdiver]

It looks pretty similar to the three lined nudibranchs, I'll do some more research and see if they can be found in NY

[nwscubamom]

Ffdiver,
That's so cool you got to dive in NY! I am jealous!
I helped develop the fish and invertebrate curriculum for REEF surveyors in the NE, so I've had some exposure to the marine life there. (but not in person though!)
Like you, I was astounded (and delighted) at the number of species that were either identical to NW species, (Plumose anemones, many nudibranchs, green sea urchins), or just barely or slightly different (their Wolf-fish vs. our Wolf Eel, their Snakeblenny vs. our Snake Prickleback, Atlantic Cod vs. Pacific Cod, many sculpins, etc.).
It's really hard for me to make out much in that video besides all the Plumose Anemones (they call them Frilled anemone in the NE), but from what I can see, it looks like you stumbled upon the Red Gilled Nudibranch (Flabellina verrucosa) . We have the exact same species here.

FWIW, there's a really great ID guide that Andrew Martinez put together for NE divers, called Marine Life of the North Atlantic. Super good book to have in your library if you are going to dive there.

Hope that helps!

- Janna