It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…a sea slug! The spanish dancer nudibranch brings a new level of excitement to diving with slugs. Where most nudis amble slowly over their environment, the spanish dancer can actively swim by twisting its body and pumping water with its large, flowing “skirt.” The fluffy tuft on its back end are actually gills, and give the nudibranch its name - nudi meaning naked, and branch meaning gills! Found at @reefdivers on Instagram.
Some nudibranchs, like the one pictured here, steal the defenses of their prey. While eating an anemone the nudibranch stores the stinging cells in special pouches. Upon being threatened by a predator they shoot the stolen cells.
Corambe pacifica is a dorid nudibranch found along the west coast of North America. It grows around 5mm long and can be hard to find due to how well it camouflages onto patches of bryozoans, its prey.
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