The Colorful World of Sea Slugs

Before I learned about the colorful world of sea slugs when I heard them mentioned, nothing exciting came to my mind, until I started diving deep into their world... the world of Nudibranchs.

Nudibranchs - Pronounced: New-dee-branks

These tiny ocean invertebrates although colorful, pack a bigger punch then one would expect. Let me show you the way into their world on this week's blog. 







Notice all the bright colors and odd shapes in the photos you just saw? That is only the tip of the iceberg as there are more than 2,000 different species of nudibranchs all over the world with each of them offering something unique. 

These sea slugs have no shells and soft bodies so how do they protect themselves? Well some of them eat certain marine life that have defense mechanisms already such as stinging cells and when ingested the nudibranchs actually take on those stinging cells to make them their own to use in turn as defense! 

The lifespan of nudibranchs can vary depending on species between a few weeks to a year only. They are hermaphroditic but cannot fertilize themselves so they still participate in mating. They can be found mostly in warm waters so they are located here in Hawaii. Every time I go out diving or snorkeling I search for them with no luck yet. One time on Maui I thought I saw a purple one but the waters were too rough and I had lost sight of where I had initially seen the glimpse of purple coloring and was unable to relocate it. To this day I am continually searching for a nudibranch. 

Comments

  1. AllysonAugust 16, 2020 at 8:33 PM

    The one at the top is really cute! And the blue dragon looks really cool although I read that a sting from one of them could be similar to a Portuguese man o' war.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Open Water Shark Dive

Image
Aloha! Today's blog is all about the open water shark swim I went on last year December 8 for my 32nd birthday. It was super early in the morning and was a 2 hour tour. The price is around $130.00 per person and is up in Haleiwa. This was my second time swimming in open water and I had done a cage tour as well which was less exciting to me. The sharks are trained to respond to the boat motor and will swarm to the surface when they hear or feel the vibrations. The reason they do is because fisherman and the cage encounters are encouraged to chum the water in that area so the sharks can learn to associate the motor with food. Of course, the open swim encounter does not deal with chum, the sharks come with the sound of the boat only!  It is a beautiful boat ride out and fairly quick. If you are lucky you get to see other marine life. When the boat reaches the area they slow and get you ready once the boat stops to jump in right away. The initial jump in is the most incredible because ...
Read more

Hanauma Bay

Image
  Hanauma Bay although an extremely crowded touristy attraction is one of my favorite spots on the island to snorkel. This surprises a lot of people because as someone who lives on the island it is known that islanders tend to stay away from the more touristy attractions. I am generally on board with this but certain parts of the island I cannot ignore like Hanauma Bay.  My love for Hanauma Bay is never experiencing the same snorkel scenario twice. There is an abundance of fish species and the quantities of those species is different each time. I may go and see 2 different eel species one time and no eel species the next. It reminds me of the ol' Forrest Gump saying, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." This is really true each time I go to experience Hanauma Bay. I am such a nerd when it comes to the ocean that I always play a game/educational tactic with myself and that is to spot a fish and identify which species it is. This mak...
Read more

Humpback Whales & Their Babies!!! 🐋🐋🐋

Image
    Oh Maui how I love you. You are one of the few places in the world that will allow me to get up close and personal with my favorite mammal... the humpback whale. Not only did I get to have an intimate experience with an adult, but I got to see their beloved babies grow stronger and learn about their watery environment.  To watch these magnificent creatures is like nothing I have ever seen before. They are so aware of us around them and while you'd think that the mommas would be not so comfortable with humans around them and their little ones, they surprisingly are. I attribute this to their high intelligence. Being out on the water with them one can see that they are not worried but instead very curious of people.  I was in a small vessel during this filming and from afar I already established that it was a mom and her baby coming towards us on the surface. I couldn't believe they were coming right towards me and readied my underwater camera for what I was h...
Read more