Same Reefs, Same Animals

[Merry]

Sometimes, you just can't win while slinging a camera UW. Saw a magnificent 2 foot hornshark, a trippy multi-colored cabezon, and countless nudis, but couldn't manage to get the images for this post. Vis was not great; there was lots of stringy schmutz on the west side of Palos Verdes.

I did observe one interesting thing. This Hermissenda opalescens suddenly disappeared after I photographed it. It had relocated a few inches away, but left behind some of its cerata. I concluded that while I was looking in the camera monitor, a fish snapped-up the Hermi, then immediately spit it out. Another missed shot!

Kevin found this uncommon nudi, Dendrodoris nigromaculata, on Golf Ball Reef.

 

[chris_the_brit]

I've never seen shed cerata before, that's pretty cool. Do you have a picture of the nudi after shedding? What kind of scar (if any) is left behind when they do that?
I have to go down to SoCal sometime, it looks like you have some great sites for nudibranch spotting.

 

[Merry]

The cerata were so thick that the nudi looked the same after shedding, but I probably should have stayed with it and looked closer. I've also seen them lose cerata during a "fight".

Good question about the detachment point. Here's some info on that: NUDIBRANCH: DEFENSES: CERATAL AUTOTOMY