Swarming Slugs

[MaxBottomtime]

Hawthorne Reef is a great place to find rockfish, sponges and nudibranchs. We spotted fifteen distinct species of nudibranchs in less than forty minutes on the reef. Several species of rockfish seemed more interested in us than we were of them. Each time I looked up from taking a nudi photo a vermilion, olive, copper, gopher, kelp, blue or honeycomb rockfish would be inches from my face. All of them together wouldn't match the size of a lingcod I found hiding in a crack.


Visibility from the surface to fifty feet was less than five feet in green water. Below the thermocline we enjoyed fifteen feet plus in 51° water.

Cypraea spadicea

Cadlina luteomarginata

Aegires albopunctatus

Hermissenda crassicornis

Doriopsilla albopunctata

Flabellina trilineata

Flabellina iodinea

Diaulula sandiegensis

Peltodoris nobilis

Triopha catalinae

Cadlina flavomaculata

Ategema alba



Others spotted but not photographed included Tritonia festiva, Mexichromis porterae, Cadlina limbaughorum and Acanthodoris hudsoni.

 

[carolynaznv]

Very beautiful pictures!

 

[TSandM]

I'm so glad you are back in the water! That last nudi is a completely new one to me.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Very beautiful pictures!

Thank you, and welcome to Scubaboard.

I'm so glad you are back in the water! That last nudi is a completely new one to me.

Unless they are in the open, they look more like sponges. We found a small offshore reef a few years ago that has dozens of them. Before finding that reef, I would usually find two or three Ategema albas per year.

 

[FrankPro1]

:dropmouth: Wowzers! So Jealous! Lovely series. Excellent Cadlina and Chestnut.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park has been treating me well. Working with a great group of Rangers up here. Getting tons of footage of wild horses, bison, variety of avian species, white tail deer, pronghorn, etc. etc. Hope to come out with a post or two soon.

Oh how dry I am. My gills are aching with the desire for the briney deep.

Merry have any posts in the works?

Also, I'm building a SLR setup for a trip to Bonarie I'm planning for the coming spring. Any suggestions on a macro lens for a cropped sensor? 100mm? 50mm?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

A lot of photogs use the 105 for Nikon. I'm not sure about Canon or Olympus. Did you get the camera already?
You know, you're only a nine hour drive away from Lake Superior.

 

[FrankPro1]

Did you get the camera already? You know, you're only a nine hour drive away from Lake Superior.

I already had a few lenses from my old Minolta SLR setup which work really well with the current Alpha DLSR line.....so the Sony A65 was my choice. 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor, full 1080p 60fps video, 15-point AF sensor, 10fps continuous shooting rate, full-time live view..... A great little camera for the price. Doesn't have the same lens or underwater housing selection as Canon or Nikon....but it takes incredible photos and video. Trying to decide if a 50mm or 100mm on a cropped sensor would be best for slug stills, while still allowing me to get some fish portraits. Also Sony Carl Zeiss lenses or maybe go the cheaper route and get a Sigma......Not sure....

I didn't bring my scuba gear up here since my hatchback was pretty limited on space. Did bring all my free-dive gear though. Def plan on doing some explorations of lake sakakawea which is only a bit north of where I'm at

 

[MaxBottomtime]

[h=1]Dacotah Divers & Snorkel Center[/h][h=2]1223 S 12th St
Bismarck, ND 58504
(701) 222-8999[/h]
(They rent gear)

 

[fnfalman]

That's what I'd call nudie galore!!!