Merry
Contributor
Bushy bryozoans are full of these busy caprellid amphipods or skeleton shrimp. They blend in perfectly with the substrate, but with patience can be coaxed out for a closer look.
The first thing you'll notice is that they feverishly hop from perch to perch, dipping and swaying their upper body as they snatch food particles wafting by.
It's fun to watch their inchworm-like locomotion.
This one appears to have captured a worm.
It drops the worm!
These gravid females will care for the eggs in their brood pouches until the fully developed young emerge.
It was quite a lively scene with transparent juveniles of different sizes crawling all over these adults.
It's easy to overlook a tube nest of gammarid amphipods on the tip of a kelp blade.
This may be the last we'll see of the minuscule Doto amyra for a bit.
Dr. Jeff Goddard related that this nudi might actually be a different species that he refers to as Doto form A. Taxonomy is ongoing for Doto species.
Ten (!) Dotos on this kelp float with plenty of room to spare.
Here's a close-up of those on the kelp float that are mating and laying eggs.
A "large" Doto form A. Aren't its pulpit-shaped rhinophores the definition of elegant design?
Corambe pacifica is one of the most perfectly cryptic nudis. It feeds exclusively on the bryozoan invertebrate animal, Membranipora membranacea.
Its white markings make it virtually disappear on the bryozoan colonies.
We couldn't find any adults or eggs on our last dive, so I think they're gone until their veligers settle once more onto newly forming bryozoan colonies.
Corambe feeding on the zooids of the bryozoan colony.
Eubranchus rustyus is another cryptic nudibranch that inhabits kelp blades.
This one is particularly handsome with wild green speckles at the base of its cerata.
Simnia snails can be tough to spot. Their mantle color and pattern matches the stems of red gorgonian upon which they feed and lay eggs.
The first thing you'll notice is that they feverishly hop from perch to perch, dipping and swaying their upper body as they snatch food particles wafting by.
It's fun to watch their inchworm-like locomotion.
This one appears to have captured a worm.
It drops the worm!
These gravid females will care for the eggs in their brood pouches until the fully developed young emerge.
It was quite a lively scene with transparent juveniles of different sizes crawling all over these adults.
It's easy to overlook a tube nest of gammarid amphipods on the tip of a kelp blade.
This may be the last we'll see of the minuscule Doto amyra for a bit.
Dr. Jeff Goddard related that this nudi might actually be a different species that he refers to as Doto form A. Taxonomy is ongoing for Doto species.
Ten (!) Dotos on this kelp float with plenty of room to spare.
Here's a close-up of those on the kelp float that are mating and laying eggs.
A "large" Doto form A. Aren't its pulpit-shaped rhinophores the definition of elegant design?
Corambe pacifica is one of the most perfectly cryptic nudis. It feeds exclusively on the bryozoan invertebrate animal, Membranipora membranacea.
Its white markings make it virtually disappear on the bryozoan colonies.
We couldn't find any adults or eggs on our last dive, so I think they're gone until their veligers settle once more onto newly forming bryozoan colonies.
Corambe feeding on the zooids of the bryozoan colony.
Eubranchus rustyus is another cryptic nudibranch that inhabits kelp blades.
This one is particularly handsome with wild green speckles at the base of its cerata.
Simnia snails can be tough to spot. Their mantle color and pattern matches the stems of red gorgonian upon which they feed and lay eggs.
