My favorite nudibranch is Janolus barbarensis. They are usually uncommon around Palos Verdes. I find less than a handful each year. Until I dived at Biodome, a large rock inside the Pt. Vicente Marine Protected Area, I had never found more than two on the same dive. That number is now seven. I wasn't even trying to find them specificially. Every time I stopped to photograph a subject, a Janolus barbarensis seemed to be right there.
Janolus barbarensis
During the recent iNaturalist.com project, City Nature Challenge 2019: Los Angeles County I submitted seventy-three species from Biodome. There are thousands of species on the reef but I was limited to what I could capture clearly with a 105mm lens. Some that I missed included a Giant Sea Bass that swam right up to my camera before I turned on my focus light and several Halfmoons attacking salps in the kelp.
Hermissenda opalescens covered the reef. Large, small, some laying eggs while others seemed to be in attack mode. Blacksmiths and sheephead moved around the reef like swift-moving clouds. If anyone needed proof that MPAs work, all they need to do is dive Biodome. Compared to reefs a hundred yards away, Biodome is a mecca. It would be great if it could remain this way, but we had to remind four boatloads of fishermen that they were inside an MPA. Every one of them acted as if they had never heard of an MPA. Merry handed them some pamphlets with a map of the closed areas. The Sheriff boat came up to us and check to see what we were doing, including asking to see our cameras. Unfortunately, they weren't there when the fishermen were.
Hermissenda opalescens
Yellowfin Fringehead, Neoclinus stephensae
Phoronis ijimai, Vancouver phoronid
Polycera atra
Polycera tricolor
Orange Puffball Sponge, Tethya californiana
Octocoral, Thrombophyton coronatum
Ancula gibbosa
Boltenia villosa
Cuthona divae
Schuchertinia milleri
Limacia mcdonaldi
Abronica abronia
Pyrosoma atlanticum being consumed by a Sunburst anemone, Anthopleura sola
Pteropurpura trialata, Three Winged Murex eggs
After our dives, we visited with the LAUPS group aboard the Giant Stride at Hawthorne Reef. The had a couple of great dives as well and then they were going to Biodome for their third dive. I'm sure a lot of jpegs came home from the reef.
Janolus barbarensis
During the recent iNaturalist.com project, City Nature Challenge 2019: Los Angeles County I submitted seventy-three species from Biodome. There are thousands of species on the reef but I was limited to what I could capture clearly with a 105mm lens. Some that I missed included a Giant Sea Bass that swam right up to my camera before I turned on my focus light and several Halfmoons attacking salps in the kelp.
Hermissenda opalescens covered the reef. Large, small, some laying eggs while others seemed to be in attack mode. Blacksmiths and sheephead moved around the reef like swift-moving clouds. If anyone needed proof that MPAs work, all they need to do is dive Biodome. Compared to reefs a hundred yards away, Biodome is a mecca. It would be great if it could remain this way, but we had to remind four boatloads of fishermen that they were inside an MPA. Every one of them acted as if they had never heard of an MPA. Merry handed them some pamphlets with a map of the closed areas. The Sheriff boat came up to us and check to see what we were doing, including asking to see our cameras. Unfortunately, they weren't there when the fishermen were.
Hermissenda opalescens
Yellowfin Fringehead, Neoclinus stephensae
Phoronis ijimai, Vancouver phoronid
Polycera atra
Polycera tricolor
Orange Puffball Sponge, Tethya californiana
Octocoral, Thrombophyton coronatum
Ancula gibbosa
Boltenia villosa
Cuthona divae
Schuchertinia milleri
Limacia mcdonaldi
Abronica abronia
Pyrosoma atlanticum being consumed by a Sunburst anemone, Anthopleura sola
Pteropurpura trialata, Three Winged Murex eggs
After our dives, we visited with the LAUPS group aboard the Giant Stride at Hawthorne Reef. The had a couple of great dives as well and then they were going to Biodome for their third dive. I'm sure a lot of jpegs came home from the reef.
